A beautiful diversity of fish on the Loir
The Loir is a river in the center-west of France and it is one of the most fishy rivers in France. All along its course, from Château-du-Loir to its confluence with the Sarthe, the Loir is classified as second category, public domain.
At the beginning of this route, that is to say from Château-du-Loir to Lude, its course is a succession of often sustained currents, even fast in certain places, where one fishes for very large trout and very beautiful barbel.
It is also a river with a very high density of carnivores. The best sectors for pike are located in the large calms upstream and downstream of La Flèche, and from Durtal to its confluence called Bec de Loir, one kilometer downstream of Briollay. The density and size of the very beautiful pieces are exceptional. It is common to catch several beautiful pikes at each outing.
The pike-perch is also very well represented in the part downstream of Durtal, where the slow current of the Loir is intersected by many dams. It is mostly caught with dead fish on the bottom or with the pull of the big earthworm. It is to be looked for in the tail of the current downstream of each dam.
The perch, surprisingly, is not well represented. The beautiful specimens are in general located at the beginning of the course in La Flèche.
Another fish to mention is the burbot, to be caught near Château-du-Loir. This fish has become quite rare in our country and the Loir still contains a sufficient density of it to devote some fishing trips to it.
Carp and tench are well established and their best spots are between La Flèche and Durtal, where the current is slow and where, of course, the water depth exceeds three meters. This river lends itself well to carp fishing, but also to this same technique, rod in hand, to roach and rotengles, so numerous that their fishing triggers real passions.
From the Lude to the confluences, we can also note a very beautiful population of bream. Some of them reach and even exceed the kilo. In the first half of the course, the bleak fisherman can make very nice fry and can even train in the middle of winter, because the bleak schools rise to the surface as soon as the first sunbeam appears. Finally, the last interesting fish of this course is the eel, especially abundant in the downstream part of the course.
Rich tributaries
The other interest of this basin drained by the Loir, lies in its main tributaries, especially those located in the Sarthe department. They are all classified in first category, private domain. Their names are the Ire or Yre, the Aune and the Carpentras for the right bank, the Fare for the left bank.
These tributaries all have a nice population of fario trout and rainbow trout. These are streams where we still make beautiful openings. They also shelter an interesting stock of white fish to fish with the surprise. The Verdun has less fish, as do the Argance and the Porame.
The Verdun and the Porame unfortunately have a lot of private runs, which forces you to make long detours. However, on these last streams, beautiful shots are possible with trout if you look for the very difficult access places. But as all fishermen know, trout must be earned.
