Fishing the Danube river

[Darren N]

In fall of 2020 my wife and I for our 30th anniversary are going on a Scenic river cruise on the Danube river going through countries like Hungary, Austria and Germany... I inquired to the tour what the chances and prospects are to bring my fly rod along and if any fishing was possible. They had no answer for me so I thought I would reach out here.

Anyone know any info they can share? - the most I got online is I would have to take some courses in some countries to get a license for a day and some countries are vague on foreigner fishing that require that. I was more thinking on shore fishing at stops along the way if possible and I wont be able to register for any courses but would be willing if a fish shop is near by that would sell me a day license even if I fish just for a few hours. PS - my wife is fine with this.

[Dean2]

https://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/fishing-in-germany-within-anglers-reach-2/

Found this by Googling Fishing Regulations Germany. There was lots more links. Seems pretty simple as a visitor license, no test required. Might want to check for more current but Germany typically doesn't change regs that often, at least from the hunting I have done there. Hope it helps.

http://fishinglicence.eu/germany

[Darren N]

https://www.kaiserslauternamerican.com/fishing-in-germany-within-anglers-reach-2/

Found this by Googling Fishing Regulations Germany. There was lots more links. Seems pretty simple as a visitor license, no test required. Might want to check for more current but Germany typically doesn't change regs that often, at least from the hunting I have done there. Hope it helps.

http://fishinglicence.eu/germany

Thanks. Shall look into.

[BEL]

My wife and I finished a Rhine river cruise 2 weeks ago. We saw several people fishing and\or camping along the way. All of the fishermen fished from shore using weights and some sort of bait. Just throw it in and let it sit. Get a comfy chair and let the world pass by.
Only saw one hunting fishing store in our travels through the cities we stopped at so I would bring my own gear. I would do research about the river Danube enquiring about it’s fishing history past and present. Good luck. BEL. Oh ya, just remembered something. We visited the Rhine river falls and while walking the shore I noticed dozens of fish swimming by. I asked one of the guides what they were. He told me the name in German, of course not making sense to me. He said the spawn was on.

[Darren N]

My wife and I finished a Rhine river cruise 2 weeks ago. We saw several people fishing and\or camping along the way. All of the fishermen fished from shore using weights and some sort of bait. Just throw it in and let it sit. Get a comfy chair and let the world pass by.
Only saw one hunting fishing store in our travels through the cities we stopped at so I would bring my own gear. I would do research about the river Danube enquiring about it’s fishing history past and present. Good luck. BEL. Oh ya, just remembered something. We visited the Rhine river falls and while walking the shore I noticed dozens of fish swimming by. I asked one of the guides what they were. He told me the name in German, of course not making sense to me. He said the spawn was on.

Good to hear - thanks. My biggest concern is trying to find a place to get a license when I want to fish. I have a 7 piece flyrod and case that's easy to pack so not concerned about that. I guess they cant give me a hard time if I fish from the boat - except maybe my wife.

[Sundancefisher]

Good to hear - thanks. My biggest concern is trying to find a place to get a license when I want to fish. I have a 7 piece flyrod and case that's easy to pack so not concerned about that. I guess they cant give me a hard time if I fish from the boat - except maybe my wife.

I wouldn’t ask about fishing from the boat. Typically if asked an outfit would say no in advance. Hardly will a hospitality person want to wreck your fun after paying unless you are harming another guests enjoyment like being in their view/distracting or lines whizzing by faces.

You may find fishing from a boat difficult if you are up from the water. You may need a telescoping trave fishing net.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=25Wn3ilmsRo

Fishing from shore may be hit or miss. Not all locations will be good and not all will have fishing access.

Suggest you look for a FB page or do some tweeting to maybe find a local buddy interested in meeting up to share fishing tricks.

As mentioned above. Fishing is more likely bait versus fly. You can find similar species like pike, Zander (walleye) and sturgeon as well as the Wels catfish. Can grow huge but mostly caught after dark.

Hope it works out as I may follow your lead some day.

[pinelakeperch]

I fished the Danube out of Dunaujvaros when I was 14. My cousin showed me pictures of large wels catfish of over 100lbs. We used cutbait and large rapala jointed floaters, to no avail. The river was running extremely high at the time and I remember fishing in a flooded tree line and seeing a wels jump. It made the biggest splash I’ve ever seen a freshwater fish make. What a rush! I also recall my cousin using a sort of sickle shaped wood contraption that he’d thrust into the water to attract wels cats. I think it had something to do with the sound waves; I don’t recall. My Hungarian was (and is) very limited, and his English was also very limited.

I also fished a tributary of the Danube in a village called Apostag. We caught a ton of very small cats that would be like our bullheads. I’m not sure if they were actually a bullhead or a juvenile wels, but they were fun to catch and tasty nonetheless.

Great memories :sHa_shakeshout:

[Darren N]

Ya - I think i may just bring my fly rod just in case we dock somewhere and I can run around the corner of the bank and make a few discrete casts- and if I can get a license? Play it by ear - may not have that chance, but if I don't bring my rod then its 100 percent no chance. I agree fishing from the boat is too advertising.

