Fliegenfischer - Forum

My husband and I are visiting Passau in October 2022. My father grew up in Erlau b Passau and has told us of wonderful times spent by the Erlau River. Over the years he has taught us to fly fish. During our visit to Erlau we hope to enjoy fly fishing on the Erlau River. We are looking for a fishing guide, need help finding out legal fishing dates in October, and help getting permits/licenses for the Erlau River. Thank you very much for welcoming us to this forum and for your help. My email is michael.susangobbo@gmail.com

Hi Susan and Michael,
now you've got an account here - great!
As I told you before, I've got no clue about fishing in Bavaria but I'm sure that there will be someone on Board who's able to help you.

Best regards
Harald

This Club is the owner of at least a part of the River: http://www.bfv-passau.de
Maybe get in contact with them ( http://www.bfv-passau.de/Servicebereich/Kontakt ) and ask if they sell licenses or can help you find another stretch of the river that offers tourist licenses. If you are really lucky maybe even someone from them could take you to the river.

But to be honest i would not have too high hopes, in germany it is usually not that easy to get licenses for these kind of waters, usually you have to be in a club, as a tourist your best bet is to choose a hotel wich own part of a stream.
Also for a lot of trout waters october is already off season...

Hi Susan,

in Germany/Bavaria there is no true public water - it's all private. Usually there are fishing clubs managing rivers on behalf of owners. In your case it is the Fischereiverein Hauzenberg e.V. (https://www.fischereiverein-hauzenberg. ... ser/erlau/) and according to the posting above another club (presumably a different part of that river). According to their homepage the Fischereiverein Hauzenberg is a quite small club. I would consider to contact them first as they have the lower stretch (more species in the water might help reg. fishing dates) and du eto size they might be more willing to support as it is then usually less formal.

Guiding in flyfishing is therefore also not a true business in Bavaria. Most Clubs would not accept guiding on their rivers via comercial guides. However, they usually are willing to support visitors and if timelines work out well there will be somebody from the club accompanying you, helping with access to the water and other questions.

Aside that you will need to consider legal restrictions. In Bavaria you need to get a fishing permit from the state to purchase a license for fishing. You can get that in any city/village at the major's office. You will need a passport picture, an ID and a proof that you have fished in your own country. As in US there is no test to passed for fishing permissions you might want to take an old fishing license (e.g. if you bought one for your state), a membership card of a fishing club and in case you don't have any documents available take some catches on your mobile and show it to the fellas. In Munich this is fairly buerocratic and takes lots of time, in small cities this is fairly uncomplicated.

Time wise October can be challenging if Erlau is a true brown trout water. The spawning season is in autumn and fishing on brown trouts shoud end by end of September. That's why waters with mainly/only brown trouts usually close the season by end of October. In case there are Rainbow Trouts fishing until end of October should be possible. Unfortunately there is no information reg. this on their wegpage.

Catch and Release is not as accepted as in US - you might not want to mention this within the conversations but rather wait and see what the club guys comment towards you reg. this. It's due to legal restrictions not that they want to catch&cook everthing but they might be cautious on any statements reg. this.

I would suggest you contact the club - they have a conatct form at their page. In case of any language barriers pls. let me know and I try to support you. keep my fingers crossed.

I think if you consider some lead time and approach them friendly there are chances. However it takes some effort and iterations when organizing this...

BR

Markus

Dear Susan

What my fellow colleagues posted is quite true, especially all th legal stuff - be sure you discuss it all with the club members.

But while fishing, licenses and guiding isn't understood in Germany the same way you to it overseas, I don't agree with some pessimism here: Tell your story, when you'r asking for their support. Usually the site or mailbox admin might be - compared to some grumpy old fisherman in "Lederhosen an Seppl-Hat" - a bit more open minded guy. You might catch is interest. Taking an old "locals" kids fo a days fishing might fetch some club mebers curiosity and just for the fun of fishing with you, they might grant an exception in case they dont issue guest licenses by standard. You quite likely won't have a guide to your standards: no coffee, no campfire, noone tying flies to your leader. Just a guy in his teenager years or an reteried man showing you around fo a fee or a nice tip (but quite likely they know this piece of water like the back of their hand). And you might also be luky, if you offer a donation for the club. If your willing to chip in just the quater or half of what you might calculate for a guide in you homewaters, this should be a nice donation for the club.

