By Laurent_Guillermin

A nice Albarine brown trout caught on a mayfly by the author

We introduce another new regular monthly fly fishing column today covering the wealth of fly fishing opportunities available in continental Europe. These will be written by Laurent Guillermin who is a well-known writer and photographer from France. His first stop is the Albarine River in his native France. Welcome Laurent!

The Albarine River

Like a dream, come true!

The Albarine river is the jewel of the Ain department in the South East of France. An extraordinary work of restoration, maintenance and the excellent fishing management from the local foundation has turned the gin clear river into one of the best destinations in Europe.

According to Nicolas Goussef, president of the Fishing Federation “The Albarine river undoubtedly became in a few years one of the top ten beautiful rivers of Europe in term of quantity of native brown trout and grayling!”

Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Sâone and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation. It has an excellent transport network and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva.

The 17-kilometer-long Albarine river, with its top quality waters and its three tributaries is an enchanting place, which will prove equal to your expectations. Like all rivers in the Jura Mountains, its crystalline water is overflowing with trout, grayling, and minnows. On the upstream part, the river takes its source north of Hauteville at 950 m of altitude. This sector is completely disconnected from the intermediate river by the famous “waterfalls of Charabotte”, a cascade made up of three falls of 60, 40 and 15 metres and extremely photogenic! At the bottom of this cascade, another river takes place. The Albarine’s river receives here important contributions of resurgences, which inflate its flow before entering deep throats!

Downstream you enter a kind of small fly-fishing paradise. The local “zebra trout” is one of the most popular fishing species in France. Highly adaptable and intelligent fish I have ever seen, these native brownies furnish probably more fly fishing sport than any other in the Rhône-Alpes region. Some French scientific studies have shown that anglers and even fly anglers have lower success rates when fishing for brown trout than any other species of trout. The Albarine trout is a sophisticated feeder and a spooky fish to catch but that is part of the dream.

The river provides nowadays very clean water, good cover, proper temperature range, and excellent food supply. Grayling were introduced ten years ago and have since spread through the main river and the small tributaries. With its distinctive dorsal fin, the grayling is perhaps the most striking of Albarine’s river game fish. Found in all part of the river except up to the waterfalls, the grayling is equally at home in the large pools, small currents or flat parts. The grayling fishing opens here in May to the end of September, with the peak fishing period being June through August. Most grayling average 35 cm, but fish up to 50 cm and 4 lbs have been recorded. Feeding primarily on insects, the grayling offers one of the finest dry-fly fishing opportunities in this river.

A few fly-fishing tips:The local “zebra trout” don’t like bright light. Their eyes and methods of feeding depend on low light that allows them to hide and attack their prey. You will not catch a large one feeding on the surface during the middle of the day in bright sunlight. Go fishing early and stay late. This is how I have caught the biggest ones (5 and 6 pounds)! It is possible to catch a large brown trout on a dry fly, but it is not probable except during the wonderful mayfly season. Your best bet is to fish flies below the surface of the water, such as small pheasant tail and hare’s ear nymphs. Brownies and grayling provide great sport for the angler equipped with a four, or five-weight rod with a suitably lightweight reel. By far the most common fly line is aweight forward floating line. Tapered long leaders terminating with 6X-7X tippet are generally sufficient. The fly box of the angler in the know will contain several imitations of mayflies, caddis flies, midges, and mosquitoes and of course shrimps patterns and nymphs that are more standard!

My leader for the Albarine river:

1.30m of 45.
0.80m of 35.
0.50m of 30.
0.30m of 25.
0.20m of 20.
0.10m of 16.
Total 3.20m + final tippet of 0.10 (7X) from 1m to 1m50.

Contacts:

Tourism Agency/ Comité Départemental du Tourisme de L’AIN.
34 rue du Général Delestraint. BP78 – 01002 BOURG-EN-BRESSE Cedex France.
Tél. : (00 33) 4.74.32.31.30 – Fax : (00 33) 4.74.21.45.69 Email : tourisme@cdt-ain.fr

Fishing Federation of Ain/ La fédération de pêche de l’Ain :
Président : M. Nicolas GOUSSEF.
Adresse : 10 Allée de Challes 01000 Bourg en Bresse FRANCE.
tél. : (00 33) 4.74.22.38.38 fax : (00 33) 4.74.24.66.59
Email : federation.peche.01@wanadoo.fr  Website : www.federation-peche-ain.com

LAURENT GUILLERMIN.

