About us
The story of Danubefishing.com
The idea to create Danubefishing and a community of fishermen engaged in fishing on the Danube first occurred to us in 2016. We knew that there were not that many fishermen, specifically carp fishermen, fishing on the Danube in the Hrušovská Reservoir. Although there are just a few such fishermen, they are very passionate about this demanding hunt on the big river; just like us! Many fishermen fish in areas such as Gabčíkovo and lower down the stream, or on the old Danube riverbed and its branches, set in the midst of beautiful riverbank nature.
I grew up in Čuňovo, a part of Bratislava. It’s a short distance from the house to the Hrušovská reservoir. It has an area of about 2500 ha, but after adding the main stream of the Danube from the first dam in Austria to the dam in Gabčíkovo Waterworks, a really large water area is created. As a child, my father used to take me fishing to Hrušovská. My father and grandfather were passionate fishermen, so it was only natural I picked it up as well. It was apparent that when my father sewed boilies under the hook for the first time in 1997, this vocation would not escape me either. In 2007, at the age of 16, I hooked boilies under the hook for the first time myself on weekend trips to the banks of the Danube. After successfully completing my driver’s license and buying my first car in 2009, I started to do it more actively. The first trips were at night or on weekends.
In 2011, during a long weekend stay by the Danube, I managed to catch my first carp, which was over 20 kg. It triggered my devotion to this location. Countless nights and days without carp paid off.
Over time, exploring the site and the behavior of local carp, the first fish were caught. In 2010, I met a man who was already active and experienced in carp fishing on large dams. This fascinated me and after two years we were already sitting together on the banks of the Hrušovská reservoir. We have spent countless days exploring and mapping the site. For a while, I didn’t have as much time to devote myself as I would have liked to, especially because of my job, but I fully supported a friend who spent a lot of time on this dam. He sacrificed many nights and days for it, and finally the wild Danube began to reward him with beautiful wild carp.
It really made me very happy that after all this time the invested effort bore fruit.
Due to the fact that the Hrušovská reservoir falls under the protected bird area of the Danube floodplain forests, there are many restrictions in this area. From the Čunovo village side, it is forbidden to hunt down and fish from shore to Polder. On the other hand, in the villages of Kalinkovo and
Hamuliakovo, hunting and fishing is allowed, but as is customary in our country, access to the water by car is prohibited and blocked by ramps. Of course, most of the year it is forbidden to enter the countless islands surrounded by incredibly beautiful nature. For this reason, we became interested in fishing from a boat. Since we had no information about fishing for carp from a boat, we began to speculate on how to pull it off. In 2014, we self-produced superstructures for 6m laminate barges. We can’t say it was bad, but it wasn’t comfortable.
To withstand ongoing fishing in difficult conditions on our largest river, something more spacious and, most importantly, more stable was needed.
In 2019, I started thinking about a vessel which would be able to carry us on the Danube, it would have to meet the standards of a small vessel and for which we would not have to get the boat riding license. After gathering all the information I came up with the idea to build a vessel from two large floats in a catamaran style. After a proper calculation and blueprints, a kind of floating pier was created on paper. It would be able to maintain the shore-style fishing, where the fisherman sleeps in a bivouac. In February 2020, we made the paper drawing into reality, and in April 2020, we launched it on the water for the first time.
After completing the first successful trip for the Danube carps in June of that year, we realized it was a great idea. We spent many nights and days on this vessel, even though the world was struck by Covid, and so the float became a kind of temporary home for us this year, from where we traveled many times to work.
I had the idea of renting out this float in my head for a few years and the reason was simple. I know it’s not easy to own and take care of a vessel. People living in apartments do not have the space to park it, and there is also the problem of investing their time and considerable funds in their own boat. Nevertheless, there are people like us who would like to experience a fishing trip on the Danube.
Another thing that led to this decision to let people borrow the float was to find out the carp population on the reservoir. We have talked a lot to local fishermen about whether it was possible, in wild conditions and waters that are not extra fed, in our climate, for fish to grow to sizes we are accustomed from the southern warmer regions of Europe. Simply, is it realistic for carp over the 30-kilogram to swim in the Danube.
Our question was answered in the autumn of 2020, when we caught a carp with the length of 113 cm, almost 30 kg. Another sufficient piece of evidence to confirm this was that we caught sight of such fish. How better to find out if such fish swim here, than by putting reasonable pressure on the fishing site? This is exactly how the idea of renting a float came to be. Find out the fish stock in the reservoir, allow anyone to try this unforgettable experience from the boat, enjoy the beautiful nature and privacy in the middle of the Danube with unlimited fishing opportunities and last but not least, by creating a quasi-constant movement on the water.
