Angling

L’Ouverture Truite!

By Clive Kenyon

IF YOU ARE OUT AND ABOUT ON SATURDAY MARCH 13TH AND SPOT A LOT OF NEOPRENE CLAD MEN AND WOMEN CONGREGATED AROUND RIVER BRIDGES DON’T WORRY. THEY ARE NOT LOOKING FOR DEAD BODIES OR INVOLVED IN SOME WEIRD FETISH

They are trout anglers eager to commence the new season. The Charente and Haute Vienne departments have many trout rivers, typically the smaller ones in the higher reaches that are designated Category 1 on the maps listed by the departmental Association of Pêcheurs. These waters are only open from the second Saturday in March through to the third Sunday in September, and that applies to all species, not just trout. Some of the rivers have restrictions on how many trout you can take and the sizes of fish that must be returned. Also, in a few places maggots as bait are banned. In the absence of specific regulations those specified on the departmental fisheries website will apply. There are some places where fly fishing is the predominant method of fishing; the Touvre in the Charente and the area on the Vienne in the Haute Vienne around Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat along with the Taurion in the same department, but on many of the smaller rivers bait fishing is the most common method of trout fishing. There are also communal lakes that are stocked with trout including the 7 hectare Etang des Brégères just outside St. Barbant. You can check on regulations and which waters are designated trout waters by typing 'pêche' followed by the departmental number into a search engine then following the links to the designated Réglementation or Parcours pages. For those anglers who prefer to fly fish in larger rivers then probably the best bet is to head south to the River Dordogne where there is some of the best trout fishing in France. You will find plenty of information online about this superb river. There are specific parcours at Argentat-sur-Dordogne, Saint Bazile de la Roche, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne and Saint Céré where single hooks and ‘no kill’ are mandatory. As well as these defined fisheries you can find less well known stretches of river near to or between some of the pretty villages that line the river.

The Golden Maggot Trophy

Back in the mid 1970s there was a fishing program on TV called The Fishing Race that featured teams of two anglers including Dennis Darkin and John Darling, Brian Harris with Clive Gammon, and Ian Gillespie with Jim Gibbinson. A second series featured Welsh rugby legend tactics over and over again. All that is Gareth Edwards. The teams of anglers needed is a shortish rod such as a trout were tasked with catching as many species spinning rod or float rod of between six as possible and vied for the world’s and nine feet, a small fixed spool reel smallest prize; The Golden loaded with 3lb line and no more tackle Maggot Trophy. than will fit in a small trout bag or When you consider that a river such as the Charente will hold upwards of thirty species including the sea fish in its tidal reaches, the lesser known oddities such as lampreys and loach and the nonindigenous ones including poisson-chat and perche soleil, it is strange that there is so little interest in probably twenty-five of these. The days of specialist anglers targeting species other than the usual suspects seems long ago. waistcoat pockets. Tackling up involves a float such as a Loafer or Chub Trotter, a few split shot and a variety of hook lengths to include 18s for the smaller species up to size 14 or 12 for the chub and carp. A Catherine lead can be used to quickly adapt your float rig into a float / ledger rig and the other essentials include a pair of polarised glasses to be able to spot fish. Spotting fish is an art in itself and reminiscent of doing a jigsaw puzzle. Those white lips One of the tasks that I set and black tail, myself from time to time Like those participants of they are part of a is to catch as many species as I can in a session typically on a small river near to home. The Fishing Race this involves adapting techniques to suit the chub. Those orange patches are a barbel’s pectoral fins. Like those participants of capture of each species Sometimes you The Fishing Race this see a cloud of silt involves adapting indicating that a techniques to suit the capture of each carp is grubbing species and of course, knowing where and around the river bed. At other times it is how to find them. That last part is the about casting to features that may hold a most satisfying; but only when I get fish or two. it right. One of the beauties in this sort of fishing, Counting all the species that I am likely to other than bringing the boy out of the find in the river, I reckon that it will man, is that you don’t need much time, include; silure, pike, zander, perch, ruffe, equipment or bait. Three euro’s worth of carp, common bream, barbel, roach, chub, maggots, a few worms from the garden gudgeon, brown trout and the invasive and a small ball of cheese paste will see poisson-chat and perche soleil, fourteen in you right for all but the three larger total. Of those I have had at one time or predators, and you can catch your bait for another ten species including the two those if you have a spare rod and reel invaders, and seven different species in more suited to the job, handy as a standby. any one session. The ones that I am As I said in the January article, this year I missing include the three larger predators intend to fish more for the lesser species and the trout. I can explain the three including roach, perch and tench instead predators in that these require specialist of concentrating mainly on the larger ones baits, hooks and traces that are not and this sort of session will feature more interchangeable with the others. The trout in my fishing trips. I have sacrificed an old however is a mystery. Brown trout are redundant built cane fly rod and turned it regularly stocked in the river and I have into a lightweight nine foot Avon type rod seen pêcheurs spinning for them in some specifically for this kind of fishing. reaches, but I can honestly say that I have never seen one in that river, dead or alive. If you can find a suitable location there is no reason why you cannot become reThis sort of fishing, which I have described acquainted with your childhood friends, before as Fishing in Lilliput after the short the gudgeon and the ruffe along with dace, story published by Arthur Ransome, is a bleak and rudd. They are all out there just refreshing change from concentrating on a waiting for a bit of your attention. Think of single species and repeating the same them as specimens – only smaller!