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 at it's best with 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.
