To achieve the tasks established by the European Water Framework Directive regarding the connectivity of the European river systems both the demands of long distance migratory fish and resident fish species have to be considered. As a large amount of those resident fish species like barbel, nase and gudgeon are rather bed oriented in their migratory behavior the connection of the bed material of the natural river to the substrate of the fishway is of vital importance. The relevant national and international guidelines do not give specific design suggestions how to arrange the entrance of a fishway close to a hydropower plant in terms of connecting the river bed to the substrate of the fishway. In this study two different design suggestions for substrate connecting fishway entrances used in Germany are tested in a physical model of the barrier Lauffen / River Neckar and are evaluated regarding the formation of a migratory corridor, the relevant flow velocities and fish-physiological criteria. Wolfgang Kampke is a Civil Engineer with the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute of Germany. After graduating from the University of Karlsruhe in 2003, he worked as research associate at the Institute of Water and River Basin Management of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).