Åland fishing licence: how licence waters work for visiting anglers
Yes, as a visiting angler you need an Åland fishing licence, and it covers only designated licence waters. Most of the water around the islands belongs to municipalities, the state or private owners, and you cannot fish it on your own. Before you cast, it pays to know exactly which area you are in.
At a glance
Visitors may fish only in licence waters, with a valid licence for that area.
Municipal, state and private waters are closed to visiting anglers, unless you fish with a guide who holds the rights.
At the time of writing, licences cost from roughly €5 per person for a day to €30 for a week, depending on the area.
Carry your licence with you: you may be asked to show it.
Boundaries are often unmarked on the water, so study the map before you go.
Four kinds of water on Åland
Åland is a wonderful place to fish, but there is one thing you should always keep in mind before you come: fishing rights. The legislation here is, to put it mildly, complicated. The rules have changed since the 19th century, but the old ones still leave a strong mark on how things work today.
Type of water | Can a visitor fish it? |
Licence waters | Yes, with a licence for that area |
Municipal waters | No, not on your own |
State waters | No, not on your own |
Private waters | No, not without the owner's permission |
Outside the licence waters, a visitor can't fish unless they go out with a guide who has, one way or another, obtained that right. But that is a story for another time.
Licence waters: a patchwork across the archipelago
Licence waters are the ones that matter to us here. When this article was first written there were about 80 of them on Åland, spread across the archipelago like a patchwork quilt, in between areas where, for example, fishing is not allowed. They range in size from about 1 km² to 130 km², though the largest tend to lie out in the open sea and hold little interest for us.
Most of the boundaries are not marked in any way, so it can be genuinely hard to tell where your area ends and the no-go zone begins. All you will have is a map, and not always a good one.
Work has been going on to improve this: better maps, easier ways to buy licences and a more orderly system overall, which matters a great deal to us anglers. Even inside licence areas there are plenty of local rules. I'll leave those out here so as not to make things even more confusing, but do check them for the area you choose.
What an Åland fishing licence costs and what to carry
At the time of writing, prices run from about €5 per person for a day to around €30 for a week. Keep the licence with you, because you may be asked to show it. Breaking the licence rules is a fairly common offence, and not a pleasant one. Most owners are protective of their water, and I understand them: it is private property like any other.
Where the licence money goes
Looking after the fish is not only a matter of controlling the catch. Licence money also goes back into restocking. Åland has a fish hatchery where the municipalities buy fry, usually pike, whitefish and trout, to stock their own areas.
Right place, right time
As you will have gathered, what matters most is not the price, the size of the area or even how it looks on the map. As usual, it is about being in the right place at the right time, and with licence waters that is truer than ever. Some areas fish well only in spring, some in summer, and some all season but never very much.
Only experience will tell you which is which: your own, or your guide's. There's more on the seasons and the water on our fishing on Åland page.
Fishing licences when you stay with us
If you're wondering what our packages include: all of them come with fishing licences, and we also have around 1,500 hectares of private water in Kalvfjärd. Wherever you stay, though, ask your hosts before you travel which licence waters will be open to you. Or simply write to me (there's a little about us on the site), and I'll gladly share my own, admittedly subjective, view on the subject.
Read next: whether to hire a fishing guide, and what to expect from pike fishing on Åland in May.
