GUIDED FLY FISHING TRAVEL
Making a fly fishing trip happen is the result of aligning several factors, some that can be controlled and some that are out of the reach of anyone.
The reality of global warming and the climate change that goes with it can generate meteorological extremes that can affect and complicate fishing conditions to the utmost, even during the so-called peak season. Insane winds, extreme heat waves, drought, diluvian rains and plain old heavy storms are anything but impossible.
Fly fishing is very much subject to the prevailing conditions and their limiting factors like excessive wind, low and/or warm water conditions, extreme sunshine from cloudless skies or a severe temperature drop.
A tour operator that only caters to fly anglers is absolutely required to bear in mind these limiting factors and must have a strong sense for professional logistics in order to optimize his angling efforts and must know all the venues intimately in order to be able to quickly adapt to any given situation and be able to offer plan B or plan C over a failed plan A. All this is based on his experience gained over a number of years present on-site and the help of dependable local partners.
This is the exact type of travel that I offer my customers.
In over 35 years of travelling the world to fly fish, mostly done as a specialized journalist and photo reporter for “Plaisirs de la Pêche Magazine” as well as a professional guide in collaboration with a fly fishing tour operator funded in 1996 by myself and the actual owner, I have been able to get to intimately know quite a few destinations.
In 2018, I have decided to launch an independent career in order to control the entire process from A to Z : promotion, marketing, reservations, personal assistance and the possibility to offer reasonable pricing based on what is going to be available to the customer.
I am now collaborating with Pollen Voyage, based in Brest/Brittany not too far from where I live, a company that offers bespoke travel off the beaten path. Their references are outstanding and its team is highly competent, multilingual, available and quite reactive. They will manage all things billing, ticketing and travel logistics (air, ferry, car rental, lodging and travel insurances). They will accommodate my customers with warmth and professionalism. Gwen is the one most often in charge with my guided fishing stays.
The destinations:
The further it goes, the more difficult it will be to master the variables of logistics and weather. Having wet a line and guided on all 5 continents, in fresh waters and salt, I have been able to experience memorable angling moments but also solid failures. When you are stuck in a lodge or a hotel on the banks of a blue-ribbon river without a way out of a desperate situation nor plan B or C, time can become quite long and the taste of the bill quite bitter.
One often forgets that there are real havens for fly anglers almost at our doorstep where a wise choice of location and season can reduce any setback to almost zero.
Anglophone Breton, I have a strong affinity for the British Isles where I offer a series of stays for my customers to fish for wild brown trout in rivers and lakes, for pike, for grayling and for sea bass and trophy pollack, always off the beaten path. Those five species are my preferred European partners in crime and I am proud to be able to claim that I have gained a certain reputation when it comes to help my customers catch them.
Ireland has become my home away from home. I have been a regular visitor for nearly 30 years and have made good friends and partners there. Ireland has some of the best surface wild trout fishing, in rivers as well as in lakes. Nothing resembles the “Irishness”, its countryside, the natural lakes, small wild rivers, fences made of stone, its rugged coastline and its lovely pubs filled with warmth.
Great Britain has always been a paradise for the fly angler. Hampshire and Wiltshire in southern England possess a unique charm. The beauty of their protected valleys and the riches of their gin clear waters, flowing through gardened landscapes must be experienced to be appreciated. It is a particularly beautiful anomaly in an otherwise overpopulated world where human concentrations are prone to destroy nature. Other angling destinations in Britain are in the process to be elaborated.
The list does go on, but since I tend to perfectionism, I am still working on those destinations in order to be able to offer the best with a tad of even better. Offering similar products as found with the competition is not at all in my interest.
A selection of saltwater destinations are also in preparation, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and North American are among those and should be available come 2020.
I will adapt my guided trips to your needs, you profile and your desires. Whether you are a seasoned angler or a newcomer to the sport, travelling on your own or with company, whether you are a young “grasshopper ” in your thirties or a dyed-in-the wool octogenarian, dry fly aficionado, nymph angler or lough-style expert, wading angler or casting from a boat, superb experiences are awaiting you.
Do not hesitate to contact me at any moment and bombard me with questions, enabling me to tailor your dream trip, with personal, professional and exclusive service, I will be listening to you.
Email : [email protected]
