The worm is too warm for the fish

Created: 07/25/2022, 16:11

By: Victoria Strachwitz

Adam Blumenfelder likes to go fishing on the Würm with his son Ben (6), like here in Planegg.

His findings: The water is quite warm, the water level is low - and the trout are becoming rare.

© Dagmar Rutt

It's not easy for the fish in the Würm at the moment.

Little water and high temperatures make life difficult for trout in particular - and for anglers as well.

Würmtal

– If you feel really good, you feel like a fish in water?

The fish in the Würm might see things differently at the moment.

The water level of the Würm is currently low.

The temperatures are high, and the oxygen in the water is correspondingly scarce.

"The combination of these is not the ideal situation for most fish," explains Adam Blumenfelder.

His senior boss Peter Sickinger from the bakery of the same name leases the Würm from Pasing to Gauting.

Blumenfelder belongs to a handful of selected fishermen who are allowed to fish there next to Sickinger.

The water level of the Würm is low

Blumenfelder says he's not a biologist, he just has a fishing license.

But he lives near the Würm, he works near the Würm, and he fishes in the Würm.

This makes him a constant observer of what is going on in the river.

And he states: "It's difficult to come across trout at the moment." These are relatively sensitive animals.

Brown trout are even more cold-loving than rainbow trout.

The fishermen regularly stock the Würm with both species.

"Many trout come from fish farms and are used to the ideal conditions there."

For that reason alone, things are certainly not easy for them at the moment, says Blumenfelder.

"The fish are struggling and so are we," he says.

They would not have fished out the stock that the fishermen originally put in the Würm.

The reasons for this are manifold.

The low water level and the heat are certainly a reason.

"The fish become more sluggish and therefore less observable."

The Würm water is warm, oxygen is scarce and trout are rare

Even if the low water level makes it difficult for the fish to retreat to deeper, cooler places, they still seem to be able to do so at the moment.

Because despite all the current adversities, Blumenfelder says: "We could not observe a massive fish kill."

Apart from the climate, there are other reasons why hobby fisherman Blumenfelder finds it difficult to hook his favorite fish, the trout.

"We have a good stock of predatory fish", there is also the migration of fish, as well as people who do not follow the rules and just stick their rod in the river.

Catfish, pike, chub, carp and trout live in the Würm

Adam Blumenfelder is currently not worried about the fish population in the Würm as a whole.

"We have more than enough catfish," he says.

In terms of Aitel in particular, but also pike and carp, "we always have a stock that we can observe".

The Würm is the ideal body of water for these fish.

But the same applies to them: "It's just a little too warm for most fish."