Bodensee fisherman expects 25% higher catch after warm summer

Professional fisherman Franz Blum expects to catch about 25% more fish from Lake Constance this year than last year, ORF Vorarlberg reports. He cautioned that catches remain below those of better years.

The warmer water appears to have suited some fish, especially perch, known locally as Kretzer or Egli. Blum says they are currently turning up in his nets in large numbers. Perch can be caught for only a few months of the year, while whitefish, or Felchen, remains the fishery’s most important species economically.

The past few years have been difficult for Lake Constance’s professional fishermen, with invasive species including quagga mussels and signal crayfish, as well as cormorants, making fishing harder. The number of professional fishermen in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg has fallen from 15 a decade ago to five, according to Nikolaus Schotzko, head of the state’s fisheries centre. Around the lake, including across the Austrian border, there are 60 in 2026.

Lake Constance’s water level fell significantly over the summer and now stands at 257 centimetres. The low level is especially visible at Rohrspitz in the Rhine delta.

Whitefish fishing will be allowed again in the lake’s Upper Lake from 2027, but under stricter rules. The decision was made by the lake’s neighbouring jurisdictions: Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Fishermen will use wider-mesh nets, and catches will be permitted on only a limited number of days between May and August. Before the three-year protection period, whitefish could be caught for almost the whole year. Blum says fishing will resume cautiously, and the extent to which the stock has recovered remains to be seen.

Blum says the day’s catch is difficult to predict before setting out, and urges customers to be open to eating different kinds of fish, including tench, catfish or pike.

Biologist Walter Niederer says Lake Constance’s large volume of water helped fish fare better than those in smaller streams during the hot summer. Some streams dried up completely, including the Ruggbach in the Leiblach valley. In the Old Rhine at Höchst, low water made the river warmer, which Niederer says helped its fish grow well. But he warned that less rain in future could create problems there too.