Meandering Angler in France, part 1

Before we meander down to Burgundy at 200 kph on the French TGV, Dottie and I are spending a few days in Paris with our Sonoma friends, Tom and Katherine Culligan. Dottie wants to visit Musée de la Mode et du Textile (fashion and fabrics museum), which is part of the Louvre.

I spent days googling a Musée du Pecheur (fisherman’s museum) with no luck, but believe it or not, there are places to fish in the middle of Paris.

The closest is the Seine River, which runs right through town. You don’t need your waders: A pair of sneakers and a rod will do just find. Parisians say that 30 species of fish live together in their waters. Some species, like bass, pike, catfish and perch are familiar, but I wouldn’t know a bleak or roach from a gougeon or tench, the names of some other finny creatures in these waters. Whatever you call them, Parisians fish for them.

The outskirts of Paris offer even more choices. One website, “Mama Loves Paris,” recommends the village of Villette. It’s the location of a private fishing farm that offers angling for trout, pike and other fish. Anglers just pay for the ones they catch.

Closer in, the charming banks of the Seine offer several good spots for anglers. There is even a “carp corner” on the bank of the Ile-Saint-Louis. Other spots include riverbanks near Pont Neuf and Pont Marie. The canals that run off the Seine are also suggested as good spots, the best being Canal Saint Martin.

Some anglers head to the parks of Paris, specifically the huge Bois de Boulogne located on the city’s western border in the 16th arrondissement. It has eight ponds dedicated to fishing. There’s even one reserved for fly fishermen.

It was once a hunting preserve for French royals. But in 1852, Emperor Napoleon III turned it into a forested park of more than 2,000 acres. It has botanical gardens, miles of trails, a zoo, a children’s amusement park, two tracks for horse racing and a tennis stadium where the French Open is played.

Bois de Vincennes, a park on the city’s eastern border, is even bigger and has four lakes in which you can fish. There is also a part reserved for nudists. For more information on that feature, there is a website: naturistes-paris.fr/?lang=en.

One of the Vincennes lakes is reserved exclusively for fly-fishers. I’m not sure if it is close to the area reserved for naked Parisians, but I might have to check it out.

I packed my fly rod. I can purchase all the other necessities for my French fishing adventure locally, including baguettes, cheese, plus a bottle (or two) of wine. I will add sunscreen if the fly-fishing lake is in the nudist section.

There’s just nothing quite like fishing in France.