Fishing in Stuttgart

Fish­ing is a great way to relax and enjoy the great out­doors. There are plen­ty of scenic spots with oppor­tu­ni­ties for anglers of all expe­ri­ence lev­els in and around Stuttgart. How­ev­er, it’s impor­tant to under­stand the local rules and leg­is­la­tion that gov­ern fish­ing in the region. This guide will give you a help­ful overview of how to get a fish­ing license, what reg­u­la­tions to fol­low, and good spots for angling in Stuttgart.

Fishing License (Fischereischein)

Fish­ing is strict­ly reg­u­lat­ed in Ger­many, with each state (Bun­des­land) respon­si­ble for reg­u­la­tions with­in its bor­ders. In Baden-Würt­tem­berg, you need a state fish­ing license, or Fis­chereis­chein (also some­times called an Angelshchein) as well as a per­mit from the asso­ci­a­tion or own­er of the local fish­ing rights in the place you’d like to go fishing.

Mandatory Course

In Baden-Würt­tem­berg, all fish­ing license appli­cants must com­plete 30 hours of a prepara­to­ry course and then pass a writ­ten exam. The cours­es cov­er infor­ma­tion on dif­fer­ent types of fish and water, fish biol­o­gy and habi­tats, fish­ing equip­ment, treat­ment of catch, and leg­is­la­tion relat­ed to fish and nature con­ser­va­tion and protection.

Cours­es are offered by many fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions in the area (more infor­ma­tion on them in a lat­er sec­tion). Fish­ing-King offers an online course which may be com­plet­ed at your own pace in a web brows­er or in their app, but it also requires a sin­gle 8‑hour day of in-per­son instruction.

Fishing License Exam (Sportfisherprüfung)

The fish­ing license exam must be tak­en in the fed­er­al state of your pri­ma­ry res­i­dence. If you are not a res­i­dent of Baden-Würt­tem­berg, you’ll need to reg­is­ter in your state. Guests who are not res­i­dents of Ger­many can obtain a tem­po­rary fish­ing license (Frem­den­fis­chereis­chein) in Baden-Würt­tem­berg valid for four weeks by pre­sent­ing a valid fish­ing license from their home coun­try or meet­ing oth­er sim­pli­fied requirements

The fish­ing exam is offered mul­ti­ple times a year in each dis­trict of Baden-Würt­tem­berg, with sched­ules vary­ing by loca­tion. Check with the Lan­des­fis­chereiver­band BW e.V., who over­sees the exams in Baden-Würt­tem­berg, or local author­i­ties for spe­cif­ic dates. All par­tic­i­pants must reg­is­ter in advance and bring their proof of hav­ing com­plet­ed a prepara­to­ry course. Reg­is­tra­tion is avail­able online or through your course provider and clos­es four weeks before each test date.

The exam is a writ­ten test with 60 mul­ti­ple-choice ques­tions. There are five sub­ject areas cov­ered in the test, with 12 ques­tions for each cat­e­go­ry. These are:
– Gen­er­al fish science
– Spe­cial fish science
– Aquat­ic ecol­o­gy and fish conservation
– Equipment
– Legislation

You have two hours to com­plete the test. To pass, you need to answer at least 45 ques­tions cor­rect­ly, with at least 6 cor­rect answers with­in each cat­e­go­ry. After your test has been eval­u­at­ed, you will receive a let­ter in the mail with your pass cer­tifi­cate or a state­ment that you have failed the exam. You can reg­is­ter to retake the exam with­out hav­ing to do anoth­er course.

You can study the com­plete cat­a­log of pos­si­ble ques­tions online.

Fees and Validity

When you pass the exam, you receive a cer­tifi­cate that you can exchange at the local town hall for an offi­cial fish­ing license. The pass cer­tifi­cate from the exam has no expi­ra­tion, but the fish­ing license is lim­it­ed in term.

You can decide to pay for your per­mit to last one, five, or ten years. The license can then be renewed for a fee. The Baden-Würt­tem­berg fish­ing license is rec­og­nized across Germany.

Youth License (Jugendfischereischein)

The youth fish­ing license allows chil­dren and teens from ages 7 to 16 to fish when accom­pa­nied by an adult who has a valid fish­ing license. You can apply for a youth fish­ing license from the local munic­i­pal author­i­ty (Amt für öffentliche Ord­nung, Fis­chereis­che­in­stelle). No exam is required.

Chil­dren and teens who wish to fish with­out super­vi­sion must com­plete a course and pass the exam to get the nor­mal fish­ing license. This option is open to chil­dren as young as 10 years old (hav­ing their 10th birth­day at the lat­est on the day of the exam).

Fishing Permits and Associations

Fishing Permit (Angelkarte / Fischereierlaubnisscheine)

You always need to pur­chase a per­mit autho­riz­ing you to fish in a par­tic­u­lar area in Baden-Würt­tem­berg, You can pur­chase a fish­ing per­mit from the local fish­ing asso­ci­a­tion or angling store after pre­sent­ing a valid fish­ing license. Since the per­mits are spe­cif­ic to a par­tic­u­lar loca­tion, you should be clear about where you are plan­ning to cast a line before going to get a permit.

