Brown trout & grayling - France
Technique
March and April are crucial months since fish are not yet « educated » to being caught and often swim right under the surface to enjoy the first ephemera hatches. Before snow smelt, which makes fishing quite difficult, the first flies are Baetis Rhodani et the famous Rhithrogena Haarupi, also known as March Brown. And fish feed on buzzers too, especially when waters level is low.
As soon as fish are chasing food to the surface, the most effective imitations are hare’s ears (AB FLY’s MC6) : size 12 and 14 for the "March Brown", size 16 and 18 for the Rhodani, and very small size for buzzers. This fly is a must-have in such fishing conditions because of its blurred aspect and neutral colour. It can also be used as a wet fly if needed. Alain Barthélemy makes several variant with CDC, twist hackle (MC6 TW, MC6 TWC) with a wing of deer hair. These imitations are to be used when fishing high on the water. The hare’s ear, with the deer hair wing (MC6 TW CH), imitates the big March Brown perfectly.
When there is no insects activity, fishing can be practiced with wet flies, sight fishing with a nymph, or Czech nymphing. Alain Barthélemy favors the hare as the main material used to make his wet flies (NY MB) and nymphs (N MB). These are always generic flies. Both wet flies and nymphs, in different sizes (10 to 16), prove very efficient when ephemera hatches (especially Rhodani and Rhithrogena Haarupi) occur.
You should also have some streamers with you. Alain Barthélemy suggests 2 imitations: hen streamer and fox streamer. In order to be effective, your imitation should move closest to the bottom of the river; therefore, you need a sinking fly line (type T200).
And don’t forget to check waters levels and flowing characteristics before you go fishing.
Ideal flowing characteristics for the following rivers:
Ain: between 30 et 60 m3/s
Doubs: between 10 et m3/s
Bienne: between 10 et 20 m3/s
On this website, you will find information on waters levels and flowing characteristics for most French rivers; débits et niveaux d'eau des cours d'eau en France