Möckelns fiskevårdsområde

The fisheries conservation area includes Möckeln , Steningen , Såganässjön and part of the Lilla Helge river.The lakes are located in Älmhult and Ljungby municipalities in southwestern Småland, Kronoberg County, just north of Älmhult.

Lake Möckeln is the third largest lake on the Småland lake plateau after Bolmen and Åsnen and is located southwest of Växjö, near the border with Skåne. Möckeln is a nutrient-poor so-called brown water lake or dystrophic lake with a relatively low pH, naturally. Like other similar lakes in Sweden, Möckeln was affected by acidification and liming takes place regularly today.

Among the fish species that occur in Möckeln are perch, pike, pikeperch, eel, lake, bream, roach, birch, perch, osprey, yarrow, legume, vendace and moth. The catfish is Sweden's largest lake fish and has one of its four occurrences in the country in Möckeln (the others are Emån in Småland, Båven in Södermanland and the lower Helgeån water system, Kristianstad's water kingdom in Skåne). Especially in the northwestern parts of the lake, around the Agunnarydsån outlet, the moth has a firm and stable trunk. The catfish is a protected fish and must be released immediately if caught. The largest moth caught in Möckeln and documented (in 1994) weighed 52 kg. The most common fish species in the lake are pike, perch, pikeperch, bream and roach. Especially fishing for pikeperch is very popular in the lake.

The lake has an area of 48 km² and is located about 136 meters above sea level. Maximum depth is 12 meters. The length is about 16 kilometers from north to south. The greatest width in the northern parts is almost 7 kilometers, but the southern and central parts are narrower by about 1 - 1.5 kilometers. There are three inflows, the larger Helge å which empties into Möckeln by Diö in the northeast, and the two smaller Lilla Helge å and Agunnarydsån which open into the lake furthest to the northeast and northwest, respectively. The outlet from the lake takes place at the properties Älvanäs and Byvärma in the northwest, where Helgeån then continues south towards Hanö Bay in eastern Skåne. An earlier outlet existed before the sinking in the southern part of the lake. This outlet to the south connected Möckeln with Drivån via the now lowered lakes in Älmhult and Ormakulla. The water flow to the south now drove missing mills in the villages Slätthult and Kongstorp.

Through sea subsidence and municipal land exploitation in the 20th century, this outlet has now, on the contrary, now been transformed into a temporarily stagnant stormwater inflow to Möckeln. The water level can vary about 1 meter up or down above the mean waterline (137 to 135 meters above sea level) depending on precipitation and inflow, but the lake is not regulated.