Fishing at our Brittany holiday cottage with private pool near Baud

Today was the start of the fishing season at our Brittany holiday cottage with private pool near Baud, and along the river Tarun were cars parked as fishermen were keen to catch there first wild trout of 2016.



The river Tarun is only 4 or 6 meters wide but holds a good head of wild brown trout and salmon par and is located just 100 meters from La Forge and La Veille Maison.

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool

Today at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool we had our first enquiry this year for a holiday in La Forge from a keen fisherman interested in the wild run of trout in the river Tarun which is just 100 meters from the holiday cottage.

With the fishing season starting on the second Saturday of March why not book La Forge for the family enjoying the swimming pool on a private basis and grab a wild brown trout on the river.

Brittany holiday cottage with privatr heated swimming pool

With guest staying at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool enjoying some great weather, one group of guest decided to spend a few mornings fishing the local lake.

The guest had booked both La Forge and La Veille Maison to enjoy a large family holiday in France having 3 adult generations of the family stay to enjoy the pool and garden on a private basis.

The father took his son fishing to the lake and on one morning caught his first Zander on his oldest piece of fishing equipment within his bag, an old spinning spoon.

He was actually just demonstrating on how to retrieve the spoon to his son when all of a sudden the line raced across the lake for him to catch this lovely fish 5 minutes later.

Fishing at the Brittany holiday cottage

fishing at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool

From the private lake, to fishing the river Blavet there is some great fresh water fishing to be had less than 10 minutes from the Brittany holiday cottages La Forge and La Veille Maison.

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool

Just 5 minutes from the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool is a lovely private fishing lake where no fishing licence is required.

You can either pay 10 euros for a full day or 5 euro for a half day ticket, as we have young James I've just slipped away for a 4 hour fish once per week to enjoy some great sport.

Yesterday I caught a beautiful almost full leather  Carp of around 10 lbs plus around 30 roach caught on the other rod as a bit of fun. I've been informed by the owner that the Carp do go up to 40lbs. Within the lake there is also Pike, Zander and Perch.

Guest staying at La Forge and La Veille Maison have plenty of choices from the rivers Blavet and Tarun, private lakes and a host of other places.

Fishing at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool near Baud

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool

Yesterday at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated swimming pool I popped along to the local private lake just to enjoy a 4 hour fish.

It was the first time I took sufficient amounts of maggots to last a day and as soon as I arrived threw a hand full out in to the swim while I set up my rods.

The first rod was set up for the carp, I ledger-ed  sweet corn and used a bite alarm so I could concentrate on the float rig with the maggots.

After 10 minutes while my alarm screamed out and I struck into my first fish, a lovely slender Carp of around 6 lbs.

From then on the carp rod went very quite and that was the only bite during the 4 hours, while on the other rod I caught over 30 small Roach and a single Perch which was great fun - getting a bite with every cast within the first few minutes.

Its a lovely way to fish, being amused with the float rig while still having the hope of that carp rod getting some action.

The lake is just 5 minutes from the Brittany holiday cottage and you can fish it without a licence for just 10 euro per day or 5 euro for a half day.

It's a lovely little lake for guest staying in La Forge or La veille Maison to get in a sneaky fishing trip during there holiday.

Brittany holiday cottage with heated pool

Over the years quite a few guest staying at the Brittany holiday cottage with heated pool have headed down too the coast for a spot of shore fishing.

For me the best information to make sure you catch fish is to know the tide times and strength of the tide, to that end click here to see the local tide times.

Guest staying at either La Forge or La Veille maison Brittany holiday cottages are more than welcome to borrow a beach caster and reel.

Sea fishing at the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Last Thursday evening we took a guest staying at the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool down to the Bar de Etel for our first night fishing trip.

We stopped of at Decathlon in Lorient to buy our bait (rag worm) and arrived at the Bar de Etel at 19.30 and began fishing at 20.00. High tide was at 12.15 with a very low coefficient of 37.

As the tide was still very low the causeway to the light house was still accessible and the chap staying at La Forge began using a lure in the hope of some Bass but noticed some large fish swimming around right next to the causeway. With a change in tactic he switched to using a worm and very quickly caught a fish that neither of us could identify and cared not to touch.