To our standards, such personal and financial wouldn't be reasonable for such water. But having the familiy history part and the long trip your doing anyways in mind, I might consider the spending too.


Good Luck,
Christina

Gute Tag Kind Friends,

Thank you very much for your advice to help my husband and I find a fishing guide/member to help us trace my roots to the town of Erlau b Passau, its countryside and its wonderful Erlau RIver. Hopefully someone from one of the clubs you mentioned will allow us the privilege of fishing one day the beautiful Erlau River to experience what my elderly father, Josef Watzinger, cherished as a boy and young man. We have taken your advice and contacted both fishing clubs of Hauzenberg and of Passau, explaining that we both have much experience both spin and fly fishing and don't need help fishing. Instead, we hope for just one day of access to this special, treasured Erlau River we have heard memories of for so long. We also took the advice to mention family including the many uncles Sepp had within the area by the name Poxleitner (Sepp's maternal uncle had a home on the Ilz River that he recalls flooding often) and the name Watzinger. Maybe someone will remember those names and be more inclined to grant us permission to their river. Plus, we explained to them that we are a very nice, friendly, physically fit mature couple in our 60s with a car and won't need help-just really hoping someone will show us the Erlau River:) and that we are very happy to make a donation to their fishing clubs for such a kind and generous gesture. Thank you all so much for your help!

Hi Susan,

keep my fingers crossed!

As mentioned - in case you need some translation support pls. feel free to drop me a personal message via the board.

BR
Markus

Hello,

It hasn´t been mentioned yet but you will definitively need a German "Fischereischein" to get a fishing license or even to fish in Germany. It´s a must have !

Tourists can apply for a 3 month valid "Touristen Fischereischein". For detailed information please contact e.g. Landesfischereiverband Bayern e.V. on https://lfvbayern.de/fischen/angelfischerei.

Regards
Steff

Steff-Peff hat geschrieben:Hello,

It hasn´t been mentioned yet but you will definitively need a German "Fischereischein" to get a fishing license or even to fish in Germany. It´s a must have !

Tourists can apply for a 3 month valid "Touristen Fischereischein". For detailed information please contact e.g. Landesfischereiverband Bayern e.V. on https://lfvbayern.de/fischen/angelfischerei.

Regards
Steff

Hi Steff,

second post in this thread...

BR
Markus

Hallo Markus,

in dem Post interpretiere ich es als Tageskarte (stretch of the river). Ein Verein gibt keine Fischereischeine aus.

Sorry for switching to German.

The Hotel Forstinger is only about 20 minutes away from Passau in Austria: https://www.hotel-forstinger.at/en/. It offers its own fishing sections in two waters and guiding. In Austria it is very easy with the licenses and catch & release allowed. Fishing is still allowed in October, not for brown trout, but for rainbow trout and grayling.
Perhaps an addition to the Erlau?

LG Sepp

Maggov hat geschrieben:s.

Aside that you will need to consider legal restrictions. In Bavaria you need to get a fishing permit from the state to purchase a license for fishing. You can get that in any city/village at the major's office. You will need a passport picture, an ID and a proof that you have fished in your own country. As in US there is no test to passed for fishing permissions you might want to take an old fishing license (e.g. if you bought one for your state), a membership card of a fishing club and in case you don't have any documents available take some catches on your mobile and show it to the fellas. In Munich this is fairly buerocratic and takes lots of time, in small cities this is fairly uncomplicated.

Hi Steff,

sorry, war der dritte Post und ich habe nicht verlinkt sondern beschrieben was es braucht weil das alles deutsch ist.

Danke dass Du helfen willst, bitte nicht falsch verstehen.

LG
Markus

Hi Markus,
alles gut Mein Fehler.
So steht aber zumindest die Bezeichnung des benötigten Dokumentes auch mal da.

Schönes WE

Gruß
Steff