Post by gui on Jul 20, 2019 13:14:17 GMT -6
Not much fishing to report actually, but since it has been pretty quiet in here lately, I thought I’d share a few pictures and report from a recent trip abroad.
One of my best friend got married last weekend in the French Basque country and had planned for a big wedding party.
I wasn't sure that we could attend, but things did align last minute and we were privileged to be able to take 10 days off and travel to Europe.
We spent the first few days in Madrid and the rest in the Spanish and French Basque country before attending the wedding.
Basque country includes the western Pyrenees mountains and there are some fantastic trout (and some Atlantic salmon) fishing opportunities.
The area benefits from a lot of fresh water coming off the snowy peaks in the central Pyrenees mountains. Rich river beds, combined with year long temperate climate due to proximity with the ocean, allow trout to grow to trophy size. Well, at least that is the selling pitch that got me all excited and made me pack the rods... Because in practice, well, I did not catch any big trout...
Yet, I have no doubt about their presence, and if I did not catch any big trout, it is evident that it was due to my poor skills and maybe a little bit due to difficult fishing conditions after recent heavy rains.
My plan was to fish two mornings and one evening during our stay in the French Basque countryside, in the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
Saint-Jean is a charming small town tucked in the foothills of the western French Pyrenees. With several trout streams converging into town to form the famed “Grande Nive” river, it is a perfect base town for hiking and fishing in the area. During the day, from the bridges that overlook the river flowing through the old town, you can see good size trout lazily feeding in the shallows. Unfortunately, you can also see signs that say “pêche interdite”, which in French means “fishing not allowed”.
No wonder the trout seem so casual here.
As mentioned, hiking in the area is fantastic.
Mountains in the Basque country are covered by ferns, a testament to the temperate local micro-climate, and make for wonderful green and lush scenery.
In these green slopes, you might come across herds of small wild or semi-wild horses named "pottoks" which have adapted to the harsh mountain conditions and lived in the area for centuries, but are now unfortunately endangered.
Due to the recent rain, the main “Grande Nive” or “Nive” river that I was hoping to fish during our stay was pretty much blown off. The Nive is renowned for its trophy size brown trout. But fortunately, smaller tributaries to the Nive appeared to be clearing off quickly, and so that’s where I spent two mornings trying my luck with the Basque Natives.
Access to the water was tricky. Private vs public access is not really an issue in France. In most cases, you are going to be “trespassing” in the American sense of the term, but farmers are usually very tolerant towards anglers, as long as you are respectful and close the gates that you may have opened. Often, farmers actually install some sort of ladders so anglers can climb over electrical fencing or barbed wires without ending up in a painful and awkward situation.
In this case, access was tricky simply because wherever I fished, the river banks were wild and covered by nettle, spiky shrubs and other fun stuff.
I was wearing shorts the first morning and my legs still remember.
I fished the “Nive de Béhérobie” which is the main tributary to the Grande Nive. This small river was wild and gorgeous, with chalky water the first day that continued to clear out throughout the next day. The overhanging trees and stream side vegetation made for an intimate fishing setting and also, a lot of snags.
I did not see any fish surface activity.
I also also did not see any other angler.
I tried a bit of everything, from dry only to dry-dropper to tight line “euro” nymphing. The euro was what worked out best for me, to some extent.
Over two mornings, I hooked into maybe a small dozen of fish, with about eight that I guess would qualify as “caught”, the rest being "LDRed".
There were a lot of dark stoneflies under the rocks, so I fished with a similar sized and color weighted stonefly imitation and a size 16 perdigon as dropper in different variants.
Both caught fish.
All fish were brown trout and most were small feisty fish in the 6-8” range. These would go right through the mesh of my net, which turned out to not be the best net for the situation.
Also, I had forgotten how wild trout in cold water are so much full of energy and I managed only one half-decent pic of these jumpy little things.
My nicest fish came unbuttoned. I believe it was a nice fish for this small section of the stream, maybe about 14-15 inch.
My second nicest was this little pretty and plumpy Basque trout.
Morning bite was the best (which I did solo, since my better half is not yet addicted enough to wake up a dawn during vacation time).
We casually fished some good-looking water together one evening, but to no avail. But even without any cooperative fish, it is hard to beat a nice evening spent together stream side and with a good picnic.
If you get a chance to visit the Basque country, the French and Spanish sides offer both unique and contrasting experiences.
French Basque villages are more preserved and typical in architecture. They also offer a very tranquil setting, perfect for a relaxing stay with great fishing and hiking. Fishing regulations in France seem to be a bit less of an headache than the ones in Spain.
In contrast, towns on the Spanish Basque coastal side are bustling estuary fishing towns, sometimes crowded by not so attractive apartment buildings but needed to provide affordable lodging to all the people and fishermen that call home the little space left between the coastal cliffs and the rivers.
But the local sea food is just incredible, the people are warm and friendly, and the party and crowd in the towns are so much fun.
Spend your nights crawling from one pintxos (basque tapas) bar to the next one in San Sebastian or Bilbao.
At each stop, order only one tapas (even though it’s so tempting to order more, but you want to try as many bars as you can) and order a glass of local cider, a txakoli (Basque dry white wine) or a local vermouth.
