Fishing Germany's largest lake

[scuro2]

The Bodensee is Germany's largest lake yet is not even twice the size of lake Simcoe here in Ontario. It feeds the famous Rhine river and was first mentioned before Christ was born. The lake is the drinking source for millions of people and has been inhabited and fished for thousands and thousands of years.

 

Landscapes such as this one, as the lake forms the Rhine, are burned into my childhood memory. We would spend most summers here until my parents separated.

 

The lake is the catch basin for the northern Alps which we hiked as children. Vistas such as this one are also burned into my memory some of which I rediscovered on this trip some 35 years later.

 

Eight years earlier on my last trip to Europe I got my "sportsfischer" license and caught virtually nothing. To fish this lake commercially one has to become a professional fishermen requiring several years of apprenticeship. The blue paper in this pic is my onetime lifetime national German license. The pink paper is the regional license which has particular rules for this region. One has to study and pass a tough fact based exam to get a sporting license. If you hold a valid Canadian license they will allow you to buy a license. The heavily shaded areas on the map are regions of exclusive fishing rights where no one can fish except the holder of these rights.

 

I was lucky enough to meet such a man. In this picture he showing us the waters which he controls. These rights are bought and sold much like our dairy rights are bought and sold in Ontario. His rights go back 500 years and he was given these rights by his father. I asked him if he thought they were valuable and he said yes. The rights also confer upon the holder the right of passage through these waters since the fishermen 500 years ago were mainly the ones who had boats.

 

Before one judges all of this as needlessly bureaucracy consider that Germany has a population of 80 million with only a handful of larger lakes. It is a rules based society and as such works at it's best with intelligent rules that have worked for centuries like the German beer purity act of 1516. In Germany one still buys a literal CASE of beer.

 

...and drinking beer there is an other worldly experience. Try this experiment here in Canada with one of our leading breweries. Take a look to see if foam hangs on the side of the glass after it is poured. This picture was taken 10 minutes after I finished my beer. Kill such regulations and quality would definitely suffer.

 

The fishing has declined on the Bodensee over the last few years and regulations are to blame. The three countries whose shoreline encompasses the lake came to a comprehensive agreement to extensively control the quality of water entering the lake. The lake was going down hill fast in the 70's mainly due to nitrates. The water reminded me of Lake Erie of that time period. Within three decades the water is probably cleaner then it has been in centuries. The lake is gin clear now. The giant weed beds which I used to snorkel as a child have mostly disappeared and protective fish habitat for small fish has disappeared with it.

 

The professional fishermen mostly fish with nets that go down deep before they spread. I should know I hooked one on the troll. In this picture they appear to be spreading a net.

 

You are not allowed to troll with a motor on this lake so fish are caught commercially as they were many generations previously. I never did have a chance to talk to such a fishernen but in this pic I believe he is trolling with a net. I have also seen them trolling deep with a single line. The number of professionals fishing this lake is in a steep decline and they stock a million fingerlings of the choice species every year.

 

For this trip the goal was Felchen which are particular to this region of Europe and if I understand this correctly a subspecies of whitefish. They fish for them like we do walleye. You will find small groups of fishermen anchored on choice spots at a particular time of day. On this trip I learned I that I am definitely not a finesse fishermen with patience. These fish are bought.

 

We did catch eels with my cousin. I'm not to big on eel fishing.

 

New to me was this fish. This was the only larger fish that I saw cruising the shore. It is supposed to be related to the carp yet has silver scales.

 

I did catch pike to the amazement of many over there. I had it dialed in during a hot week with leadcore. One fish surprised me with it's size. I'd say 30 inches or so and it was doing a good job of bending the rod at boat side. I had to let off on the drag due to a borrowed rod so I never got a good look at it. The weather got cold and rainy after that and I never got the new pattern down.

 

Even though I only caught four pike on many tries it was enchanted fishing with a chorus of church and cow bells.

 

This one was a family vacation and one that we all enjoyed.

Edited August 13, 2010 by scuro2

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

very cool report

[solopaddler]

Fantastic post, absolutely fascinating.

