Flyfishing in the French Pyrenees...

[dbk]

I had meant to post these photos a long time ago, but these are from a trip we made to the French Pyrenees mountains near St. Jean Pied de Port. We made this trip around Easter last year, and we encountered some of the worst fishing conditions the guide we worked with for a few days said they had had in that area in the last ten years due to the excessive rain that blew out the rivers or raised the water levels to unfishable levels. We were there a total of ten days, four of which we could not fish at all because conditions were so bad everywhere, and it rained every day we were there for at least for a few hours. Nevertheless, there is some beautiful water in this part of France, and I would return in a heartbeat to fish there again, although I would try and go when the conditions were going to be more optimal for fishing.

The food in France is amazing- particularly the bread. The people were friendly and patient with us, which was really good considering neither my friend or I spoke a bit of French, and our English, Italian, and little bit of Spanish did not help us much at all. Still, it was a great trip and if anybody is every interested in going to fish there, PM and I can give you some helpful information.

Dave

[BertBrehm]

Gorgeous! I've been on the other side of the border in the Spanish Pyrenees. Drove from Barcelona up to PARQUE NACIONAL ORDESA Y MONTE PERDIDO. Didn't get to fish. :(

Are those wild browns?

[dbk]

The browns were not large, but they were all wild fish. They were truly magnificent fish.

We also drove to the Spanish side of the Pyrenees with expectations of fishing there, but little did we know the government offices in Pamplona (the ONLY place in the entire city where you can get a license to the fish the streams we were planning to fish) we closed for all of Holy Week (Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday), and we arrived in Pamplona that Thursday. To make things worse, we drove back again the Monday after Easter and they were still closed:beathead:, and would not open again until WEDNESDAY. We were thus unable to fish a number of streams that were much more fishable than those we encountered in France. We did see some nice water there, but like you, never were able to fish in Spain.

[BertBrehm]

The ONLY place in the entire city where you can get a license to the fish the streams we were planning to fish) we closed for all of Holy Week (Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday), and we arrived in Pamplona that Thursday.

Dammit, those Catholics need to get their priorities straight. ;)

[cabezon]

Ah, but you miss the point (from their point of view). Those fine government employees were on their own holidays, perhaps fishing those same rivers that DBK could not access.

Many thanks DBK for insights on fishing on the other side of the pond.

Steve

[Mingo]

those are some great photos, particularly the one with the old stone church.