Children's Fishing License Rules in Berlin and Brandenburg: Why an 8-Year-Old Can Fish Alone Just Across the State Line

Two Neighboring States, Two Different Answers to “Can My Kid Fish?”

A Berlin family that wants to introduce a child to fishing runs into a genuinely confusing fact fast: the answer depends less on the child’s age than on which side of an invisible state line the water happens to sit on. Berlin is its own Bundesland, entirely surrounded by Brandenburg, and the two states run separate fishing laws, separate youth exemptions, and, as of 2026, two rounds of Brandenburg reforms that pushed the gap between them even wider.

Berlin’s Rule: No Independent Fishing Before 12, No Exam Between 12 and 17

Berlin’s Landesfischereigesetz draws a hard line at age 12. The Fischereiamt Berlin’s own page on children fishing states that a child under 12 cannot practice angling independently at all, only unselbständig, meaning the child takes part by using the accompanying adult’s own rod and tackle rather than a rod of their own, while that adult, who must hold a valid Fischereischein and the Angelkarte for the water in question, remains the person actually exercising the fishing right. That adult doesn’t have to be a parent; a grandparent, an aunt or uncle, or any Fischereischein A or B holder taking on supervision can bring a child along, but they carry real legal exposure for it: if the child under 12 violates fishing or animal-welfare rules, it’s the adult who is criminally liable, not the child. In practice, the adult stays hands-on throughout: assembling and casting the rod, handling live bait, and killing and unhooking any catch, with the child mainly holding the rod and reeling once the adult has set things up.

From the child’s 12th birthday until their 18th, Berlin issues a Jugendfischereischein without requiring the Anglerprüfung. According to both the Fischereiamt Berlin and DAV Landesverband Berlin’s own guidance for parents, the youth license is issued one calendar year at a time and needs a current Fischereiabgabe stamp (Jahresmarke) each year to stay valid. Holding the license alone isn’t enough to go fishing, though: the teenager also needs an Angelkarte for the specific water, membership in a recognized angling club, and written proof of sachkundige Einweisung (competent instruction) from an existing Fischereischein A or B holder. All of this authorizes Friedfischangeln only, fishing for coarse species like carp, bream, roach, and tench; predatory-fish angling stays off-limits until the full adult license is earned.

Photo by Michal Dziekonski on Pexels

Brandenburg Just Loosened Its Rules Twice in 2026

Brandenburg’s baseline was already simpler than Berlin’s before 2026, and two separate changes this year widened the gap further. The state agriculture and environment ministry, MLEUV, explains the baseline: children aged 8 through 13 may fish fully independently for coarse fish with nothing more than an Angelkarte for that specific water, no Fischereischein, no Anglerprüfung, and no accompanying adult required at all.

The first 2026 change removed a fee that used to apply even to that simple system. Landkreis Oder-Spree’s own 2026 public notice confirms that, as of 1 January 2026, “Kinder und Jugendliche unter 14 Jahren sind künftig von der Fischereiabgabe befreit” (children and young people under 14 are henceforth exempt from the fishing fee), replacing a previous system of age-based fee tiers. Anyone 14 or older now pays a single flat rate, 12 euros for a calendar year or 40 euros for five consecutive years, with the earlier subdivisions by age eliminated entirely.

The second, more striking change extended fishing to children who previously couldn’t fish at all. Landesanglerverband Brandenburg’s official announcement confirms that the Gesetz zum Abbau von Bürokratie im Land Brandenburg (bureaucracy-reduction law), dated 23 April 2026 and published in GVBl. I, 2026, No. 13, amended Paragraph 18(1) of the Brandenburgisches Fischereigesetz so that children under 8 may now fish too, provided a supervising adult stays constantly present, holds a valid Angelkarte for the water and proof of the Fischereiabgabe, and lets the child use only one of the adult’s own two permitted hand-lines. The child still can’t net, unhook, stun, or kill a fish themselves, and the catch counts against the accompanying adult’s own limit, but the core change is real: fishing in Brandenburg, in a limited, hand-holding form, is now open to children of any age, where it previously started at 8.

A Jugendfischereischein does exist in Brandenburg too, but families rarely need it for fishing inside the state. Paragraph 18 of the Brandenburgisches Fischereigesetz establishes a youth license for ages 8 through 17, unless the holder is already 14 and has passed the Anglerprüfung, or is in a recognized fishing apprenticeship. Because Brandenburg’s simpler age-based exemptions already cover coarse-fish angling for that same 8-to-17 bracket without requiring any license at all, the Jugendfischereischein mostly comes into play if a family plans to fish somewhere outside Brandenburg that specifically requires proof of a youth license.

The Split Is Geographic, Not About Which Lake “Feels” Local

Which state’s rules apply depends on which state actually owns the water, and that’s easy to get wrong from a Berlin address. Wannsee, Müggelsee, and Tegeler See all sit inside Berlin’s own twelve boroughs, so Berlin’s stricter under-12 rule governs fishing there, the same lakes covered by SettledIn’s own Wannsee and Müggelsee swimming safety guide. Head out along the Spree into Brandenburg, or down to the Spreewald, and the same family lands under Brandenburg’s considerably looser age-8 (or, since April 2026, accompanied any-age) system instead. A family renting a canoe or kayak on the Spree lakes and stopping to fish along the way should check, before assuming either state’s rule applies by default, whether that particular stretch of water is inside Berlin’s city limits or already in Brandenburg; the difference between a 9-year-old fishing independently and a 9-year-old restricted to sharing an adult’s rod comes down entirely to that.

