The closing of the fisheries of certain species, certain periods of year, makes it possible these fish to reproduce under good conditions.

In first category, where the purpose of the closing of the fisheries is to ensure an optimal protection of the reproduction of the trout , the opening of the fisheries is always a very awaited event of the fishermen.

It was fixed at a single date, in all France it second Saturday of March - and goes back it to its closing is also single: third Sunday of September. But the prefects have the possibility of prolonging of one to three weeks the period of opening on the lakes or the waterways of high mountain.

The number of authorized lines

- Three or four lines at most, according to the department, in water of second category.
- Two lines with more in domanial water of first category like in the of first category indicated by the prefect.
- A line in water of first category, others that those pertaining to the public domain.

The lines must be gone up on canes and fitted with more than two hooks or of three artificial flies. They must be laid out near the fisherman.

The machines and the nets the titular fishermen of a card of fisheries to complete tax can still fish by means of:

- and of six balances at most, intended for the capture of crayfish and shrimps. (It should be noted that the fisheries with are also authorized with the fishermen having discharged only the basic tax).
- A carafe, or bottle, intended for the capture of minnows and other fish being used as soft foods, whose capacity cannot be higher than two liters, in water of first and second category.

The prefect can authorize this means of fisheries in water of first category.

In nondomanial water of second category, indicated by the minister of environment, the sinners have the possibility of using certain machines and nets of which nature, dimensions and the number are fixed by the prefect.

In the and the of second category which it indicates, the prefect can also authorize the use of a sail needle (of one square meter to more) and basic lines fitted for the unit with eighteen hooks at the maximum.

Prohibitions of general interest

- The fisheries with the hand and the fisheries under the ice are formally prohibited the fisheries by disturbing water also, except for the angling of the pin, fishes specific which is practiced by scraping the river bed.
- All the methods consisting in differently catching fish than by the mouth are prohibited. The use of the scoop and the blunder (the latter can be prohibited by the prefect) is authorized only for fish already shoed.

Particular measures of protection of the piscicultural inheritance

It is interdict to use like sharp or soft food:

- fish belonging to the species which are the subject of limiting sizes of capture;
- species indicated like likely to cause biological unbalances (catfish, sun-fish);
- protected spaces with the bond of the protection of nature or which belong to “foreign” species (juridically not represented in our water), such as minnow of Canada.

Certain TEMPORARY RESERVES are instituted, prohibiting the fisheries on portions of waterway, by order of the prefect or are provided for in a piscicultural plan of management. These fishing preserves, in theory, are announced by a panel. It is however advisable to get information locally, without trusting only with the presence or the absence of indication.

Certain PLACES, Permanently, ARE PROHIBITED WITH the FISHERIES:

- In the ladders with fish, winnowings, sluice and ducts drainage.
- On the classified waterways with salmon or sea trout, a specific prohibition can be implemented to eters upstream and/or downstream from the works.
- The fisheries with the downstream of the locks and the barrages are authorized only with only one line.

An exception: the rule of the eters is not applicable to the fisheries of eel of in water of the second category.

This prohibition is valid as well for water of first as of second category.

To use as soft food or as starts natural or artificial fish eggs is prohibited.

To use maggots and other larvae the dipterous ones, in first category, is prohibited (except prefectoral derogation).

The fisheries with the drag are prohibited, except prefectoral derogation.

The fish and the crayfish fished, of which the length is lower than lawful dimension, must be given to water immediately after their capture.

The fish is measured end of the muzzle at the end of the deployed tail, the crayfish of the point of the head, grips and antennas not understood, at the end of the deployed tail.

The minimal sizes identical in all France, except for some : or salmon of fountain, knight, trout and rainbow trout.

The prefect with the possibility of abolishing the size of capture of the rainbow trout in water of second category, and any other fish species, in the event of epidemic or of risk of epidemic, (example: the larval of the pike perch).

Legal sizes of capture

- Low : 30 centimetres (From the January 1st, 2005 - Decree of the 6/18/2004).
- Pike: 50 centimetres.
- : 35 centimetres.
- : 70 centimetres.
- Fluviatile Lamprey: 20 centimetres.
- Shade commun run and : 30 centimetres.
- Pike perch: 40 centimetres
- Trout , rainbow trout, or salmon of fountain and knight: 23 centimetres (or, according to the departments, 18,20 or 25 centimetres).
- Crayfish with red legs, of the torrents, with white legs and legs hails: 9 centimetres.

Catching quotas

Several fish species, among , are the subject of a limitation of the number of captures. The utility of this quota is at the same time to know the piscicultural settlement and to control the pressure of fisheries. Thus each fisherman is authorized to keep ten trouts maximum per day. But the local derogations are numerous and can impose a lower quota of captures, to preserve the trout populations.