I decided to join him on the causeway and with a light spinning rod fixed up a simple float and used the rag worm as bait. Within 10 minutes I caught my first ever Wrasse.

At 21.30 the night was drawing in and the causeway was soon underwater so we switched tactics and concentrated with the beach casters, on the second cast I caught another first a lovely Dover sole.

Up until high tide we caught 4 small conger Eels, which again was a first for me and Naomi's biggest fish to date.

At high tide the bites stopped and we stopped fishing at 1.30, at the end of the night Naomi and I had a wonderful time catching 6 fish in total ( 3 new species for me and Naomi's second and biggest fish todate)

Guest staying at either La Forge or La Veille Maison the Brittany holiday cottages with heated swimming pool are always welcome to join us on a fishing trip and a spare beach caster and reel is always available.

Fishing at the Brittany holiday cottages

I mentioned the other day that I found a new stretch of the river Tarun providing a great location to fish at the Brittany holiday cottages.

Here is a video of the new stretch:

Many a guest staying at the Brittany holiday cottages La Forge and La Veille Maison have enjoyed some fun on the river.

The fishing season starts in March and closes in October and fishing licences can be purchased in Baud. The great thing about the fishing licence is that once you have one you can cross any farmers land to gain access to a river to fish.

Brittany holiday cottages with heated pool

With our new fitness regime started this week, Naomi and I decided to take a long walk from the Brittany holiday cottages with heated pool and followed the river Tarun upstream from the cottages.

On our way back I was surprised to see this new stretch of the river because it was always hidden from the road above. At one point I discovered a streem merging with the river and it looked like an absoulute fantastic place to fish.

Every year several guest staying at either La Forge or La Veille Maison are keen fisherman and love the opportunity to spend an hour or two in the afternoon or evening after a day out trying there luck for the wild trout that run on the Tarun.

I will take some pictures later in the week and post this new stretch of the river. For a video of the river just 100 meters from the holiday cottages:

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool

Woke up this morning to a bright sunny day at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool to see fisherman arrive at the river Tarun for the start of the trout season.

The river is located just 100 meters from La Forge and La Veille Maison and for those wishing to fish can purchase a licence within the market town of Baud just 3 miles from the holiday cottages.

For a video of the river click here

Sea fishing at the estuary of Guidel

Just 35 minutes from the Brittany holiday cottages La Forge and La veille Maison is the estuary of Guidel, where on the 12th August we popped down with our rubber dingy for our first attempt of fishing from the dingy.

The day before we bought a small anchor and a length of heavy chain to attach to 20 meters of rope and we arrived at low tide to see how the bottom looked.

We rowed out to where we were going to fish and dropped the anchor, fishing from low tide until an hour after high tide.

As we were positioned in the middle of the estuary we were able to use really light tackle rather than the beach casters used when fishing from the shore. We had 2 6 foot light spinning rods and used the same set up as we do with the beach casters, with a running ledger of only 1 1/2 oz and a 3 foot trace tied to a number 1 Aberdeen long shank hook.

Using rag worm as bait we caught 7 Bass in total mostly very small but the final fish was just over 2lbs in weight, for a video of the fishing trip click here.

For guest staying at either holiday cottage fishing tackle is available.

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool

With in half an hour of the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool is the Bar de Etel one of my favorite fishing locations.

My fishing buddy contacted me last week to ask if I wanted a fishing day down at Etel Tuesday just gone, the weather conditions were perfect with a coefficient of 88.

Low tide was at 11.30 am and the following high tide at 17.35 and we decided to start fishing at 10am and fish both aspects of the tide finishing at 19.00.

I popped too the Vannes decathlon which is only 25 minutes from La Forge and La Veille Maison first thing in the morning to see if they had any rag worm in stock. They had about 10 boxes but on inspection the boxes were all filled with manky looking worms that all appeared dead, one box was almost empty. Its so important to inspect the boxes before taking them away.

It was worth a try getting the worms as I always feel more confident when worms are on the hook, but my mate was popping down a local fish mongers to pick up some fresh mackerel.

When I arrived at Etel he announced he had also managed to get some live shrimp and some squid and had talked to the fish monger to find out that the locals were catching Pollock and the odd Bass.