What Real Anglers Say About Moving Between the Two Systems

Reaction to Brandenburg’s April 2026 reform on Anglerboard.de’s forum started with some confusion: one early poster joked about inviting several neighboring families along so every child at a birthday party could fish with their own line, only for more experienced members to correct the misunderstanding, pointing out the child must use one of the supervising adult’s own two hand-lines, not an additional rod per child, and that anything caught still counts against the adult’s own daily limit. Other posters criticized the initial thread for relying on a tech blog rather than an official source, and pointed newcomers toward the Landesanglerverband Brandenburg or government pages directly, a reasonable instinct given how specific the actual supervision requirements are.

A separate, older Anglerboard.de thread is a useful warning for any family moving to Berlin from elsewhere in Germany. The original poster held a valid Fischereischein from North Rhine-Westphalia, but Berlin’s Fischereiamt would not recognize it once he registered his primary Berlin residence; as one commenter summarized the rule, a license from another Bundesland loses its validity on moving to Berlin. His actual problem was worse than just needing a new license: he’d lost the certificate proving he’d already passed an Anglerprüfung elsewhere, the one document that would have let Berlin waive a retest, so he faced redoing the entire 30-hour course and exam from scratch. Other posters half-jokingly suggested getting a Brandenburg license instead, since it’s administered differently and some described it as cheaper, but that doesn’t solve fishing inside Berlin itself, where a Berlin-issued Fischereischein A is what the Fischereiamt actually checks.

Getting the Adult Fischereischein A in Berlin

Anyone 14 or older wanting the full, unrestricted license goes through the same route in both states: a preparatory course followed by the Anglerprüfung. The Fischereiamt Berlin’s own exam page confirms the Fischereischein A is only issued to someone who has completed a preparatory course of at least 30 hours and then passed the Anglerprüfung, which tests fish biology and management, species identification, water-body care, aquatic ecology, tackle, humane fish handling, and the relevant law covering fisheries, water, animal welfare, and nature protection. Both the course and the exam are run by Berlin’s two recognized regional associations, VDSF Berlin-Brandenburg and DAV Landesverband Berlin, not by the Fischereiamt itself, and take place exclusively in German, with no electronic translation aids permitted during the exam.

Once the exam is passed (or waived through an equivalent qualification), the license itself is issued at the Fischereiamt Berlin. The office sits at Havelchaussee 149/151, 14055 Berlin (Charlottenburg), open Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays 9am to 1pm, Thursdays 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm, and closed Wednesdays; typical waiting time runs about 15 minutes, longer during the March-to-June peak season. Applicants bring proof of the passed exam (or an accepted equivalent, such as an exam passed in another German state, a Fischereischein predating 30 April 1995, or an angling-association membership card from that era), a valid passport or national ID, a current Meldebescheinigung if using a passport, and a passport photo; a minor applying for the Jugendfischereischein instead needs parental consent with a copy of the guardian’s ID. A five-year Fischereischein A costs 27 euros, a one-year version costs 18 euros, and either way the mandatory Fischereiabgabe adds 21 euros a year on top, a fee waived for people without a Berlin main residence who already hold another state’s license.

Nationality itself plays no role in any of this. What Berlin’s Fischereiamt actually checks is a registered primary residence (Anmeldung) in Berlin, not citizenship, so a newcomer family’s eligibility to apply turns entirely on being properly registered, the same registration step already needed for most other German bureaucracy.

Step by Step

1. Work out which state the water is actually in before assuming a rule. Wannsee, Müggelsee, and Tegeler See are Berlin waters, governed by Berlin’s stricter under-12 rule; the Spree lakes further out and the Spreewald are Brandenburg waters, governed by its far looser age-based system.
2. If your child is under 12 and you’re fishing anywhere inside Berlin, plan for them to share your rod. They legally can’t cast an independent line there yet, so bring an extra stool or chair rather than a second rod.
3. If you’re fishing in Brandenburg and your child is 8 or older, get them their own Angelkarte for that specific water before you go. No Fischereischein and no exam are required, and since January 2026 no Fischereiabgabe either if they’re under 14.
4. If your child is younger than 8 and you want them to try fishing in Brandenburg, plan to hand them one of your own two rods and stay constantly at their side. Since the April 2026 reform, this is legal, but you still handle all netting, unhooking, and killing yourself, and their catch counts against your own limit.
5. Once your child turns 12 in Berlin, apply for a Jugendfischereischein through DAV Landesverband Berlin or VDSF Berlin-Brandenburg. You’ll need an Angelkarte, club membership, and written proof of instruction from a Fischereischein A or B holder.
6. If you’re moving to Berlin from elsewhere in Germany, find your original Fischereischein exam certificate before you pack it away. Berlin won’t recognize your old license, but producing that certificate waives having to retake the Anglerprüfung; without it, expect to redo the full 30-hour course and exam.

Compliance Note

This page describes fishing-license rules for children published by the Fischereiamt Berlin, DAV Landesverband Berlin, Brandenburg’s MLEUV, and Landesanglerverband Brandenburg, current as of mid-2026, including two Brandenburg rule changes that took effect on 1 January 2026 and 23 April 2026. Fees, office hours, and the precise legal text can and do change; confirm current details directly with the Fischereiamt Berlin or the relevant Brandenburg authority before relying on this page to plan a specific outing, especially given how recently both states’ rules moved.