 

My dad's side of the family is German and in my youth we travelled and explored the Rhine as well.

[kerr]

best report in a good while, good job

[msp]

I love the reports from over seas. Great scenery shots. A place that I would love to visit someday.

Thaks for the recap of your trip.

[Sandbag]

Great report. Love reading about the fishing in other countries. Thanks for taking the time to put that togeter.

 

Beautiful family as well

 

Cheers

 

Craig

[Marko]

Great report, just awesome!

That fish that you are not sure about, i think its Leuciscus cephaulus, some sort of a European chub. I used to catch when i lived in Europe. They would hit small spinners, also caught them float fishing on just about any live insect even frogs.

[castgame]

very interesting report! neat to see a pike in germany. what a prolific fish.

[craigdritchie]

Thanks for that, I really enjoyed it. Wonderful pictures, especially the first two. Wife and I are visiting Germany in September, and I'm looking forward to trying my luck. And, trying the beer, of course!

Edited August 13, 2010 by Craig_Ritchie

[corvette1]

awesome trip congrats

 

 

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Man, Europe's towns are so compact and the streets so narrow. That mountain shot looks like it was taken out of the movie "sound of music".

[OhioFisherman]

Cool pics, Europe and North America used to be connected according to geologists, not really surprising to see some similar looking species of fish.

[anders]

simply amazing...thanks for putting that together

[asdve23rveavwa]

Beautiful, my mother is German, dad is Austrian...travelled there when I was 12. Would love to go back some day.

Great report!!!!

[Roy]

Great post and fantastic pictures! Thanks for taking the time.

 

 

I don't know how to ask you this but there are a bunch of members here who want to know if there are any docks on that lake.

[Mike Pike]

A great report and very interesting stuff. Thanks for posting that. I love hearing about lakes and fishing from other parts of the world.

[Rich Clemens]

Great report Scuro2. Got any more pics from over there you'd like to share ?

[SudburyAngler]

Great report

[bucktail]

That is a very cool report....thanks!

i love seeing how things are done in other parts as well as the culture involved.

If I remember that lake caughed up a 55 pound pike once....i may be wrong tho

[SudburyAngler]

I would love to fish there one day

[pikehunter]

A really, really good report on a great vacation.

[scuro2]

I don't know how to ask you this but there are a bunch of members here who want to know if there are any docks on that lake.

Imagine a lake about 40% bigger than Simcoe is and the only real lake within a 4 hour car ride and also the best lake. Now imagine that 10-20 million people within that radius. We are freer to much a greater degree because we can be. We have the space and the water.

 

I did talk about boats with some people there. Even on the national Swiss holiday that lake was no busier than Muskoka is on any given weekend. They limit the amount of mooring space on the lake and this is how they limit boat traffic. I believe they also restrict personal docks. Each village has it's own dock where I am sure you could keep a fishing boat, it would just cost you a pretty penny. I did see a dock on a property but if I remember the conversation correctly they are "grandfathered". Earlier anyone could build a dock. There are also restrictions on motors and they must be inspected yearly by the government. All of this happened back when they tackled the poor water quality issues many decades ago. Shoreline must be preserved and no new changes can be made. They are very strict about all of this.

 

The other issue that people key in on about Germany is the myth that you have to kill your catch. First of all if I were a German I probably would kill my catch because you are more likely to get skunked than to catch a single fish. Germans also have the mentality of the hunter and catch and release sounds nuts to many of them. You are allowed to release fish, just not injured fish and in no way can you keep fish to be released at a later point. A stringer would be verbotten!! There are catch limits but no worse than in Canada. What was interesting were other regulations like no fishing from a boat at night and no using spoons. My kiwi did very well. What fascinates me is that the important water quality regulations are followed by Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. There is hope for Lake Ontario and Erie.

Edited August 14, 2010 by scuro2

[The Urban Fisherman]

wow awesomr report thanks fortaking the time to post!

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[SudburyAngler]

I enjoyed your comment scuro2

[lunkerbasshunter]

wow some incredible scenery shots there!!! What an awesome out of country report!

 

Cheers!