Fishing Safely and Responsibly in Lithuania

Alex Osk

Use this page with the current Lithuanian rules and local weather information.

For rod, hook, bait, net, sonar and specialist-method legality, use the separate allowed and prohibited fishing-gear guide.

Save or print this emergency card

Complete it before leaving and give a copy to the person monitoring your return.

Emergency number: 112
Planned water and legal section: ____________________
Coordinates or shareable map pin, checked at the exact standing, access or launch point: ____________________
Exact standing, access or launch point matched to those coordinates: [ ] Confirmed ____________________
Access, launch or meeting point: ____________________
Route or boat name: ____________________
People in the group: ____________________
Group contact name and mobile number: ____________________
Planned return time: ____________________
Location shared with: ____________________
Guide, host or captain contact: ____________________
Relevant staffed local assistance, if available (name, current phone and staffed hours): ____________________
If overdue, call: ____________________

Enter coordinates only after checking the pin at the exact place where the group will stand, access the water or launch, not from a broad search result. Verify every non-emergency contact and the hours it will actually be staffed; leave an unconfirmed field blank. A saved pin is useful, but it does not replace a plain-language water name, access point and return plan that another person can communicate to 112.

Before leaving the accommodation

Tell someone the water, access point, route and return time.
Carry the permit number, identity document and saved official conditions.
Check wind, rain, thunder, air temperature and water conditions.
Charge the phone and keep it in a waterproof case.
Take drinking water, sun protection and an insulating layer.
Pack first-aid supplies and tools for safe hook removal.
Use a light appropriate to the access route, but avoid disturbing wildlife.

Lithuania uses the European emergency number 112.

Boats

Wear a correctly fitted lifejacket. Do not accept an adult jacket for a small child or a damaged jacket because the trip is short.

Before departure, establish:

the legal passenger limit;
who is in charge of the boat;
where emergency equipment is stored;
what weather ends the trip;
which parts of the water are prohibited or close to a border;
whether a motor is permitted;
how to return if the motor or phone fails.

Open sections of the Curonian Lagoon and large lakes such as Plateliai deserve more caution than their modest map scale suggests.

Rivers and wading

Wear a wading belt and use a staff where footing is uncertain. Enter slowly and do not cross when the route back is unclear. Cold water can disable a person long before air temperature feels wintry.

Avoid weirs, fish passes, bridge structures and visibly fast constrictions. Stop when rising water, poor visibility, fatigue or cold changes the risk.

Ice fishing

The Environmental Protection Department requires a person fishing on ice to carry two spikes joined by a flexible connection, positioned for immediate use after breaking through.

Its published guidance states that ice thicker than 7 cm is considered safe for one person and at least 12 cm for a group. It also warns that blue or green ice is stronger than white or yellow ice and recommends travelling in daylight with at least one other person, while keeping distance between people.

Thickness alone is not enough. Currents, springs, channels, reeds, bridges, inflows, snow cover and changing temperatures can create weak areas. A foreign visitor should use current local knowledge and be willing to cancel.

Carry non-inflatable flotation suitable for cold conditions, a rescue line and dry clothing. Do not drive onto ice as part of a recreational visitor plan.

The winter fishing guide adds the full equipment list, legal bait and species dates, winter bases, accommodation checks and a no-ice fallback itinerary.

Fish handling

Prepare before the fish is landed. Keep forceps, net and camera within reach. Wet hands and the net, support the fish and minimise air exposure. Do not place a fish on dry sand, concrete, snow or hot boat flooring.

If release is required, release to the same water immediately. Stop targeting sensitive fish when high water temperature, low flow or exhaustion makes survival doubtful.

Leave the place cleaner

Lithuanian rules require anglers to clean the fishing place before and after fishing and collect rubbish within 5 m of the location. Fishing line and hooks are especially dangerous to birds and other visitors. Carry a small hard container for used hooks and line.

Do not cut vegetation, make a new fire place or drive to the water's edge. In protected areas, camp and light fires only in established places.

The general surface-water protection rule prohibits driving or parking a motor vehicle within 25 m of the shoreline. It expressly does not make an existing lawful road, street, square, parking area or residential yard illegal solely because it is close to water. A purpose-limited exception can cover launching a watercraft, or driving onto ice, where that activity itself is allowed. None of these exceptions creates a general right to drive along a bank or leave a car on vegetation.

Keep three questions separate: whether a vehicle may use the access or parking place, whether a craft may be launched there, and whether the person may possess fishing gear at that water. A lawful parking place does not create a fishing right. Separately, a person without the required permit or free-fishing right, or beside water where fishing is prohibited, must not be in the water or within 25 m of it with recreational fishing gear.

In forests, tents and campervans belong in equipped public recreation or camping facilities. A general 5 m shoreline access strip does not authorise crossing a private yard, using a private pier or platform, camping on private land or parking wherever it is convenient.

Use established fire places and obey temporary fire-risk closures. Written permission may be required for a fire, camp or organised activity outside an equipped forest recreation place. A quiet fishing bank is not automatically a campsite.

Invasive crayfish are not a casual loophole

Lithuania distinguishes protected native crayfish from invasive species. The Environmental Protection Department allows signal and spiny-cheek crayfish to be caught without number or size limits under its current rules, while noble crayfish may not be caught and narrow-clawed crayfish have a defined season, size and limit.

Identification matters. Do not move a live crayfish between waters, use it as bait or release an invasive crayfish elsewhere. Open the current illustrated AAD crayfish page before taking part.

Clean equipment before changing waters

Mud, weeds and trapped water can move organisms between lakes and rivers. Remove visible plants and sediment from boots, nets, boats, trailers and anchors, drain water where lawful, and dry the equipment before using it on another water. Never move live bait, crayfish or a bucket of water from one fishery to another.

AAD's invasive-species guidance specifically identifies drying watercraft as a way to reduce the spread of New Zealand mud snail. A guide or rental operator should explain the cleaning process when equipment moves between waters.

Ticks around shores, meadows and forest tracks

Ticks occur in Lithuania and can transmit tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease. The National Public Health Centre advises residents and visitors, especially people spending time outdoors, to seek medical advice about vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis. Plan that conversation before travel because the vaccine schedule takes time. There is no vaccine against Lyme disease.

For walks to a fishing place, wear light-coloured clothing that makes ticks easier to see, cover arms and legs, tuck trousers into socks or boots and apply a suitable repellent according to its label. After returning, inspect clothing, equipment and the whole body, including the scalp, behind the ears, armpits, waist, groin and behind the knees.

Remove an attached tick promptly with fine-tipped tweezers, pulling steadily close to the skin without twisting or crushing it. Clean the bite area and monitor your health for 30 days. Seek medical care if a spreading red rash, fever, headache, weakness or other concerning symptoms develop, and mention the tick bite. This is general travel-safety information, not individual medical advice.

Respect quiet water

Fishing shares water with residents, swimmers, paddlers and wildlife. Keep lines away from marked swimming areas and navigation routes. Lower voices and lights near homes. Avoid drone use around birds and protected zones unless all aviation and park rules are satisfied.

Do not share precise locations of nests, spawning grounds or a vulnerable fish capture. When sharing photographs or describing your trip, name the wider area without placing a map pin on a sensitive site.

Official sources

Fish photograph catalogue

Licensed reference photographs for identification and trip planning. A photograph does not show that a species may legally be targeted, retained, transported or used as bait; check the current rule beside the relevant written guidance.