Fly Fishing France

In France there are multiple species that are fly fished both in rivers and lakes or in the sea. The most common species are brown trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, and Atlantic salmon. You can also fish other species such as pike, bass, carp or sea bass.

• Brown trout: we can find two types of brown trout in France. The Mediterranean bow trout (characterized by its lateral stripes) and the Atlantic brown trout with large, dark colored spots. There are populations of wild brown trout in most of the geography of France. Its biggest enemy is pollution and climate change.

• Rainbow trout: this is an exotic species since it is not native to Europe, but to the Pacific Coast of North America. This fish has bred and become naturalized in some rivers in France, thus creating some wild populations. They’re also found in some rivers where they’re repopulated with sterile fish or the result of leaks from fish farms.

• Brook trout: this voracious fish has also been introduced into the lakes of the Alps, the Pyrenees and in some specific areas in the center of the country.
• Grayling: the Thymallus Thymallus is a fish belonging to the salmonid family. It’s characterized by its small mouth and its prominent dorsal fin. This fish was introduced into many French rivers from other central European countries such as Poland. Specimens were released in rivers such as the Dordogne, Upper Loire, Upper Rhône or the Ain where there are currently naturalized populations.

• Atlantic salmon: this is not an abundant fish in France and its populations are in decline. Despite this, over a thousand salmon are caught a year in regions such as Bretagne. This fish can be caught in Departments 14, 22, 27, 29, 35, 50, 56, 61, 62, 64, and 76.

• Other fish: other species that can be caught with a fly in France are Pike, Bass, Carp, and Sea Bass, but with a lower sporting interest.

To be able to fly fish in France you only need a fishing license. Each Department has its own license that you can buy online, in bookstores or small convenience stores. There’s also an “interfederal” license that costs €100 that will allow you to fish in the 91 Departments of France.

For example, in the Haute-Garonne, the price of the annual fishing license for an adult is €77, for those under 18 years of age it’s €21, and the price for a single day of fishing is €15.

In France, unlike other countries such as Spain, there are no limited or private areas in which special fishing permits are necessary in addition to the fishing license.

Fishing without having a fishing license in the country is penalized with a fine of €450 and they also confiscate your fishing gear.

The best time to fly fish in the rivers of France depends on the fishing settings / areas. As a general rule of thumb, mountain lakes and rivers have very good fishing from June to September and plain rivers have excellent conditions at the beginning of the season.

1- Mountain rivers with a snow regime: the best months for fishing in these areas such as the Alps is:

• After the snow melts: from June to October.
• Before the snow melts: March and until mid-April.
• The first months of the season where catches are low, but it’s the best time to fish for large trout around the midpoint of the day due to the hatching of large mayflies such as baetidae. On the contrary, the trout have greater activity after the snow melts.

2- Mountain lakes: the activity of trout and brook trout depends on the altitude and water temperature. For lakes below 1,300 meters (4,265 ft), the best months are April and May. On the contrary, lakes above 2,000 meters (6,561 ft) have better fishing on the months after the snow melts such as June- August.

In short, if you want to fly fish in France, you must look for rivers that have optimum thermal water temperatures around 12º C (53.6º F) and attend the best hatchings occurring in the following months:

• At the beginning of the season, large baetidae hatch that activate the large trout that eat on the surface around the midpoint of the day.
• The mayflies hatch in the plain rivers in May and June.
• Finally, on summer afternoons there are large hatchings of mayflies and caddisflies.

To be able to be a fishing guide in France you need to have a certification, liability and casualty insurance and be registered as a company. In addition, to offer packages with accommodations, transfers, and guided services, we have established ourselves as a travel agency.

As a fisherman, it’s very important that you make sure you hire a legally constituted fishing guide like ours.

Professionals who want to work as fishing guides must have the recreational fishing guide-instructor certificate issued by the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Agriculture. Or, where appropriate, a certificate that shows that you have carried out this activity before the year 2003.

Currently many of the fishing guides in France have joined in a professional trade union organization (SMPGF) aiming to promote, develop and defend their profession. This union was created in 2019 and comprised of over 2,000 professionals.

For all these reasons, fishing with a fly-fishing guide in France is a regulated activity including guarantees.

Should I hire a fly fishing guide on my trip to France? This is the question that many fishermen ask themselves when organizing their trip to the country of love.

In the following 4 points below, we explain the reasons why we advise you to hire a fly-fishing guide in France:

• Your leisure time is valuable: the fly-fishing guides in France are professionals. We’ll take make sure to choose the very best fishing area, advise you with the flies, techniques to use…in short, we’ll help you catch more fish.
• You’ll live a unique experience: we’ll take you to places of great beauty, prepare you an excellent lunch near the river, show you places where others don’t fish, and you’ll have fun with our stories and funny jokes.
• River safety: Many rivers in France containing trout are remote and rugged locations. Others have whitewater or regulated by reservoirs. Fishing guides know the risks of each river and we avoid exposing ourselves to them. We help you cross the stream and we also have first aid training.

• We improve and adapt your fly-fishing skills: the fishing guides are good communicators, patient, and we like to teach. We’ll help you improve your technique or adapt it to fishing in a totally new destination for you. Remember that trout have very different behaviors depending on the country, time of the year, and setting.