Prices vary depend­ing on the region, the sea­son, and the length of the permit’s valid­i­ty. A share of the price goes to the local author­i­ties who are respon­si­ble for keep­ing the waters clean and stocked with fish.

The per­mit should include the following:
– The stamp and sig­na­ture of the issu­ing fish­ing asso­ci­a­tion or shop
– The permit’s val­i­da­tion date
– The area or waters allowed to be fished using the permit
– The types of fish that can be found in the area
– Any sea­son­al fish pro­tec­tion periods
– The min­i­mum size of catch allowed for each species
– Infor­ma­tion on region­al fish­ing legislation

Fishing Associations (Fischereiverbände / Anglervereine)

Ger­man fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions play a cen­tral role in man­ag­ing and pre­serv­ing local fish­eries, pro­mot­ing sus­tain­able angling prac­tices, and rep­re­sent­ing the inter­ests of anglers. These asso­ci­a­tions over­see fish­ing rights on spe­cif­ic waters, ensure com­pli­ance with envi­ron­men­tal reg­u­la­tions, and engage in con­ser­va­tion projects such as restock­ing fish pop­u­la­tions and main­tain­ing aquat­ic habitats.

Local fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions are the best source of infor­ma­tion about region­al waters, fish species, and rel­e­vant reg­u­la­tions. They also sell per­mits to autho­rize anglers to fish in the areas they oversee.

Mem­ber­ship in a fish­ing asso­ci­a­tion is not nec­es­sar­i­ly a require­ment to go fish­ing in the Stuttgart area. How­ev­er, access to cer­tain fish­ing areas is restrict­ed to mem­bers only. While guest per­mits are gen­er­al­ly easy to obtain for fish­ing on the Neckar, fish­ing at many lakes and reser­voirs is only allowed with membership.

In addi­tion, there are many ben­e­fits of mem­ber­ship for avid anglers. These may include long-term fish­ing per­mits in the waters over­seen by the asso­ci­a­tion, access to fish­ing tour­na­ments or train­ing pro­grams, and insur­ance cov­er­age (for exam­ple, lia­bil­i­ty insur­ance and legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the case of acci­den­tal damage).

You can find more infor­ma­tion about fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions in the Stuttgart area at the link, but here are a few that may be of par­tic­u­lar interest:

The Lan­des­fis­chereiver­band BW e.V. over­sees the fish­ing license exam and pro­vides a wealth of infor­ma­tion­al resources.

The Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglervere­in Stuttgart e.V. is respon­si­ble for a large num­ber of fish­ing areas in Stuttgart, includ­ing the Stuttgart stretch of the Neckar Riv­er, the Neckarhafen Stuttgart, the Max-Eyth-See in Bad Canstatt, and the Bärensee and oth­er clus­tered park lakes in the Wild­park of Stuttgart West (more infor­ma­tion about these and oth­er local fish­ing sites in a lat­er section).

The Angler Vere­in Möhrin­gen e.V. is the care­tak­er of the Ried­see and Prob­st­see in Möhrin­gen, both of which are eas­i­ly accessed by U‑Bahn.

Other Fishing Rules

You should learn most of the rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion through the process of obtain­ing a fish­ing license, but there are a few addi­tion­al key points worth cov­er­ing here.

Regulations

Your fish­ing license and per­mit can be checked at any time by fish­ing inspec­tors, the police, and who­ev­er is respon­si­ble for that site’s fish­ing rights. Spe­cial per­mits are required to fish in nature pre­serves and oth­er pro­tect­ed areas.

Some fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions require that you keep a catch book (Fang­buch) detail­ing the fish that you catch. They will pro­vide you with a form when you pur­chase your fish­ing per­mit. You often pay a deposit that is returned to you when you hand in your com­plet­ed catch book.

Equipment Rules

There are strict reg­u­la­tions on fish­ing equip­ment in Ger­many designed to pro­tect fish pop­u­la­tions and ensure humane treat­ment of ani­mals. Live ver­te­brates are not per­mit­ted to be used as bait accord­ing to ani­mal wel­fare laws. Worms, mag­gots, and sim­i­lar non-ver­te­brate live bait are gen­er­al­ly allowed in Baden-Würt­tem­berg, although indi­vid­ual asso­ci­a­tions may have more restric­tive rules.

In Baden-Würt­tem­berg, only active angling is allowed – no elec­tron­ic devices or auto­mat­ed fish­ing gear. Each angler may use only one rod at a time. How­ev­er, a fish­ing rod may have up to three hooks, and mul­ti-hook lures (e.g., twin or tre­ble hooks or wob­blers) may count as a sin­gle hook, sub­ject to local per­mit restrictions.

In gen­er­al, you are allowed to fish from bridges in per­mit areas unless oth­er­wise marked.

Penalties

Any vio­la­tion of local fish­ing reg­u­la­tions may result in siz­able fines. Be sure to check that your fish­ing per­mit is for the area you are in and that it has a cur­rent val­i­da­tion date. Fish­ing with­out a license or per­mit is con­sid­ered poach­ing under the Ger­man Crim­i­nal Code (§ 293 StGB), with poten­tial fines or, in severe cas­es, up to two years in prison. Fish­ing on pri­vate prop­er­ty with­out per­mis­sion may be treat­ed as tres­pass­ing or poach­ing, with fines or, rarely, imprisonment.

