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 person who owns the land down to a stream or lake. Therefore, local fishing licenses must be purchased, which grant permission to fish in the various sections of the river. Fishing from the canoe along the way is prohibited.

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.

Dams, which have been built in several places to utilize hydropower, have over time caused salmon and sea trout to now only be found in the river and its tributaries downstream of Tange Lake. Eel fishing was also of great importance, but the large number of eel traps, where the eels are simply filtered from the water, has over time made a large dent in the stock.

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 the Gudenåen river and at the adjacent lakes. On long stretches of the Gudenåen between Tørring and Mossø, grayling is the most common fish. The grayling was introduced from the Skjern Å in the 1930s and released in the upper part of the Gudenåen. The brown trout, which lives its entire life in streams, is found throughout the Gudenåen system and is exciting for anglers to catch.

In and around the lakes, there are other fish species, depending on whether the water is clear or murky. In the murky lakes, there are bream, roach, and small perch, which together are called peaceful fish. Peaceful fish live 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 lives on smaller fish, hence its name. In the clear water, there is a good balance between peaceful and predatory fish. There is no overweight of one species.

However, the discharge of nutrient salts makes several of the lakes in the Gudenåen system murky. Here, it is especially the peaceful fish that thrive, that is, roach and bream, as they do not need to be able to see in order to find prey in the same way as the predatory fish. An exception, however, is the predatory fish zander. These hunt without the help of sight and are therefore found in large numbers. Life in the water can be studied more closely by visiting AQUA, the freshwater museum in Silkeborg, which can be reached by sailing via Brassø, where you can dock right by the museum.