Abundance of poles –
Fishing on Lake Geneva is miraculous for amateurs and dreary for pros
After a catastrophic year in 2024, the smile returns to the sports fishermen of Rolle and the whole lake. Professionals do not say so much.
On July 12, 2025, Christophe Di Stadio weighed 100 poles barely caught, as part of a competition in Rolle. This year’s harvest is particularly abundant, but how to explain it?
Jean-Guy Python
- The small rollean fishermen harvested 140 kg of poles for their August taverns and rejoiced.
- Last year, their loot was catastrophic with only 6 kilos of tiny poles.
- On Lake Geneva, professional fishermen report a disturbing drop in catches.
- The hope of seeing the new generation of poles reaching the right size this fall is not yet buried.
Have the rolle waters experienced a small miracle? Member and treasurer of the Local Society of Little Fishermen, Pierre-Alain Di Stadio is in Angels. While around 150 kg of poles are necessary for their traditional guinguette From August, more than 140 kg have already been vacuum and frozen, three weeks before the event. “The account is good,” he rejoices this Wednesday.
At the same period last year, the amateur fisherman was desperate for having managed to capture only 6 kg of tiny poles, Measuring 3 to 5 cm. “The Frai of the previous year had not grown up,” he explains. We assumed that it was due to the Quagga molds which filter the water and ingest phytoplankton, the basic food of our poletes. ”
Magnificent year for amateur fishing
This year, the panorama is different. The area is full of fish born in 2024, which ended up growing. It is essentially they who will be sold on the plates of frying enthusiasts, from August 8 to 9 at the port of Rolle Vernes.
Pierre-Alain Di Stadio and his son Basile in Rolle, last Saturday, during an amateur fishing competition. The booty of the day is phenomenal.
Jean-Guy Python
But it’s not just about the sports fishermen have a smile. For them, the year 2025 started magnificently well: “Both in the small lake and in the big lake and the high lake”, rejoices Lydia Lucchetta, president of the International Federation of Fishermen Amateur du Léman (Fipal). “In June already, there were lots of very plump poles,” she recalls. The episodes of strong kiss in the spring, which cooled the lake, could explain this good growth. Faced with this sudden change in temperature, the fish have thought: “It’s time to eat!”
Discouraged professionals
The phenomenon questions, while from one end to the other of the lake, professional fishermen rather launch calls for help. In La Tour-de-Peilz, for example, where Philippe Grandchamp cannot help but laugh yellow when he heard about an alleged “spectacular year”. “Last year, it was still fun with what we are going through in 2025,” launched the retired professional fisherman. It’s a real disaster, we take almost nothing … Often, it’s not even worth going out. ”
The perches will be served as a fish frying during the traditional Guinguette of the Rolle Fishermen, from August 8 to 9.
Jean-Guy Python
Rolle’s miraculous socket therefore deserves to be put into perspective. In reality, the situation is significantly different between pros and amateur fishermen. In Rolle, Alton Cocaj, professional fisherman, notes a slight improvement compared to 2024, but it remains insufficient. “When you live from fishing, you cannot say that going from 3 kilos a day in 2024 to ten kilos in 2025 is sufficient.”
The independent underlines the nuisance of cormorants on its activity. It sends us back to a recently filmed video: near the port of Ouchy, in Lausanne, hundreds of birds darken the sky. “It’s violent,” he says with discouragement.
Why these differences between fishermen?
It is essentially the fishing method that explains the differences in booty between fishermen’s categories. “We put our nets at the bottom of the lake, so if the fish swim between two waters, that is to say more than 2.50 meters from the bottom, we do not catch them, justifies Philippe Grandchamp. Amateurs, they are fishing on the line. “
The latter, who have the right to take up to 100 poles per day using a gambe – line with hooks – are not supposed to release them in the lake, whatever their size. “For them, the fish that bites, bites,” says Alton Cocaj, in Rolle. The requirements are other for him and his colleagues. “We work with nets whose stitches only retain specimens already measuring at least 15 cm.”
Hopes for the coming months
However, at present, most poles are not yet plump to be stuck. The president of the Swiss French association of professional fishermen, Alexandre Fayet, explains that a generation of poles seems to have been “saved” in 2024. “One of the hypotheses, since the pole is cannibal is that the young people were devoured by their elders.”
The glans fisherman is nevertheless optimistic. “We will have to be patient, but we feel a bright future at the level of the pole,” he says. He believes that around this fall, fishing should finally be fruitful.
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