Fishing in Europe

I went on a trip to Switzerland to visit some family, where I went fishing, and I figured the difference in cultural norms might be an interesting read for some here.

The rules are incredibly strict here, catch and release is heavily frowned upon, and according to some sources, it's illegal. We kept the fish that were above the size limits.

You're required to humanely kill the fish with a fish mallet, so no livewells or stringers.

You need a fishing license to fish with anything other than a piece of corn, worms, or bread, from shore.

If you want to use lures, fish on the bottom (without a float), or use multiple rods, you need a license, which mandates you take a 120 question competency test.

Overall, the fishing was fun, the scenery was beautiful, and unfortunately, I still haven't caught a European perch, which were cruising in front of my spot for the entire time. Attachment 432372Attachment 432371Attachment 432373

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Interesting. Carp catching is pretty popular over there isn’t it?

Very interesting. Thanks for reading

Different for sure. Hunting is even more strict! Thanks for sharing your knowledge

Yeah they funny there. Thanks for sharing.

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120 questions for a fishing license? Wow. Hardly seems worth it, OTOH maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity. Glad you had fun!
Bob

Are the reel handles only on the left like the steering wheels in Europe? :Rofl

Actually I know the vast majority of countries this is not true and they most all drive on the right like we do. Son is stationed overseas.

Good read. I’d have to give it a try if I had the chance.

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Originally Posted by keeferfish

Are the reel handles only on the left like the steering wheels in Europe? :Rofl

Actually I know the vast majority of countries this is not true and they most all drive on the right like we do. Son is stationed overseas.

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In New Zealand they drive on the left, and when I was there it drove me absolutely crazy. It's the weirdest feeling, driving or even just being a passenger.

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Originally Posted by BobC

120 questions for a fishing license? Wow. Hardly seems worth it, OTOH maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity. Glad you had fun!
Bob

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Thankfully you don't need to get one for the free bank fishing, and some regions allow you to buy a day or week license without the test.

Edit: I misread the article I looked up. There are 150 questions, but only 70 are graded. So slightly better than I initially thought. It was a 3rd party service offering the 120 question practice test. What I found hilarious was that whenever I caught a fish, people fishing next to me would attempt to identify it to practice for their test.
Apologies!

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Some time ago I read an article on fishing practices in Europe and in the article it mentioned that, in Germany, it was illegal to fish close to brush or trees in the water. The reason given was that if you hook a fish and it gets into the trees and breaks off, the fish will still be hooked and most likely "tied up" to the trees/brush. This was considered inhumane to the fish.

Fishing for carp is very popular in Europe and has been for at least a couple hundred years. That is the reason we have carp in the U.S.. They were brought over to provide a protein source and provide reactional angling.

ClearCreek

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Originally Posted by ClearCreek

Some time ago I read an article on fishing practices in Europe and in the article it mentioned that, in Germany, it was illegal to fish close to brush or trees in the water. The reason given was that if you hook a fish and it gets into the trees and breaks off, the fish will still be hooked and most likely "tied up" to the trees/brush. This was considered inhumane to the fish.

Fishing for carp is very popular in Europe and has been for at least a couple hundred years. That is the reason we have carp in the U.S.. They were brought over to provide a protein source and provide reactional angling.

ClearCreek

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Interesting. Have not heard of that, but I'm not surprised.

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If you catch a bigger fish, you gonna need a bigger bat......:Rofl

I’m very curious to know what’s on the test! Feel like competency tests should be used for alot of practices, but fishing is a surprising one lol.


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I haven't found much info online, but the following is a mix of speculation and stuff I've heard from others. I think it's mostly fish ID, regulations, some anatomy and treatment practices, and the use of techniques that minimize risk to the fish.

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carp are said to be the number one food fish in the world , in that part of the world they take carp ketchn really serious ....
btw ,if you think they have silly rules , read my post on the must have a certain color float in the nw usa to ketch crappie .....:banghead

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

carp are said to be the number one food fish in the world , in that part of the world they take carp ketchn really serious ....
btw ,if you think they have silly rules , read my post on the must have a certain color float in the nw usa to ketch crappie .....:banghead

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The carp tasted great, a bit bony though. Filleted it, coated in flour and pepper, and then fried, added lemon juice after.

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Originally Posted by CTPanfisher

The carp tasted great, a bit bony though. Filleted it, coated in flour and pepper, and then fried, added lemon juice after.

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used to actually eat a few when I was a young one , not terribly poor table fair as is often mentioned , when fried many fish are just fish , hard to tell what they are in some cases
one of those nights of columbus fish fry events back when I got invited to ran out of catfish and was using carp and not a soul ever had a clue and kept eating them like no tomorrow .....:Rofl

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

used to actually eat a few when I was a young one , not terribly poor table fair as is often mentioned , when fried many fish are just fish , hard to tell what they are in some cases
one of those nights of columbus fish fry events back when I got invited to ran out of catfish and was using carp and not a soul ever had a clue and kept eating them like no tomorrow .....:Rofl

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Lol. So true, was very surprised that most of the fish I had tasted nearly identical when fried, especially since carp get such bad press about their taste.

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

used to actually eat a few when I was a young one , not terribly poor table fair as is often mentioned , when fried many fish are just fish , hard to tell what they are in some cases
one of those nights of columbus fish fry events back when I got invited to ran out of catfish and was using carp and not a soul ever had a clue and kept eating them like no tomorrow .....:Rofl

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id like to know how the carp were cleaned so that they could be passed off as catfish. Have you ever seen the bone structure of a common carp ?

interesting

Probably was fileted. Probably hard to tell then...Don't know...

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Originally Posted by Jamesdean

Probably was fileted. Probably hard to tell then...Don't know...

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We fileted it, there were a lot of bones throughout the filets.

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Very good read

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Originally Posted by BobC

120 questions for a fishing license? Wow. Hardly seems worth it, OTOH maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity. Glad you had fun!
Bob

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Are you kidding? I would jump though any hoop required to be able to fish. I'm moving from Texas, which is very liberal (don't hate me Texans, for saying liberal :Rofl) to Washington State, which is very strict. In Texas we can fish with unlimited rods. In Washington I am going to have to pay a separate fee to use a second rod. There goes spider rigging, when you have a 2 rods maximum limit!

But regardless of what it takes, I will have my license and be on lake as often as I can.