Salmon has been fished in the Göta River since ancient times. In older writings, you can read how the fishing was conducted and how the ownership conditions were all the way back to the 13th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the fishing rights were held by both private stakeholders and the crown (the Swedish state). In 1908, c. Emil Haeger, founder of Lilla Edets Pappersbruk, sold the rights to the salmon fishery and the waterfall to the Swedish state. Today, Vattenfall and Lilla Edets Municipality are the fishing rights owners of the current salmon fishery, which is managed and administered by the Sportfiskeklubben Laxen.
The Göta River has generally always provided good salmon fishing, except in the 1950s and 1960s when industrial pollution impaired reproduction and made the salmon population minimal. The power company (Vattenfall) is obliged by water decree to release 35,000 salmon smolts/year and for several years Lagan salmon was released, which has meant that the genuine Göta River salmon probably does not exist today. When this was discovered, they switched to Säveå salmon, a salmon that is genetically very similar to our old Göta River salmon. The Säveå salmon is also a slightly earlier salmon than the Lagan salmon, so now we get salmon already in May instead of the end of June as before.
Today we have fantastically clean water compared to the late 1960s, when the visibility was only about 10 cm. Today we have a visibility of 1.5 meters in favorable weather and the water is actually drinkable. SFK Laxen has been involved in salmon fishing since 1983 when the club was formed and spends about 9000 hours in voluntary work at the facility. All so that the fishing guests have the best fishing experience possible. Since the start in -83, the curve for caught salmon has risen significantly. From having initially caught about 200 salmon per year, we are now at 700-1000 salmon per year. The club's goal is for fishing to return to the figures of the old days in terms of fish quantity and size, and for us to become one of Sweden's best salmon waters. Göta älv has been one of Europe's best salmon waters, but that was when it...
