Bluefin tuna from the mouth
The mouth of the Rhone River is undoubtedly one of the best places in France for bluefin tuna fishing. The quantity of food brought by the Rhone makes a very large quantity of marine micro-organisms flourish. The whole food chain also finds food such as mackerel, bonito and sardines which bluefin tuna love.
The number of tuna marauding around the mouth is impressive and some fish spend the whole year there, without returning to the warmer waters of the southern Mediterranean to breed.
Bluefin tuna are often fished on the hunt, in sizes between 20 and 60 kg, but the grazing fishery allows targeting fish that can exceed 100 kg. These fish are particularly active from August to October when the surface waters are warm and food is present in large quantities.
The shad and its journey against the current
The shad is a migratory fish capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers up the Rhône and its tributaries to reproduce. It is a fish that can be found during its reproduction period, generally in May, and which is very playful to fish since it pulls very hard. Unfortunately, the shad does not feed when it reproduces.
To succeed in catching them, it is necessary to trigger aggressive bites using small soft lures or spoons imitating a small fish in flight. Shad is also fished with streamers, in the same way as salmon.
It is a rather rare fish since, although it lives 9 months out of 12 in the sea, it is very rare to meet one. The shad is a protected species that is slowly disappearing because of the number of dams without fishways that prevent it from going upstream and reproducing where it wants.
The wolves of the pond of Berre
The Etang de Berre is a pond with salty water, shallow, but which contains a very important population of wolfish. In spite of the impact of professional fishing which has strongly reduced the populations, the pond of Berre remains a high place of wolfish fishing on the surface.
There is a large quantity of fish over 40 cm and some individuals even exceed 70 cm. A large number of these fish gather in the pond from spring to autumn, then leave for the open sea to reproduce at the beginning of winter.
Although the pond of Berre is mainly fed by the sea, small rivers flow into it and bring a large quantity of food and fresh water. The wolves of this pond can be recognized thanks to their greenish color which allows them to camouflage themselves in the numerous grass beds.
