Species

Rudd

A deep-bodied shoaling fish with bright red fins and golden-yellow eyes that feeds at the surface of weedy still waters in summer.

Scardinius erythrophthalmus

Photo: Olaf Nies, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, adjusted to 3:2

Spawning: April to July at water temperatures around 18 °C, on water plants in shallow, densely overgrown shore areas (general guide, varies by region)
German Red List: not threatened
Typical method: Float fishing just below the surface
Top bait: Maggots

Plan a day fishing for Rudd

How to recognise it

Upturned mouth, the mouth opening points obliquely upwards
Dorsal fin starts clearly behind the base of the pelvic fins
Pelvic, anal and dorsal fins orange to blood red, golden-yellow iris

Easily confused with: Often confused with the roach: the rudd has an upturned mouth, its dorsal fin starts behind the pelvic fins, the belly edge is keeled and the eye is golden yellow instead of red. The ide has much smaller scales. As rudd often spawn together with other carp-like fish, hybrids occur.

How to catch it

Methods: Float fishing just below the surface, Pole fishing, Fly fishing with a small dry fly

Baits: Maggots, Bread flake, Sweetcorn, Small dry fly

On warm days from May to September, especially early in the morning and at dusk; rudd are very easily scared, so approach quietly.

Habitat and food

Lakes, ponds and slow-flowing waters with a soft, muddy bed. It lives in shallow, weedy areas, in summer often along reed edges and in overgrown stretches; in winter it moves into deeper zones.

Adult rudd mainly eat algae and water plants, plus, to a lesser extent, invertebrates of the shore zone; in summer they like to take insects falling onto the surface. FishBase lists plankton, terrestrial insects and plant material.

Size and age

Usually 20 to 30 cm, at most up to 50 cm, at 250 to 300 g; very large specimens reach at most 2 to 3 kg, and big fish of 2.5 to 3 kg are mostly hybrids. A fish of 1.58 kg from Sweden (1988) is verified (Wikipedia). FishBase: max. 61.7 cm (female), maximum age 19 years; FishBase gives no maximum weight.

Protection and rules

Conservation status: German Red List (freshwater fish 2023): not threatened. IUCN: not threatened (Least Concern, 2022).

Rudd: closed season and minimum size by German state

Berlinno minimum size, no closed season
Hessekeep only from 20 to 30 cm · closed season 15.03. to 31.05.
Rhineland-Palatinateminimum size 15 cmminimum size 15 cm · closed season 01.03. to 14.06. only in some waters
Saarlandminimum size 15 cm · closed season 01.03. to 14.06. only in some waters
Saxonyminimum size 20 cm only in some waters
Thuringiaminimum size 15 cm

From the official state fisheries regulations, retrieved 2026-10-11. All rules by state

Check the rules

Closed seasons and minimum sizes are set by each German state and can be stricter for single waters. All rules by state, with the legal source

In the kitchen

Very bony flesh, so hardly in demand as a food fish; in Eastern Europe it is made into fish cakes like other whitefish.

Sources (3)

Last checked 2026-10-13. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].

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