Please notice that this section currently concentrates on the Copenhagen area.
Fishing is a popular pastime in Denmark, and water is generally easily (and legally) accessible and clean.
Coastal fishing is in particular popular, and fishing for sea run brown trout and garfish directly from the coast is very popular.
There are plenty other species to pursue, and many locations to do so.
The formal rules are few and pretty straightforward. Certain species and areas are protected by law - all year or parts of the year - while other rules are more like a general agreement.
Getting to the water
It is obviously the easiest to get to the locations by car, but many visitors do not have access to a car during a short stay, so this guide also tries to list alternative means of transportation, and will try to cover access using a bike or public transport. The Danish system of buses and trains covers the map very well, and is usually very reliable and available even outside rush hours and workdays.
You can try to find the right train lines and bus numbers yourself using Rejseplanen provided by the Danish railways. It will tell you exactly which trains and/or buses you need to take, and even takes walking into account. The page is available in both Danish, English and German.
Keeping fish
It's customary to kill and keep fish for the pot in Denmark, but certain species are more commonly kept than others, and in particular the larger, slow growing and non-migratory fish like brown trout, pike and carp are very rarely killed (and killing them is mostly seen upon with some resent by the locals), while keeping one or a couple of the numerous and migrating fish such as the sea run trout, garfish, perch, flatfish and other species is very common and done by most local and many visiting anglers.
Catch and release is fully legal, but should of course be done carefully and with respect for the fish. Most species have minimum sizes if you want to keep them, and the most important one is probably the 40 centimeter size for sea trout, but also the minimum size for cod (varying from 30-38 centimeters depending on location) should be respected. this official site can show you rules, minimum measures and much more - and offers you to buy the required state license mentioned below.
Licenses
To fish in Denmark you need a state license.
The license is inexpensive and can be bought online or in many fishing shops and post offices.
You will always need to have this license to do any fishing in Denmark - even in private or club waters.
The current price in 2023 is
- DKK 214.- for a year
- DKK 150,- for a week
- DKK 46.- for a day.
That's about 29.- Euros/year, 20 Euros/week, 6 Euros/day or 30.- USD per year, 21.- USD/week, 6.50 USD/day
You can read much more about the state license and buy it online here.
With the state license you can fish freely on the coast and in publicly owned and administered waters - often lakes and bogs. Most streams are privately owned and licenses are administered by fishing clubs.
Most private lakes and streams require a further license often issued by the club that has bought the fishing rights. These licenses are typically bought in local fishing shops, tourist offices or on gas stations close to the location.
This coverage of Danish fishing will not deal in detail with paid fishing, but will concentrate on freely accessible waters, which can be fished with just the state license. A few of the locations may require further payment, but that will be mentioned under each location.
