Hi all, does anybody know nice lakes or rivers where to fish (trout, pike)? Both with license or not. I know Greifensee but I am looking for new places.

Beside Greifensee, Zurichsee has plenty of places too. I do not target pike specifically, but I'd imagine that there is plenty since there are no size nor date restrictions on pike in Zurichsee. And it's quite full of boats trolling for trout (in the morning in Zurich center near Burkliplatz you can see many).

Re doing it without a license: are you familiar with the restrictions that you need to follow in order to fish without a license? With those restrictions chances of getting a pike or a trout are basically zero.

Beside pikes and trout, in Zurichsee you can go for:
- egli (yellow perch), the season is starting now, doable from the shore, better with the boat
- felchen (whitefish), pretty much all year, so-so from the shore, way better with the boat
- schwale (roach), not popular as it's not as tasty as others, without the license you can still get plenty, with licence you can fill a truck
- trüsche (burbot), usually fished in winter, popular for no-license fishing, as you get almost no handicap in this fishing technique (since worm is the usual bait anyway)

Maybe Austria? Or Sweden?

Now, on a more serious note, I have created a Facebook group dedicated just for that: sharing the last baits and places where we have been fishing.

The group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fishingbuddieszurich

funny, I was just reading about the Turlersee today and it mentioned fishing from the shore without a license or from a boat with a license.

I am looking to do a bit of fishing from the shore. I reside in Basel but have a car to get me to and from the spot. Any recommends on what a beginner should do - I would like to catch some fish to get me into it and keep motivation high. I am interested more in lure and cast and reel in fishing, than the bait fishing. Thanks in advance for your help