Species

Vimba bream

A slim shoaling fish of the lower reaches of large rivers with a black, nose-like snout tip, hence the German nickname Rußnase (soot nose); highly threatened in Germany.

Vimba vimba

Photo: Lorenz Seebauer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, adjusted to 3:2

Spawning: Mid-April to the end of July, after a spawning migration upriver into the barbel zone, usually at night over gravel or sand (general guide, varies by region)
German Red List: highly threatened
Typical method: Ledgering (bottom fishing)
Top bait: Worm

Plan a day fishing for Vimba bream

How to recognise it

Nose-like, elongated, black-coloured snout tip
Horseshoe-shaped, underslung mouth without horny edges on the lower lip
Sharp keel scales behind the dorsal fin, long anal fin with 19 to 25 rays

Easily confused with: Resembles the common nase; the vimba, however, has no horny lower lip and a much longer anal fin. In the spawning season the males turn strikingly black and orange.

How to catch it

Methods: Ledgering (bottom fishing), Feeder fishing, Float fishing

Baits: Worm, Maggots, Bloodworm (midge larva)

Not specifically documented; vimba search for food in the calm shore zone.

Habitat and food

Mainly on the bottom of slow-flowing lower reaches of large rivers draining into the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea, occasionally in brackish water. In the North Sea basin native from the Elbe to the Ems, plus the Baltic basin; an introduced population lives in the Rhine (FishBase, Red List).

Mainly insect larvae and other small animals such as mussels, worms and snails, plus plant food.

Size and age

About 20 to 35 cm, more rarely up to 50 cm, at 700 to 1,000 g (Wikipedia). FishBase: max. 50 cm, heaviest published weight 1.4 kg, maximum age 15 years.

Protection and rules

Conservation status: German Red List (freshwater fish 2023): highly threatened, in 2009 still threatened; the introduced Rhine population is not taken into account. IUCN: not threatened (Least Concern, 2022). Check the local rules before you go fishing.

Vimba bream: closed season and minimum size by German state

Baden-Württembergprotected all year
Berlinprotected all year
Brandenburgprotected all year
Bremenprotected all year
Hamburgprotected all year
Hesseprotected all year
Mecklenburg-Western Pomeraniaclosed season 01.05. to 31.07.protected all year (coast)
Saxonyprotected all year
Saxony-Anhaltminimum size 30 cm
Schleswig-Holsteinprotected all yearprotected all year (coast)
Thuringiaprotected all year

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

Used as a food fish; because it is highly threatened, only take vimba where it is allowed, and do so consciously.

Sources (3)

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

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