Laurent Guillermin

Laurent Guillermin is a French reporter and photographer. Laurent’s images and articles have appeared in a great number of fishing magazines in France and Europe. He’s also well-known in the small fly tying “world” and has commercial patterns tied by Easy Fly. He has traveled all over the world as a reporter and is considered as an expert fly fisher for trout, grayling, pike, carp, sea bass, bonefish and permit. “Every time you go out fishing you can have a different experience. That’s what it’s all about!” You can contact him on lgfishing@orange.fr

Upgrades aimed at improving fishing on the San Juan

NAVAJO DAM, N.M. — A trio of wading fly fishermen worked the Texas Hole in search of rainbows and browns last week as the sound of trickling water mixed with motorized purring.

Front-loading tractors hummed and beeped in the background, digging a large hole on the southern edge of the San Juan River.

Upgrades are under way at the world-renowned San Juan tailwater fishery, improvements to the trout habitat that officials hope will keep the anglers coming — and keep them happy.

Catch-and-release trout fishing on the 4-mile stretch of river downstream of the dam lures anglers from across the globe and pumps an estimated $20 million to $30 million into the local economy each year, according to a 2008 report by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

Out-of-state visitors include Chris Arnold of Durango, who reported last week that his success on the San Juan has been waning.

“Three years ago, it was super good, and it’s gotten more difficult over the last three years. When I started out, I was catching 40-50 fish a day sometimes,” he said as he walked away from Texas Hole on a crisp, post-rain afternoon. “. I caught less than 20 today — (about) 12-15. And I had to walk from here down a mile to do it.”

According to the Department of Game and Fish, which maintains the fishery and surveys anglers, the rate of satisfaction remains high.

But operating such a popular fishing destination comes with its share of scrutiny, and critics make their concerns known.

“There’s a group out there that feels the fishing has declined,” said Mike Sloane, the department’s chief of fisheries. “We’re not seeing it in our numbers, but we’re hearing it.”

In an effort to address known issues and to further enhance fishing opportunities, crews are tackling $300,000 worth of improvements. That includes creating a sediment retention pond at the mouth of the Rex Smith wash to slow the flow of sludge that rushes off a nearby mesa and directly into the river.

Marc Wethington, the NMDGF’s fisheries biologist for the San Juan, said sediment has been a recurring problem since 1999. That’s when a dirt berm was constructed next to the Texas Hole parking lot to protect the parking and bathroom facilities from flooding. But the unintentional result was that the berm helped funnel the muddy storm water directly into the river.

“That sediment . covers up the bottom; it smothers the aquatic life on the bottom,” Wethington said.

Crews will also work within “The Braids,” a section of river located approximately a mile below the dam. They will dig holes in the river’s sandstone floor to create pools for trout habitat and use dirt to consolidate some of the islands in an effort to create fewer, but deeper, channels.

“It’s about manipulating the flow to where it benefits the fishery and trout habitat,” Wethington said.

Sloane said the work will also head off problems that may arise if Navajo Dam gets tapped for more water development in the future. The changes under way now would make the fishery more viable in the event of declining flows, he added.

Estimated completion date for the project is Jan. 8.

“I think we’re going to have a good end product,” Wethington said. “I think the bulk of the anglers are going to be happy.”

According to his survey results, most of them already are. Wethington said 98-99 percent of the anglers he questioned last year “were either satisfied, very satisfied or greatly satisfied.”

Wethington said catch rates in the “Special Trout Waters” below Navajo Dam have stayed relatively steady since the mid-1980s, usually in the realm of 1.1 fish hooked per hour. Usage also remains high. Although the last decade saw some dips – Wethington said there were lulls after Sept. 11 and again as the recent recession took hold – the fishery supports approximately 200,000 angler hours annually.

Out-of-staters account for the bulk of the fishing.

Bill Gedeon of Aurora, Colo., visited last week with a large group of friends from Colorado. It’s an annual tradition that he’s been part of for about six years, though some members of the group have been coming far longer.

Gedeon said he’d had limited success in 2011, netting far fewer fish than he had in past years.

“We’re catching fish and we’re seeing fish — there’s a lot of fish — but it just doesn’t seem to be as much as it used to be,” said Gedeon, who still classifies himself as a bit of a beginner. “I heard stories about how this was supposed to be the absolute best fishing place in the country, but maybe I’m just expecting too much, you know?

“I don’t know – maybe some of the construction they’re planning will be an improvement.”

Duane Vandeventer of the Denver area has been fly fishing on the San Juan for more than a decade. He, too, noted last week that his catch rate had dipped to about one fish per day. But Vandeventer said his trip to New Mexico is as much about companionship as the fish and he wasn’t overly troubled by his meager haul.

“One of our friends caught 10 this morning, so part of it is probably the fisherman,” he said with a laugh.