Roger's Angling Pages
Vimba vimba		Carp family Cyprinidae

This fish has a wide ventral mouth with fleshy lips. A spindle-shaped body suggests a tendency to swim in strong currents, The grey-blue to brown-green coloration on the back and the silvery sides change in the spawning season. The back becomes darker and turns to black and an orange stripe appears along the underside of the body, while the roots of its fins take on an orange sheen. The males have a spawning rash on their head in the form of whitish nodules. The young fishes can be mistaken for Chondrostoma nasus.

Vimba vimba is one of the inhabitants of the rivers that run into the Baltic Sea, and it also lives in the river network of the Danube, but in a slightly different form. In the 6 to 8 years of its life it is 20 to 30 cm long. In the river Vistula in Poland, large 6 Ib specimens have been caught. This fish moves from one place to another and is a fast-growing migratory type that undertakes journeys of up to 350 miles if there are no obstacles in the form of dams and high weirs along the way.

This fish has a liking for barley, but is also caught equally well on balls of bread paste, pieces of worms, and maggots. Float fishing is the best technique, and the bait should be allowed to float close to the bottom, about 10 cm above it. The line should not rest on the water surface, but should be airborne between the float and the rod. The selected rod is a long one, at least 3 m with a fine tip and a line of3 lb breaking strain. One to two pieces of barley are fastened to a small hook with a fine point. During fishing, the ground-bait is scattered. The largest fishes can be caught in the deepest waters.