Latvia is a beautiful country and full of waterbodies to fish in. In Latvia there are more than 2000 lakes and over 12000 rivers. Fishing in Latvia is very popular due to the accessibility and diverse fish species, including trophy size pike and zander that can reach 20lb of weight and are caught regularly. This article is dedicated to provide full information about what you need if you want to go fishing in Latvia.
Fishing permits and licenses
To fish in Latvia you need to purchase “Makšķerēšanas karte”, which is the only requirement for most of the waterbodies, it is not expensive and can be bought for a day, 3 months or full year, which costs only 15eur. The fishing permit can be bought in a portal www.manacope.lv
Nevertheless, there are different local licences in some of the most popular fisheries:
- River Salaca during salmon season requires a licence to be purchased. It is hard to get one and you need to book and buy it well in advance before going fishing. The season is January 1st until May 10th.
- River Gauja during salmon season also require licence, but it is easily available on most of the days. The season is January 1st until May 1st.
- Lake Aluksne, lake Usma and some other lakes require daily licence that costs around 3-5eur per day and can be easily bought
- Some other rivers and lakes might have local licences. You can drop a message to us at Rigafishing and we will give you an exact answer about the regulations for yout chosen fishing place.
Fishing seasons in Latvia
There fishing goes on full year, but there are different restrictions on some specific species.
- Boating season – May 1 till February 29, or shorter if there is ice on the water
- Pike season is from May 1st till February 29
- Zander season is from June 1st till April 15th
- Salmon season usually is January 1st till 30th of April
- Perch and non-predatory fish don’t have spawning restrictions and can be fished all year long.
- There are specific catch limits and protected areas and waterbodies that can be seen in the manacope portal in map, when you are browsing your chosen place for fishing in Latvia
Best fishing places in Latvia
Latvia offers different types of fishing and depending on the season some places are more popular than others. For example largest rivers that are connected to Baltic sea, during Summer and Autumn welcomes big amount of fish coming to feed in the freshwater.
- Lake Burtnieks – it is a great place to fish in May and Autumn for pike. It holds huge amounts of pike of average size, sometimes if you get in the feeding frenzy – 40-50 pike per day is nothing extraordinary
- Lake Engure and lake Babites – shallow lakes that are very popular both for great trophy pike fishing or roach and tench. You can rent a rowing boat, as engines are not allowed and go for a fishing adventure.
- Rivers Venta, Salaca and Gauja – seatrout and salmon come spawning there and they are popular during Winter and Spring season. All 3 rivers have restrictions and licencing and can be fished between January 1st and April 30th. Nevertheless – during salmon off-season it is great place for catching asp and whitefish. During Autumn also perch and zander come in to feed and rivers become great places to catch those predators.
- Lake Usma and lake Aluksne – great places to catch pike and zander, there are great oversight of the water and fish is in healthy amount. On a normal day some 5-10 pikes or zanders can be caught. Lake Aluksne also holds great trophies and pikes have been seen over 130cm.
- River Daugava – Daugava is most popular place to catch large catfish. Some anglers regularly catch 70kg+ or 200cm+ catfish and it is not anymore a rarity. Daugava in Riga is also connected to Baltic sea and is one of the best places to go for perch or zander fishing all year long.
- River Lielupe – almost all fish can be caught here, both predatory and non-predatory. It is one of the best rivers to target bream. It holds healthy amount of pike and zander as well.
- Lakes in Riga – Kisezers, Baltezers, lake Juglas – awesome places to catch trophy pike, during May and Autumn months a 100cm+ pike is not a rarity. Also during Summer time great zanders of 80cm+ are nothing uncommon. These lakes also are connected to Baltic sea and each year great amount of perch and zander come in to feed. On great days 100+ perch and 20+ zanders can be easily caught.
Fishing techniques and equipment
As we in Rigafishing are targeting predatory fish and fishing from boat, this section will be dedicated for perch, zander and pike. The equipment differs from the type of fishing, but pretty much any technique can be successful – jig, drop-shot, bigbait, Live fishing, jerkbaits, twitch and different others.
- Bigbait – for targeting trophy sized pike this is the best technique during May and Autumn months. You will need a heavy rod of around upper tolerance of 150 grams and great baitcaster reel sized 200+
- Jig and drop-shot – one of the most successful techniques to target perch and zander during end of Summer and Autumn months. A stiff rod with fast action would be required, for perch up-to 10g and zander around 20g to have the best results.
- Twitch and jerkbaits – successful year-round, just the speed of retrieve differs. For different size wobblers, different rod is necessary. It depends on the fish you are about to target, but rod up-to 25 grams with extra fast action would cover most of the needs.
- Live fishing – both for zander and pike we prefer to use rod with a baitcaster and test of around 80g. It allows to throw both zander lures and some larger pike lures to target from small to trophy size fish.
Fishing guide in Latvia
For best results we recommend booking a fishing guide – us. We are experienced anglers who have fished in Latvia for more than 20 years, are Latvian champions in predator fishing from boat and have had great results and trophy fish caught also by amateurs in our boats.
Rigafishing offers boat charter with a captain and a guide for a great time in Latvia waters.
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