All offens­es are not­ed on your crim­i­nal record. An addi­tion­al con­se­quence is that you may be denied the option of tak­ing the exam for a fish­ing license after such an offense.

The­Landes­fis­chereiver­band BW e.V. has a web­page with links to all of the rel­e­vant leg­is­la­tion and reg­u­la­tions con­nect­ed to fish­ing in Baden-Württemberg.

Cultural Norms

There’s a high val­ue placed on con­ser­va­tion in Ger­many, not only in the realm of fish­ing. Any­one who goes through the manda­to­ry course to pre­pare for the fish­ing license exam will be well schooled in the impor­tance of species pro­tec­tion and sus­tain­able prac­tices. Catch and release is a com­mon prac­tice in Baden-Würt­tem­berg, espe­cial­ly for juve­nile or endan­gered fish, but must com­ply with ani­mal wel­fare laws to avoid harm­ing fish. Check local asso­ci­a­tion rules for guidance.

In pop­u­lar fish­ing areas, anglers gen­er­al­ly pre­fer to main­tain a polite dis­tance from each oth­er. There’s no strict rule, but it’s respect­ful to leave enough space that each per­son can enjoy the tran­quil­i­ty of the nat­ur­al beau­ty around them.

Local Fishing Information

Types of Fish

The waters of Baden-Würt­tem­berg are home to many native aquat­ic species, includ­ing dozens of species of fish, three species of lam­prey, and three species of cray­fish. Some of them are unfor­tu­nate­ly endan­gered, but local fish­ing asso­ci­a­tions are work­ing to pro­tect and restore their pop­u­la­tions. You can read more from the Lan­des­fis­chereiver­band BW e.V. about local fish and also check out this guide to Germany’s native fish species.

Fishing Locations

Stuttgart offers an attrac­tive mix of fish­ing areas, from the Neckar Riv­er and the city har­bor to calm park lakes and reser­voirs. Be sure to check whether you can pur­chase a day tick­et or need asso­ci­a­tion mem­ber­ship before head­ing out, though!

Neckar River and Neckarhafen Stuttgart

The Stuttgart area of the Neckar riv­er stretch­es 21 kilo­me­ters (13 miles) and has many good fish­ing spots. You may find a wide vari­ety of species, includ­ing bream, carp, chub, eels, perch, pike, trout, and zan­der. Guest day‑tickets are avail­able from the Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglervere­in Stuttgart e.V. With­in the city har­bor is a par­tic­u­lar­ly fish-rich part of the Neckar, but fish­ing there is avail­able only to Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglervere­in members.

Max‑Eyth‑See

This pop­u­lar lake is notable for its recre­ation­al options and bird sanc­tu­ary zones, which does mean some parts are off-lim­its to fish­ing. The Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglervere­in has its club­house here, the Haus am See, and fish­ing is only avail­able to mem­bers. The asso­ci­a­tion has cre­at­ed a “fish trail” on the walk­ing path with infor­ma­tion pan­els about the fish that live in the lake. Typ­i­cal­ly you can find abun­dant bream, carp, cat­fish, perch, pike, and zan­der, among oth­er species.

Bärensee, Pfaffensee, and Neuer See

These three his­toric Park­seen in Stuttgart were for­mer­ly part of the city’s emer­gency water sup­ply and usu­al­ly offer excel­lent fish­ing due to their high water qual­i­ty. How­ev­er, Bärensee was drained from late 2022 for dam repairs and is expect­ed to be fished again only around 2027, fol­low­ing restock­ing (although the actu­al time­line may vary). Pfaf­fensee and Neuer See share fish stocks, includ­ing pike, carp, perch, tench, eel, and var­i­ous coarse fish, with trout intro­duced occa­sion­al­ly. Fish­ing requires mem­ber­ship in the Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglerverein.

Katzenbachsee and Steinbachsee

These small­er reser­voir lakes are part of the broad­er Park­seen sys­tem fed by local streams. They are locat­ed in a pro­tect­ed land­scape area of Stuttgart‑Büsnau. The lakes sup­port robust pop­u­la­tions of bream, carp, eel, perch, and tench. Fish­ing is only open to Würt­tem­ber­gis­ch­er Anglervere­in members.

Riedsee and Probstsee

These two lakes locat­ed out­side the Stuttgart val­ley to the south are active­ly man­aged by the Angler Vere­in Möhrin­gen e.V. The Ried­see is a small reser­voir orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed for ice har­vest­ing by a local brew­ery, while the Prob­st­see was formed from a for­mer clay pit, but both are val­ued today for their bio­di­ver­si­ty. Catch­es include carp, eel, pike, perch, tench, and white­fish. Fish­ing is avail­able only to mem­bers of the Angler Vere­in Möhringen.

Final­ly, Anglermap is a help­ful resource for find­ing loca­tions to fish not only local­ly, but all over Germany.