No, I don't think I will fish here today!

[Steve Arnold]

Sally and I had a few hours (and lunch) in Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, of course we walked down to the river! The Aveyron river is attractive for anglers - but not during the French holidays......

From the bridge looking downriver....

and upriver.....

This is one of the most scenic towns in France, a lot of them lay claim to this title, but Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val must be near the top of that list!

When I first visited I thought the streets looked familiar, a few weeks later I watched Charlotte Gray (for the 2nd time).

Of course, this town featured in that film. Worth watching if you have missed it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Gray_(film)

​

 

[@Clive]

The Vienne isn't as popular with canoeists and they rarely cause me any issues. The Charente below Angouleme however has motor cruisers and a few hire boats in some places. The other day on the tidal bit boat traffic was incessant and did spoil the pole fishing as the wash and back wash caused the float to bob up and down. But normally I don't mind the canoes and boats when ledgering. They certainly don't spook the fish.

 

[Philip]

The Seine and surrounds are full of paddlers and water sports but its the barges that cause the biggest issue as its difficult to keep baits fishing for long with a massive backwsh messing up presentation or pulling the tackle into snags. On some days the traffic can be non stop and if you get to keep a rod out for 15mins you doing well. Night time the traffic slows but not until well after dark so in the summer thats after 11pm and even then they will continue through the night.

In recent years alot of my fishing is now with one rod handheld so its not such an issue as its easy to just reel in & recast each time. All that said I have caught from under barges as they pass so the fish dont seem to mind them as much as I do

 

[@Clive]

Barges were always a menace on the Trent in winter league matches. If you were concentrating on your float and didn't realise there was a barge coming the first that you knew was when the water suddenly drained away leaving you standing high and dry and your keepnet only half submerged. You had about 20 seconds to secure everything before the wash took it all away. Thankfully there were only 2 or 3 in a 6 hour match.

The first time was an eye opener. I was only 14 or 15 and had never fished the Trent before. All of a sudden I saw my fellow anglers rushing to put their baskets, nets and bait boxes further up the banking. Its a good job that I followed suit.

 

[Philip]

Thats exactly it ...the first sign is the water draining followed by the massive surge as the barge passes..the other day I was on a platform some 3 feet above water level which is usually enough to be safe but one barge (intentionlly?) coming close caused waves that crashed over the entire platform taking rods, chairs and everything else with it.

You have to be on your toes ! Its not tranquil fishing by any means.

 

[Philip]

There was one place on the Seine I used to fish that was basically a large bay that used to be used as a boat mooring, there was an old wall that used to separate the bay from the river but the wall was now sunken under about 3 foot of water. The thing was you could with chest waders walk out along the wall for literally 100meter so you where basically standing mid river on a narrow sunken wall with 15foot of water on either side of you. You could trot a float along the edge of the wall in the main river, there where some very large Chub there. The issue was if you where out on the wall and a barge come past you could be washed off. I used to clamber up the only small tree that was growing half way along the wall in the water and hang on as it swayed back and forth until the water went calm again.

Looking back it was super dangerous and a pretty stupid...but it was fun !

 

[ian g]

sounds a bit mad , glad you're still here to share the story

 

[flightliner]

You can imagine some of the bargees comments when they were passing by.