I would guess that 95% of anglers visiting France are going there to target carp or catfish which is a pity as the country has a lot to offer the general angler as well. From pike and zander to roach and bream the opportunities that exist in France really are enormous, but for me the fish with the most exciting potential of all has to be the barbel.
While the interest in carp continues to rise the barbel has remained a very unpopular and neglected species amongst French anglers. This is because barbel have one big thing going for them which ensures that they have been, and will be, left unmolested by French anglers for years – they taste crap! 
There is still a very strong ‘knock it on the head and stick it in a pot’ mentality in France and if the barbel could be eaten they would be a much more popular species. The good news for the budding barbel angler is that this means he has miles upon miles of totally unmolested fishing at his disposal for fish that in many cases have never seen a hook. The bad news about this lovely freedom of course is that there is a real lack of information available and if you are going to find some reasonable barbel fishing you will have to do most of the donkey work yourself. There is very little literature on barbel and very few barbel anglers to compare notes with. In fact I have yet to come across another angler fishing specifically for them in the last three years.
The biggest problem is undoubtedly location. Not all the rivers seem to hold them and even if you do find a river with a track record not all the stretches are going to hold them. You do occasionally find information in magazines and Web forums, such as the FISHINGmagic forum, which can be very helpful for comparing notes with like-minded anglers and to get general information about likely venues.
Once I have a river in mind my approach has tended to be to drive around looking for likely looking stretches and talking to any anglers that I may see. Basically I ask them if they have ever caught any barbel or know if barbel exist in the river. Most sections also have a ‘guard de peche’ (bailiff) associated with them who is fairly easy to track down if you ask any anglers. These guards – and French anglers in general – are usually quite forthcoming with information and on occasions will even take you to swims where barbel have been caught. Speaking French is obviously a big asset here but you will be surprised at the number of people who actually speak fairly good English if you take the time to exchange at least basic pleasantries in French first.
The other method of finding the fish is to simply do it yourself. On the shallower rivers and streams it is possible to spot fish and I often walk several stretches looking for them before committing myself. On deeper rivers it does become more difficult and really the only way of finding for sure if barbel are present is to fish for them. I hope I do not make it all sound like doom and gloom as it is not, once you do find the fish you can expect some excellent fishing in some fantastic surroundings.
As there are so few anglers around I nearly always adopt a roving approach, generally baiting several swims and then rotating between them or walking several miles of river with just one rod looking for fish. The fishing is very relaxed and most days you can bait several swims, go to lunch, come back and still find them all free…try doing that in South East England!
The fish themselves are really not difficult to catch once you find them and if you can catch them in the UK you can catch them here, just use tackle strong enough to pull them out of any nearby snags.
One thing that did surprise me is that I am still finding that after dark offers the best chance of a fish. I thought that with the lack of pressure the fish would feed freely both day and night but they do still seem to have a preference to feed more strongly after dark, at least on the rivers I have been fishing. The other point that may or may not be important to you and something that I would welcome any feedback on, is that as far as I can tell the majority of barbel in France (at least Northern France) are exactly the same species as in the UK with the same Latin name (Barbus Barbus). You may have seen pictures recently of some huge barbel from Spain, fish of over 30 pounds. Although I do not want to devalue them in any way as they are superb fish in their own right, they are a different species which as I mentioned may be irrelevant to you but it is just as well to be aware.
Most of my own fishing has been confined to the North of France where there are several rivers which hold them. The majority of my fishing has been on the Seine which holds them in reasonable numbers. They do seem to be more prolific in the middle to Upper reaches of the river while the lower reaches have smaller pockets of fish but the plus side of this is that the average size seems to be better. 
The areas between Nogent Sur Seine and Troyes to the east of Paris is a good bet for reasonable numbers and reasonable size. To the south of Paris you have the Essonne and also the river Loire which is a great destination for a barbel angler. I would tend to try and target the tributaries rather than the main river which are easier to read and a little less daunting at first sight. The rivers Cher and Indre which join the Loire around Tours are good venues and hold some big fish. The Loire is also a very good venue for carp if you want to mix things up a bit. Also in the north are rivers which are rumoured to hold them, although I do not have first hand experience of actually catching from them, are the Doubs, and Aisne. There are also several rivers on the French/Swiss border which hold them in some lovely surroundings and in the south the river Lot has a very good head although they do tend to be of a smaller average size.
As for size, there are some massive fish waiting to be caught in France. The current official French record came from the area immediately to the south of Paris and although this stands at less than the UK record I am in absolutely no doubt that there are fish in excess of that weight swimming around as I write.
Anyway I hope that I have at least whetted your appetite. Maybe if you pack a feeder or light carp rod next time you visit France you can give barbel fishing a chance. At the very least its something to do during the day if you are sat on a river waiting for nightfall and a few carp to come on the feed.
You can contact me at mahpiy@rohmhaas.com
