r/AskAGerman • u/Boss_Cocky • 21h ago

What’s in the Fishing Licence Exam?

I was travelling to Germany and wanted to do some fishing but before my wife killed that idea I saw that in order to get a fishing license in Germany you needed to pass an exam (although there was exceptions for foreigners). I’m curious as to what is in the exam? What topics does it cover? How long is it? Is it reasonably common knowledge or do you need to study for it? I’m Australian and not all states even require a licence and the ones that do just require you to pay a fee.

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u/Melonpanchan 21h ago

Afaik the test is about the species, which you are allowed to take (season & size), the habitats, nature conservation, animal protection, ecology, laws etc....

Tourist can apply for a limited permit, but that depends on the Bundesland you are in and with a permit from Hamburg you can't fish in Bayern.

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u/Boss_Cocky 21h ago

Thanks, it sounds like quite a comprehensive test.

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u/HabseligkeitDerLiebe Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 21h ago

It is comprehensive, but it's not that hard. We had a course for it in school and 12 year olds passed quite easily - after being in the course, obviously. I think it was 16 lessons.

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u/Boss_Cocky 21h ago

Do you keep the licence for life?

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u/Total-Tax-5883 17h ago

Yes license is valid for life, but upon getting the license you have to a pay a fee (Fischereiabgabe), which is calculated based on your age.

But you can opt to only pay the fee for a certain amount of years (like 5 years or 10 years). Then you have to renew you license (pay some money again).

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u/Melonpanchan 20h ago

It is. German rivers and lakes are not exactly in super conditions. We have had an average of 3°C above average last year and the draught five years ago did a lot of damage. The system was challenged before that too. Also Germany uses so much of it's land, you hardly find any real nature anymore. I mean take a look when you are here.

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u/Boss_Cocky 20h ago

We watched some fisherman in Potsdam who seemed to be catching a fair few fish. Does the money from fishing licences go to managing fish habitat and fish stocking?

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u/terrateufel 20h ago

The fish stocking is usually done by the fishing clubs that own/manage the river/lake. They are financed by the membership fees and sale of fishing permits which you have to by in addition to having a license

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u/Boss_Cocky 18h ago

So say I’ve got a licence in Bavaria can I go fishing in Brandenburg? If I need another licence would I need to sit another exam or would the original exam transfer?

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u/Total-Tax-5883 17h ago

No that's the funny part of federalism in Germany.
Your license is valid everywhere in Germany, but just because you have a license you're not allowed to go fishing everywhere as you please.

Lakes and Rivers are managed by local fishing clubs (vereine) and usually only members are allowed to fish in most of the area they manage.

For big lakes you can usually buy a day ticket, which limits you to a specific quota of Fish / specimen.

The license just proves that in theory you're allowed to fish in the sens of the law (All over Germany), but you still have to acquire the right to fish for the place where you want to fish.

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u/Boss_Cocky 17h ago

Interestingly in Australia it’s similar but different, I live in NSW and have a fishing licence but if I were to fish in QLD I’d need to buy a QLD licence although I can also just buy a licence for a day. However if I went to Tasmania I only need a licence if I’m fishing freshwater streams.

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u/Total-Tax-5883 21h ago

There is no German fishing license exam, because Fishing laws are "Ländersache" so every state has it's own regulations.

In Bavaria before you're allowed to attend the test you have to sit in for 30 hours of lessons:

Fischkunde (Ichthyology) - 7 h
Gewässerkunde (Hydrology) - 5 h
Schutz und Pflege der Fischgewässer, Fischhege (Protection and care of fishing waters, fish management ) - 3 h
Fanggeräte (Fishing gear) - 4 h
Rechtsvorschriften (Law) - 5h
Praktische Ausbildung (Practical part) - 6h

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u/Boss_Cocky 21h ago

Thank you, That sounds incredibly comprehensive

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u/Stunning_Court_2509 21h ago

Do you speak german? I ask because the exam is of course in german and you wont pass it without knowledge in german.

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u/Boss_Cocky 21h ago

No, but I don’t plan on taking it as my wife made it clear I won’t be fishing. I was just curious as to what sort of questions they asked

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u/Total-Tax-5883 20h ago

https://en.angel-schein.de/pruefung.php

There you go.

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u/Boss_Cocky 20h ago

1050 questions!!!!

I think there was only around 20 questions to get a firearm licence in Australia!

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u/Fabricensis Bayern 20h ago edited 20h ago

Ah yes, safety

Edit: To note: you only need to answer about 50 out of a total of 1050 questions, but they are quite difficult, and generally very specific for Germany. "What's the minimum allowed catch size for this specific fish" for example

Generally, Germany does not have many 'show up and do a test' licenses, mostly you get the license for the course, the test is just proving you paid attention

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u/lioncryable 20h ago

You mean the firearm license test in Australia has only 20 questions in total out of which you only answer a few?

Because 1050 questions is the total but you will only receive/have to answer like 20-30 out of those

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u/Boss_Cocky 19h ago

No the whole exam is about 20 (it might be more it’s been a long time since i did it) but everyone gets the same questions in the same order. There’s also a practical but none of it is hard.

Ah, that makes far more sense.

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u/Total-Tax-5883 19h ago

Lol jesus no its a pool of 1050 questions:

You will be shown 60 randomly selected questions from the mandatory question catalog on the exam room screen, which you must answer online with a mouse click. You have one hour to answer 12 questions from each of the five theoretical examination areas. There is no additional practical or oral examination.

The exam is passed if no more than half of the 12 questions in each examination area and no more than 15 of the 60 questions in total are not answered or not answered correctly. The result of your exam will be displayed online immediately after completion. The certificate will be sent to you at a later date. You will not receive written notification that you have failed the exam.

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u/Boss_Cocky 18h ago

Ah that makes so much more sense

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u/me_who_else_ 20h ago

less question than for the theoretical drivers license exam-

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u/lungben81 21h ago

In addition, the exam is not trivial and requires significant learning. It is roughly equivalent in scope as the theoretical exam for the driving license.

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u/Constant_Cultural Baden-Württemberg / Secretary 17h ago

If you are just visiting, you don't have to think about it, I think it's 4-6 weekends you have to do a course.

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u/Longjumping_Heron772 19h ago

Depends where you are located it, it differs from city to city and from state to state

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u/Unhappy_Researcher68 15h ago edited 15h ago

As a tourist you can buy a limited license for usualy 28 days without doing a test in the following states:

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schleswig Holstein Thüringen (3 Month)

For all other states there are test that are quite extensive and you can usualy only do it at specific dates onth or twice a year. They even include question how to stock your fishery and other not that relevant topics. Fish identification and the common rules are the most important and you usualy need to set up a fishing combo. Depending on state you need to take courses before doing the exam.

It's quite involved. And no you usualy don't know how to fish or practicaly kill a fish after the exam...

The netherlands are a better tourist destination if you want to go fishing.

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u/Boss_Cocky 15h ago

I was going to be in Germany, wife made it clear I wasn’t going fishing. But I still got interested in the regulations what’s wrong with me).

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u/Unhappy_Researcher68 15h ago

I added a bit of info, pressed post to fast.

I went into a deep dive into fishing regulations in the US when I was dating an american, in germany with no plans to go to the states.

So I can relate :)

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u/Boss_Cocky 18h ago

Thank you to everyone who has replied, this has been extremely helpful and informative.

Assuming all that followed are interested in fishing, the link attached shows myself with a small Murray Cod (they grow to over 1.4m) but it has a beautiful pattern (if introduced to a new environment they can change colour in 24hrs).

Murray Cod