Coarse Fishing in Denmark - With Ade Kiddell

Join Ade Kiddell for the second part of his fishing trip in Denmark. In this article, Ade covers his recent fishing trip where he goes roach, bream, rudd & carp fishing in Denmark.

Do You Need A Rod Licence for Fishing in Denmark?

For coarse fishing, you need to buy a fishing license to fish in Denmark. In some areas, you also require local permits to fish.

Is Fishing Good in Denmark?

Home to some of the finest roach fishing in Europe, the River Guden in Denmark has always been on my list as somewhere I wanted to fish. Along with the lakes that are part of the Guden River system. 

I can highly recommend Denmark as a destination for several types of fishing, it is especially great for saltwater, coarse, carp fishing and pike fishing. I have very little knowledge of game fishing but my contacts in Denmark tell me trout and sea trout fishing is excellent and many salmon are still caught every year with fly fishing.

Until a few years ago, this whole area was a popular destination for anglers from all over Europe to fish, especially when wanting to go bream fishing in Denmark.  Holding massive shoals of bream, anglers love to fish the lakes at Viborg, Silkeborg and Skanderborg.

Unfortunately, popularity started to decrease when changes were made to anglers in Denmark surrounding the groundbait limit. I didn’t let this put me off and I am glad I didn’t as the fishing was brilliant.

What Is The Groundbait Limit In Denmark?

No more than half a kilogram of groundbait is to be introduced per day when fishing the Guden system. This bait limit doesn’t apply to all coarse fishing in Denmark, but it does apply to the fisheries of the Guden system.

The Perfect Fishing Spot Requires Patience

The biggest issue I faced was finding spots where I could get access to the lakes. With very little angling activity in recent years, there were many areas where purpose-built fishing platforms were overgrown. It was almost impossible to fish from these platforms. 

After some time, I found a lovely spot on Viborg Lake. A nice purpose-built anglers platform, perfect for afternoon fishing. It is best to persist with finding fishing spots as the rewards at this venue are worth the effort.

Best Baits for Winter Coarse Fishing

Using simple feeders tactics, I cast about 40 metres and found a weed-free area. The bait used was the Sonubaits So Natural Groundbait. I used a window feeder to feed a mixture of dead maggots and chopped worms. 

Roach Fish Tells

After about an hour, I got my first bite indication. A rattle of the quiver tip and a chewed maggot were sure signs of a roach. The following 2-3 hours saw a steady flow of pristine roaches come to the net!

There were no huge fish, but an amazing quality of fish! This was the most satisfying result. I did find that although the maggot and corn did help catch fish, a small piece of worm produced the better roach!

Fishing the River Guden

The next day we set out with the fishing tackle to find an area of the River Guden for some stick float fishing, but a frustrating couple of hours later and we were still looking. Having found plenty of areas to fish in every case the banks were either overgrown or the river was choked with weed growth. 

We decided to stop for lunch in a small town on the Guden and whilst my good lady prepared some food I went for a walk. I am glad I did as from the bridge over the river I could see a small run through the weeds and with the aid of my polaroid glasses I spotted a shoal of hungry roaches darting in and out of the weed.

Just above the bridge was a nice sturdy platform, perfect for running a stick float downstream and through the channel in the weeds. I love stick float fishing, it’s something I don’t do much anymore but get it right and it’s a rewarding way to catch fish of any size. 

It didn’t take long to get it right and when the float buried on the third run through the feel of a big roach on the fishing rod tip brought back some lovely memories. Well, the next few hours went by in a flash, with some real quality roach, best bait was sweetcorn, which sorted the better fish of a total net of over 10kgs.

Lake Fishing in Denmark

Over the next few days, I also fished the lakes of Silkeborg and Skanderborg, I caught fish everywhere I fished, mostly roach but a few small bream and also rudd. I think the groundbait limit hampers the chance of bream, but I wouldn’t let it stop me from fishing there again.

Canal Fishing in Denmark

Once we crossed into the Zealand part of Denmark, I did more saltwater fishing than freshwater. However, I had been recommended one place to fish where some good coarse fish could be caught and no bait restrictions were in place. The venue was a brackish shipping canal near the town of Naestved.

One of my Danish contacts recommended the spot, and his recommendation was perfect, the canal was used by some small sea-going ships and pleasure craft so had a hint of saltwater and was in places 6 or 7 metres deep. Carp anglers should note, that freshwater fish can be quite tolerant of saltwater if it's something they are used to. It's when a sudden surge of saltwater hits freshwater that massive fish kills can occur.

I fished a 1.5-gram river-style pole float to combat the flow and baited with a piece of worm and when the float went under on the first run, I thought I had caught the bottom, only for the bottom to be a nice plump perch. That set the tone for the day, with very few times I didn’t get a bite. 

I ended up using 2 keepnets and had a terrific day’s sport, a real “red letter day” no bream or carp but some nice perch and plenty of roaches but the highlight of the day was 8 specimen size Ide. Sadly this was the last session as we were up early the next day as we made our way back to The Netherlands. 

Our trip to Denmark came to an end in such a memorable way!

My next blog will look at the world feeder championships and how team England won a silver medal, I will make sure it has plenty of tips for getting the best out of your feeder fishing.