And yes I have read up on the tributaries as well and they are beautiful clear green stream fishing for cutts. Not exactly know the lay of the land of what I will see - but you never know.

[jeprli]

Bring a bunch of white streamers, some with heavy heads. Your most likely targets will be asp and euro perch. Zander is a possibility early morning/last light along the rocky/overgrown shoreline. A switch or even a lighter spey would make your life a lot easie, danube is huge.

[curtis_rak]

This isn’t a very successful fish story...... but, I Did a Danube cruise with Viking a few years ago and brought a couple packable rods, two reels and some random terminal tackle, and a few lures. This was in August so the river wasn’t crazy high.

Every night when the boat was moving you would see lanterns, and fires of fisherman on the shore fishing for catfish. It seems like Hungary had the most fisherman along the river bank compared to Slovakia, Austria and Germany.

Being on the cruise it wasn’t super easy to find a place to fish that was any good. The places they dock the boats are either busy with other boats, or just don’t have great shoreline (deep, and fast). However I did fish in Austria on the river. We finally were docked within walking distance of a man made boat channel where the water was slack. Me and another guy from the boat grabbed every kind of bait we could find from the dinner table (he was from the UK so he suggested breadballs for catfish and carp). We fished all evening until it was time for the boat to leave and didn’t have any good bites. Just lost bait to small fish constantly. But it was a nice night and we drank our beers on the shore waiting for bites with the Wachau Valley in the background.

I think if we had a way to get fresh cut-bait it may have made a difference. But the logistics of keeping bait on a high end cruise ship isn’t easy. Lol.




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[pinelakeperch]

This isn’t a very successful fish story...... but, I Did a Danube cruise with Viking a few years ago and brought a couple packable rods, two reels and some random terminal tackle, and a few lures. This was in August so the river wasn’t crazy high.

Every night when the boat was moving you would see lanterns, and fires of fisherman on the shore fishing for catfish. It seems like Hungary had the most fisherman along the river bank compared to Slovakia, Austria and Germany.

Being on the cruise it wasn’t super easy to find a place to fish that was any good. The places they dock the boats are either busy with other boats, or just don’t have great shoreline (deep, and fast). However I did fish in Austria on the river. We finally were docked within walking distance of a man made boat channel where the water was slack. Me and another guy from the boat grabbed every kind of bait we could find from the dinner table (he was from the UK so he suggested breadballs for catfish and carp). We fished all evening until it was time for the boat to leave and didn’t have any good bites. Just lost bait to small fish constantly. But it was a nice night and we drank our beers on the shore waiting for bites with the Wachau Valley in the background.

I think if we had a way to get fresh cut-bait it may have made a difference. But the logistics of keeping bait on a high end cruise ship isn’t easy. Lol.




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My cousin and I used a single maggot on a small hook and caught piles of shiners(?) for cut bait from the dock. Great times!

[Darren N]

Great thanks guys - that was helpful and gives me some hope. Ya - I agree also some big streamers would be the best. If I find a trib to fish I'll bring some nymphs and maybe dries as well.

[BEL]

We just completed a walk through the Black Forest west of Freiburg Germany. Lake titisee actually. Looked like a Great Lake to fly fish. Thought occurred to me to tell u to look and plan ahead. Maybe close by u where u dock, you could hire a guide. Sometimes u have many hours where u could be on yr own or maybe yr wife wants to hit a particular town and u could do yr own thing. BEL

[Darren N]

We just completed a walk through the Black Forest west of Freiburg Germany. Lake titisee actually. Looked like a Great Lake to fly fish. Thought occurred to me to tell u to look and plan ahead. Maybe close by u where u dock, you could hire a guide. Sometimes u have many hours where u could be on yr own or maybe yr wife wants to hit a particular town and u could do yr own thing. BEL

Thanks - that's the plan.

[Barry D]

I did an adventure boat trip on the Amazon river in Peru a few years a go and took my collapsable rod just in case I had a chance to catch a Peacock Bass. The guides knew the name and the sound of all 1,500 birds in the forest, but knew nothing about the fish or the fishing technique to try. After a zodiac boat ride up a tributary to check out for exotic birds, we all went for a swim. I got in the boat a little early to try and see if I could catch a fish or two. Well on the first case using a large panther marten I had a fight on. Well once the the swimmers saw me pull in a oversize piraña, the swimming came to a abrupt end. The guides just said "Huh, I didn't expect to see them here". I went on to catch on almost every case till we left after our shore lunch. One of the best memories of that trip. That spinner looked like a beer can after a macho contest with a bunch of teenage boys. I keep the hook in my tackle box just to show other fishermen the power those little monsters have.

I'll be on the Zambezi River in Africa this next winter. I'll take the gear just in case I get a chance. Anyone with history on that River? Starting at the Victoria falls in Zambia, and heading upstream.