To analyse the relationship between spawning migrations and flow, cyprinids from ten fish ladders of the Elbe River (Czech Republic) were collected during the period of spawning migrations (April-June) in 1996, 2000 and 2001. Number of species and individuals in the fish ladders increased with increasing flow up to medium values, followed by further decrease during high flows, whilst length of individuals increased with increasing flow. Moreover, occurrence of four the most numerous species (bleak, roach, silver bream and barbel) showed species specific differences in response to flow variability. In early spring, the highest number of bleak in fish ladders occurred during the low flow, whilst later increased with increasing flow. Occurrence of roach and silver bream achieved the maximum during the medium flow values across the whole studied period. In opposite, occurrence of barbel increased with increasing flows during the whole period.