With a view of getting into a turbot I decided to fish the final flow of the tide on its way out close in with the Mackerel. With no bites for either of us for the next 2 hours, the tide had turned and was now on its way in, I decided to switch tactics and try the live shrimp hooked just through the tails to keep them alive.

I had 2 bites in concession that looked like your typical flatfish bite but on retrieval the shrimp heads had been taken and the bodies remained. My mate switched to the shrimp also, casting out into the fast water and after 30 minutes had a stonking bite and brought in a 3 lb Wrasse.

Spirits improved after the catch and we concentrated on the shrimp only for it to go very quite again and we ended up finishing at 19.00 with just the one fish.

On the whole even though I did not catch I really enjoyed the day, the sun was out and I had to take some of my layers off as I got to warm in the afternoon.

Our next fishing trip will be in March.

There is always a beach rod available for guest staying in La Forge or La Veille Maison for those wishing to have a few hours fishing on the coast.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Today along with the guest currently staying at La Forge (the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool ) we popped down to the Bar de Etel for a spot of beach casting.

Yesterday I drove to Lorient which is about 25 minutes from the holiday cottage to buy some additional fishing equipment in the Decathlon store and pick up some rag worms. Unfortunately they did not hold the normal worms that I would have bought ( The Demi mure, red box) but only had the jumbo and small rag, so I decided to try the supermarket near Crach to buy some bait.

The reason I don't buy the Jumbo is because at 5.50 euros a box I find them rather expensive...what a mistake that turned out to be because when we arrived at the super market 'Intermarche' they did have the worms I wanted but at the extortionate price of 7.20 a box, by then it was to late if we wanted to catch the tide and avoid further driving to the Decathlon store in Vannes so we headed of to the fishing venue with just 2 boxes each, I would normally buy 4 for my 2 rods.

As my daughter was with me and the guest staying at the cottage took his 13 year old son I opted not to fish the full run of the incoming tide. High tide was at 3pm and we started fishing at noon. The coefficient was really low today at 32 yet I was still picking up weed for the first hour at which point less and less weed was being hauled in on each retrieve.

I used my favorite rig, very simple a running ledger with a 3ft hook length on an Aberdeen no1 long shank and fished the rag worm about 80 meters from the shore on both rods. Around 2pm I had my first bite of the day and caught a 1lb Bass in lovely condition. I was waiting to switch from using rag at long range to Mackerel at 30 meters at slack tide for the Turbot but while helping out the guest a large wave hit the rocks where I had placed the mackerel and all was lost. I ended up finishing fishing at 3pm because the bait run out, but all was good as I caught my supper and my daughter was getting restless.

Although the tide was quite week it was not a pleasant day to fish with high winds creating some large waves and rain for most of the 3 hours.

The guest staying at La forge took advantage of the spare beach caster and reel that I have available to use.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Within the group currently staying at the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool is a keen Salmon fisherman from Wales.

He had an evening on the L'evel a few days ago and caught 2 Salmon parr both about 7 inches long and last night I popped over too the Blavet with him just north of Baud following a report from a friend that he had seen alot of fly fishermen fishing around one of the locks that contains a pair of fish ladders.

We did have a week of heavy rain last week and the guest explained that when the rivers are full of water thats the time to fish for the Salmon. We arrived 5 days after all the rain and the river was back to normal however that did not stop him from having a few hours of fun, catching 2 chub of 3lbs on a dry fly and having half a dozen more takes to get the blood rushing.

It was a wonderful evening as it had been bright and sunny all day with temperatures reaching 28 degrees and fish were rising all the time with plenty of insect life around.

For a video of the first fish caught see: Fishing the blavet

La Forge is just a 10 minute drive to the river Blavet which was voted the best course fishing river of France in 2006.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

A few weeks ago within the group staying at La Forge, the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool was a keen fly fisherman who went out most evenings to fish the Tarun and L' Evel rivers that are located within the hamlet of Kerbourbon.

He just fished the evening rises and caught on every occasion, catching small brown trout and Salmon Parr. the biggest fish was a 1 1/2 trout towards the end of the holiday, all fish were returned.

He also had a crack at the chub around the bridge of l'Evel and caught a pair around 3 or 4 lbs.

