The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Thanks for the welcomes.

I have added my location to the profile info'. I'm a few hundred kilometres south of M. Troutbeck in the Charente, close to the Haute-Vienne and not too far from the Vienne and Dordogneshire.

Mole-Patrol wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:33 pm
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The French pecheurs always show a lot of interest in my old cane rods and centrepin reels. They do not have any history of the coarse fishing tackle that we take for granted being more disposed to their 'grande cannes'. The only running line tackle they favour are either tiny, size 1000 outfits when bait fishing for trout or heavy predator tackle that is usually carried out with a crude telescopic rod and the cheapest reel they can find.

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There must be more refined traditional French rods somewhere. I found this a couple of years ago. Unfortunately that's the only picture I could ever find.

http://jmd.vefblog.net/74.html

You've got to scroll down on that page a little bit, to see the picture I'm referring to.

I can't make out whether it has rings or not. There are a lot of similar type rods in the brocantes (second hand shops) some with rings and some without, being designed as roach poles. The ones with rings tend to be heavy rods that would have been used for brochet, or pike as we know them.

In more affluent areas I would expect to find split cane fly rods on the vide greniers (car boot sales) and brocantes. Where we live there isn't much wealth. It is mostly agrarian and the items displayed on sale reflect that. The only decent reels I have come across on second hand markets were from English sellers; a Mitchell 300A, a Mordex Merlin and a Wide Drum Speedia.

These days there is a growing interest in English fishing methods, mainly carp and feeder fishing, but some are using sliding floats and trotting. But fishing tackle in our area from the vintage period is definitely geared towards the roach pole, pike fishing or light bait fishing for trout.

The rod in the picture is described as being the butt section of an inline rod, probably meant for "pêche au toc". So it's for bait fishing for trout with a quite elaborate traditional french method.

I guess in France it's quite similar to what we can see around here in Germany. The traditional local tackle and methods are rather simple and coarse as fishing has mostly been done to get fish for the pot. In Britain there's a much longer history of fishing as a sport.

Duebel wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:25 am

Mole-Patrol wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 6:33 pm
...

The French pecheurs always show a lot of interest in my old cane rods and centrepin reels. They do not have any history of the coarse fishing tackle that we take for granted being more disposed to their 'grande cannes'. The only running line tackle they favour are either tiny, size 1000 outfits when bait fishing for trout or heavy predator tackle that is usually carried out with a crude telescopic rod and the cheapest reel they can find.

...

There must be more refined traditional French rods somewhere. I found this a couple of years ago. Unfortunately that's the only picture I could ever find.

http://jmd.vefblog.net/74.html

You've got to scroll down on that page a little bit, to see the picture I'm referring to.

I keep my eyes peeled when at Vide Greniers and Brocantes. I've only seen one quality rod and that was a Hardy fly rod which was in very tatty condition. The seller was asking over €300!
The only quality french cane rod brand I can think of is Pezon et Michel. They are mainly game fishing rods. Most of the other rods I've seen I wouldn't grow my beans up!
Mitchell reels turn up regularly as you would expect but the majority of reels for sale are cheap, modern brands. I found a Mitchell 300 Pro in original pouch in good condition which wasn't too expensive and a tatty Cardinal 77 for €7. The latter reel was mechanically sound so I had it repainted and it's now one of my favourite reels for river fishing.