Stay out late. Sleep in. Have a sea food lunch at the harbor. Take a siesta.
Repeat.
One of my best friend got married last weekend in the French Basque country and had planned for a big wedding party.
I wasn't sure that we could attend, but things did align last minute and we were privileged to be able to take 10 days off and travel to Europe.
We spent the first few days in Madrid and the rest in the Spanish and French Basque country before attending the wedding.
Basque country includes the western Pyrenees mountains and there are some fantastic trout (and some Atlantic salmon) fishing opportunities.
The area benefits from a lot of fresh water coming off the snowy peaks in the central Pyrenees mountains. Rich river beds, combined with year long temperate climate due to proximity with the ocean, allow trout to grow to trophy size. Well, at least that is the selling pitch that got me all excited and made me pack the rods... Because in practice, well, I did not catch any big trout...
Yet, I have no doubt about their presence, and if I did not catch any big trout, it is evident that it was due to my poor skills and maybe a little bit due to difficult fishing conditions after recent heavy rains.
My plan was to fish two mornings and one evening during our stay in the French Basque countryside, in the town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.
Saint-Jean is a charming small town tucked in the foothills of the western French Pyrenees. With several trout streams converging into town to form the famed “Grande Nive” river, it is a perfect base town for hiking and fishing in the area. During the day, from the bridges that overlook the river flowing through the old town, you can see good size trout lazily feeding in the shallows. Unfortunately, you can also see signs that say “pêche interdite”, which in French means “fishing not allowed”.
No wonder the trout seem so casual here.
As mentioned, hiking in the area is fantastic.
Mountains in the Basque country are covered by ferns, a testament to the temperate local micro-climate, and make for wonderful green and lush scenery.
In these green slopes, you might come across herds of small wild or semi-wild horses named "pottoks" which have adapted to the harsh mountain conditions and lived in the area for centuries, but are now unfortunately endangered.
Due to the recent rain, the main “Grande Nive” or “Nive” river that I was hoping to fish during our stay was pretty much blown off. The Nive is renowned for its trophy size brown trout. But fortunately, smaller tributaries to the Nive appeared to be clearing off quickly, and so that’s where I spent two mornings trying my luck with the Basque Natives.
Access to the water was tricky. Private vs public access is not really an issue in France. In most cases, you are going to be “trespassing” in the American sense of the term, but farmers are usually very tolerant towards anglers, as long as you are respectful and close the gates that you may have opened. Often, farmers actually install some sort of ladders so anglers can climb over electrical fencing or barbed wires without ending up in a painful and awkward situation.
In this case, access was tricky simply because wherever I fished, the river banks were wild and covered by nettle, spiky shrubs and other fun stuff.
I was wearing shorts the first morning and my legs still remember.
I fished the “Nive de Béhérobie” which is the main tributary to the Grande Nive. This small river was wild and gorgeous, with chalky water the first day that continued to clear out throughout the next day. The overhanging trees and stream side vegetation made for an intimate fishing setting and also, a lot of snags.
I did not see any fish surface activity.
I also also did not see any other angler.
I tried a bit of everything, from dry only to dry-dropper to tight line “euro” nymphing. The euro was what worked out best for me, to some extent.
Over two mornings, I hooked into maybe a small dozen of fish, with about eight that I guess would qualify as “caught”, the rest being "LDRed".
There were a lot of dark stoneflies under the rocks, so I fished with a similar sized and color weighted stonefly imitation and a size 16 perdigon as dropper in different variants.
Both caught fish.
All fish were brown trout and most were small feisty fish in the 6-8” range. These would go right through the mesh of my net, which turned out to not be the best net for the situation.
Also, I had forgotten how wild trout in cold water are so much full of energy and I managed only one half-decent pic of these jumpy little things.
My nicest fish came unbuttoned. I believe it was a nice fish for this small section of the stream, maybe about 14-15 inch.
My second nicest was this little pretty and plumpy Basque trout.
Morning bite was the best (which I did solo, since my better half is not yet addicted enough to wake up a dawn during vacation time).
We casually fished some good-looking water together one evening, but to no avail. But even without any cooperative fish, it is hard to beat a nice evening spent together stream side and with a good picnic.
If you get a chance to visit the Basque country, the French and Spanish sides offer both unique and contrasting experiences.
French Basque villages are more preserved and typical in architecture. They also offer a very tranquil setting, perfect for a relaxing stay with great fishing and hiking. Fishing regulations in France seem to be a bit less of an headache than the ones in Spain.
In contrast, towns on the Spanish Basque coastal side are bustling estuary fishing towns, sometimes crowded by not so attractive apartment buildings but needed to provide affordable lodging to all the people and fishermen that call home the little space left between the coastal cliffs and the rivers.
But the local sea food is just incredible, the people are warm and friendly, and the party and crowd in the towns are so much fun.
Spend your nights crawling from one pintxos (basque tapas) bar to the next one in San Sebastian or Bilbao.
At each stop, order only one tapas (even though it’s so tempting to order more, but you want to try as many bars as you can) and order a glass of local cider, a txakoli (Basque dry white wine) or a local vermouth.
Stay out late. Sleep in. Have a sea food lunch at the harbor. Take a siesta.
Repeat.