He said he enjoyed the fishing as it was a challenging venue to cast and explained that the presentation of the fly was paramount to get the take.

The Tarun is just 100 meters from the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool.

Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool

With great weather today at the Brittany holiday cottage with private heated pool I decided to pop down to the coast for a spot of fishing. I decided to give the mark about a mile up stream from the Bar de Etel, as the last time I was there the coefficient was running at 115 with a very high tide and it ended up being unfishable with the tide running so strong, even so 3 fish were caught. ( that particular day this mark was chosen as it looked to dangerous to fish the Bar de Etel).

Today the coefficient was at 62 with a moderate high tide at 1pm. I arrived at 9am and had 2 rods fishing by 9.30, both rods were used on the normal set up of a single hook length of 4 ft tide to a swivel that was connected to the main line with a free running break away ledger of 150 grammes. I expected today to be a very different experience than my first visit to be shocked to see my weights being swept 50 meters upstream within 10 minutes and on every retrieve expected to loose my tackle because it was getting snagged every time and on each retrieve the weight and hook was covered with weed.

By 12pm I had enough and moved around to a sheltered bay and no longer suffered the gear being swept away. I used rag worm and fished until 2pm when I gave up having no bites at all, through out the day.

For guest staying at La Forge or La veille Maison, there is a beach caster and reel available to use.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Just 20 minutes away from the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool is the medieval town of Hennebont with its embattlements over looking the river Blavet. As it was a bright sunny day on Tuesday I pooped down to the Blavet and took the following video to give you a look at what was voted the best course fishing river in Brittany, I was situated about 2 miles north of Hennebont.

The Blavet runs from here up to and through Pontivey which is again just 20 minutes away from La Forge. For a short movie of 3 of the local places to fish around La forge click this link.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Just 5 min away from the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool is a lovely private 2 acre lake stocked with Carp, Pike, Zander, Perch and Ive been told some really big Eels.

The cost per day is 10 euros or 5 euros for an evening per angler allowing 2 rods per person.

The good news with the lake being private is that no rod licence is required and being only 5 min from La Forge is a great place to pop along for a few hours of fishing after enjoying a day out.

To see a film of the lake click link

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool and gym

Just 100 meters from the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool and gym is the river Tarun which contains a good head of wild trout, the river joins the river Evel after 1km from this point.

Guest staying at La Forge have taken trout on the fly, asits a narrow river with alot of trees along the back a short rod is esential and care taken with your casting. I bought a small 1.8 meter spinning rod that I use on the river, it was the shortest rod I could find and I use a preserved small fish set up to cast and wobble on the retrieve.

You need a fishing licence to fish in France just as you do in the UK but once you have your licence you can fish any river system and cross farmers fields to access the river. The spinning rod is available to use for the guest staying at the holiday cottage if you fancy a go.

For a look at the river Tarun click this link.

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Well I managed to get up at 7 am this morning at the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool with the determination to get down to Etel for a look at whats taking the bait.

With 8 layers on my upper body and 4 on my legs I felt confident I would be really snug no matter how cold it got down on the coast. I drove to Vannes first and popped into Decathalon with the aim of getting some rag worm, what a waisted trip that was, just 1 box of large worms left and when opened it looked like the dead had been removed and what was left was half a dozen worms at the outrageous cost of 5.50 euros. You would think if they had removed the dead and were aware it was short the price would have been reduced, but no, so I left without the worms with just the mackerel for bait.

I arrived at Etel at 10.30 and was pleased to see no one else was fishing and the sea wall had been reinforced creating a shelter out of the wind for me, high tide was at 3pm and the coefficient was 57.

I fished one rod out in the main channel about 100 meters out and fished the other only 20-30 meters out.

The sea was rough and the waves high, I had to keep my rods up high to reduce wave motion rather than my preferred set up of having my rods low and parallel with the shore.

I guess it does not matter how many layers you have on if you get wet, you just cant keep the cold out and with heavy rain all morning I was drenched and cold for most of the trip and by high tide and no bites I packed up. If only I had some worms....that's what I kept telling myself.

Etel is just a 30 min drive from the Brittany holiday cottage with private pool and is just one of many great looking fishing locations.