Guided stillwater trout fly fishing
Guided stillwater trout fishing (duration 8 h) includes:
- Lake fishing strategies.
- Bank, boat and float tube fishing.
- Approach and selection of productive water.
- Reading the water.
- Learning a trout’s behavior in stillwaters: influence of the wind, currents, water sources, bottom structure and immerged obstacles and structures.
- Fly casting (windy conditions, casting for distance, line selection): hauling techniques, back cast presentations.
- Fly line selection to maximize success of fly presentation (floating lines, intermediate lines, hover lines, sinking lines) cording to fly selection.
- Fishing strategies, fly selection : imitations and lures.
- Leader construction specific to stillwater angling, droppers, etc.
- Fly line presentations, presenting a team of flies.
- Retrieves: figure of eight, pulling, roly-poly, static fishing, drift fishing, induced take, etc.
- Hook setting techniques.
- Fighting the fish, ethical treatment of fish, proper release techniques, dispatching a fish.
Drennec Lake
Drennec Lake (110 ha), Monts d’Arrée :
Feral rainbow trout and wild brown trout :
- Wade and boat fishing (Irish Sheelin boat with 15 HP 4 stroke Yamaha outboard motor (with prefectoral dispensation dated 06-12-2019) and Minn Kota EO 1 HP trolling motor).
- Loch-style drift fishing: wet fly, nymph, dry fly and streamer techniques.
Best period (trout): April to late October
My advanced guided stillwater tuition (bank or boat, depending on personal preference and prevailing conditions) includes:
- Tuition and guided fishing (duration 8 h)
- Quality tackle for hire (rods, reels, lines, leaders, flies, shooting baskets, etc…).
Not included: fishing licenses 13,70€/day (please provide your address and birth information), lodging.
Hours: 9h-17h (variable, according to prevailing daylight and weather conditions).
Individual guiding rates :
Guides notes
Located in the heart of the Monts d’Arrée Mountains, Drennec Lake surprises nature lovers by its beauty. Come and discover its fly fishing splendor and its authenticity. It’s a manmade lake with some 8.7 million m3 and with a surface area of 110 hectares fed by a watershed of humid high moor, providing pure waters all season long. Belonging to the communities of Sizun and Commana, this water is rated “1ère categorie” – category 1, meaning it is trout water with special regulations. It is considered the largest trout reservoir in France. Its watershed consists of 2 streams, the Mougau and the Elorn feeding into the lake.
It is home to a wild form of lake-dwelling brown trout running the lake’s tributaries during the spawning season as well as stocked rainbow trout, coming from the hatchery located near the dam. Both species cohabitate and will readily take your flies…
As of March 2014, this body of water has been classified “ Grand Lac Intérieur ” – Great Inland Lake, and is therefore subject to special regulations.
Fish management is done by the AAPPMA de l’Elorn (Fishing Club), funding the introduction of rainbow trout.
The Elorn Fishing Club is monitoring the stocks of brown trout by catching spawners (by means of a seasonal fish trap installed on the lower Mougau, right above the lake) and using them in hatcheries to hatch trout fry (right near the dam). They also maintain and manage fish stocks in the lake’s two tributaries, the Mougau and the upper Elorn.
Fishing is only open to all anglers carrying a license issued by the Elorn Fishing Club, without paying any supplement.
Fishing season is the one devised by the specific regulation of the “Drennec Lake”.
For 2025, the closing date for fly fishing on Lac du Drennec is October 31. The entire lake is fly only from September 15th to October 31st.
Boat fishing is open all season again, with limitations aimed at protecting the wild brown trout population of the lake. From opening day (in 1st category) to the end of the season, March 8 to October 31, 2025, fishing from boats is with fly tackle only (flies must be with single hooks).
Saint-Michel Lake
Saint-Michel Lake (450 ha), Monts d’Arrée.
Rainbow trout (large fish up to 3-4 kg / 8-9 lbs).
Boat fishing (19-foot Irish Sheelin Boat with 15 HP 4 stroke Yamaha outboard motor (with prefectoral dispensation dated 06-12-2019) and EO 1 HP Minn Kota trolling motor + or in float-tubes (waders + fins + booties/socks + life vests for hire).
Professional gear: boat seats, parachute drogue (drift socks), specific flies and equipment.
Best period (trout): mid-April to late November (Saint-Michel Lake closes on 31-01-2026. January fishing is for pike only)
Guide’s comment: see under Guided Pike Fishing
