Fish species and fishing rights
Fishing at Traunsee
People in good spirits enjoying a balmy evening while a delicate wind cools the heat of the day. The lake tells its own story. The incomparable scent of fresh fish being grilled over charcoal, harmonising with other delicious flavours, takes us on a journey to distant worlds and lets us escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a moment...
Traunsee is a scenic jewel of Salzkammergut. With an area of over 25 square kilometres, it is the second largest lake in Upper Austria. The deepest point is 191 m below the water surface, making Traunsee the deepest lake in Austria.
The clear water has a great visibility depth and rarely warms to more than 20 degrees even in summer. The lake is fed by the River Traun, which flows through the lake from south to north. It enters Traunsee in Ebensee and leaves it again near to Gmunden.
Fishing in Salzkammergut and on Traunsee has a long tradition. The estate of Traunkirchen must cede timber and salt extraction rights to the imperial administration, but retains territorial, hunting and alpine rights.
The landowners of Traunkirchen are the Jesuits. The fishing areas under their control extend to numerous lakes as well as individual streams and rivers of Salzkammergut: Traunsee, Offensee, Wildensee, Weißenbach, Rindbach, Alte Traun and half of Lake Hallstatt.
"The fishermen have to deliver 300 whitefish and salmon annually". This is what the Jesuits stipulate until 1756, when their tenure ends and with it the local fish supply.
In Traunsee, mainly predatory fish are fished, especially perch and pike. Since conditions are perfect for these fish species, they will have sometimes grown to a considerable size by the time they are caught. Other species that are fished in Traunsee are eel and eel rod, as well as various whitefish species, such as roach, bream, chub or the pearl fish, which are protected all year round. Occasionally, brown trout, rainbow trout and carp are caught too.
A specialty of Traunsee is "Riedling". This is a small whitefish that is only found here. Formerly dismissed as a typical poorman’s snack, Riedling is now very popular as so-called "Steckerlfisch" or “fish on a stick”, as this delicacy is called in the region.
The fact that the Riedling - unlike in the past - is almost a rarity today actually has a positive reason behind it: clean water. In the past, sewage, faeces and refuse were discharged directly into the lake; the water was over-fertilised and the fish were in plankton heaven. The cleaner the water, the less the fish have to eat.
At the Agrarbildungszentrum or Agricultural Education Centre Salzkammergut, young people are trained as skilled fishing workers and masters. After all, what ends up tastefully arranged on our plates in the evening requires a lot of work during the day and, above all, early in the morning. There are currently three professional fishermen on Traunsee. Thanks to the training branch of the agricultural education centre, the hope remains that the oldest profession in Salzkammergut will not die out.
© CC BY-SA 4.0-altmünster-weg-artmünster-beyondarts-app-1000
