Fishing along Gudenåen

Fishing license:

Persons over the age of 18 must purchase a State Fishing License to fish in Gudenåen and the Silkeborg Lakes on fisketegn.dk.

Fishing license:

The right to fish in streams and lakes belongs to the owner of the land adjacent to a stream or lake. Therefore, local fishing licenses must be purchased that give permission to fish in the different stretches of the river. It is forbidden to fish from the canoe during the trip.

The local fishing license, which is valid from Mossø to Kongensbro Teltplads, including the area around Ry and Silkeborg, can be purchased online at www.silkefiskekort.dk.

Fishing at Gudenåen:

Gudenåen has long been known for a large population of salmon and sea trout that migrated up into the Gudenå system to spawn.

Over the years, dams built in several places to harness hydropower have meant that salmon and sea trout are now only found in the river and its tributaries downstream of Tange Lake. Eel fishing was also of great importance, but the large number of eel boxes, where the eels are simply filtered from the water, has made a big dent in the population over time.

Where the river passes the highway at Ry, Gudenåen's last royal privileged river chest is located, which is now closed.

There are still good opportunities for exciting fishing in Gudenåen and the adjacent lakes. On long stretches of the Gudenåen between Tørring and Mossø, the grayling is the most common fish. The grayling was introduced from Skjern Å in the 1930s and stocked in the upper part of Gudenåen. The brown trout, which has lived its entire life in streams, is found throughout the Gudenå system and is exciting to catch for the angler.

In and around the lakes there are other species of fish, depending on whether the water is clear or murky. In turbid lakes, there are bream, shells and small perch, which are collectively called peace fish. Peacefish feed either on larvae and snails on the bottom or on zooplankton. There are predatory fish such as large perch, pike and zander. The predatory fish feeds on smaller fish, hence its name. In the clear water there is a good balance between peaceful and predatory fish. There is no predominance of one species.

However, the discharge of nutrients makes several of the lakes in the Gudenås system cloudy. Here it is especially the peace fish that thrive, i.e. shells and bream, as they do not need to be able to see to find prey in the same way as predatory fish. One exception, however, is the predatory walleye. These hunt without the aid of sight and are therefore found in large numbers. Life in the water can be studied more closely by visiting the AQUA freshwater museum in Silkeborg, which you can sail to via Brassø, where you can dock right by the museum.