Special Edition / Drifting trout fishing or fishing with toc, Native a brand to discover

Native offers rods for drifting trout fishing. A simple technique of fishing with natural baits or artificial nymphs that give good results and can be practiced on all rivers.

Presentation of the Native brand

Pierre Lavignotte - Native is a young brand that was born in 2018. We offer rods for drifting trout fishing, often called "toc fishing", whether with natural baits or with artificial nymphs. Over the years, we have also enriched our catalog with a complete range of nylons, small equipment and accessories.

We are based in Ariège, at the foot of the Pyrenees and close to the trout rivers that are dear to us.

Pêche de la truite en dérive
Drifting trout fishing

You're talking about fishing with a knock, fishing with a drift¦ What exactly is that?

Historically, we speak of fishing with the toc. It is a fishing method that is simple in nature: a rod, a line, a few weights and a hook. The idea is to present as naturally as possible a bait that can be a worm, a natural fly, or an aquatic larva collected directly in the river. The list is not really limited.

It can be practiced in all types of watercourses: either "under the rod" in small streams and mountain torrents, or by casting from a greater or lesser distance, as soon as the width of the watercourse requires it. In the first case, the line is very often guided, in the second, we will try to make the line pass as naturally as possible in the veins of current.

We prefer to talk about drift fishing to emphasize this notion, but we are talking about the same thing.

Finally, I would like to add that in recent years there has been a strong tendency to replace natural baits with artificial nymphs, which creates a bridge between this traditional French fishing technique, not to say Pyrenean, and fly fishing, which is widely practiced internationally.

Canne Trutta 380
Trutta 380 cane

Why did you decide to launch Native?

The story started in 2016. No, much earlier actually. You have to go back to the time when forums had not yet been totally abandoned in favor of social networks. So I would say around 2006. At that time, I live in Toulouse and I am a trout fisherman exclusively fly fishing. Except that in Toulouse, even if the trout are not far away, it is the fishing of carnivores that dominates. It is via the forums (Achigan and Carnatoulouse to name them) that I met Matthieu, like the vast majority of my current fishing buddies. It is also at this time that I set up my first rods, for fly fishing, but also for lure fishing.

Matthieu is a very versatile fisherman, with already a lot of experience in drift fishing with natural baits. We spent about ten years sharing lure fishing sessions, and even some trips abroad. Around 2015/2016, Matthieu brings me back to drift fishing, "with toc", that I only practiced a little bit as a kid. It is also at this time that he noticed that the rods available on the market are not adapted to the technique. So he looked for blanks that were more adapted, i.e. less powerful and with a more progressive action. The problem is that they don't exist!
He then starts cutting, lengthening blanks designed for other applications, until he comes up with something that really looks good.

I've been fishing for ten years now, so my eyes are shining, and so are many other anglers he meets on the water with Lenka: many ask them where they can get this rod with its special action.

That's how it started: his drift fishing experience, my rigging experience and a first prototype. In 2018, we decided to create the brand and launch a first production of blanks to make a unique model: the Origin 380.

L'Origine 380
The Native Origine range, assembled in France

At that time and during the two years that followed, Matthieu was assembling the rings at his place, I was turning the handles in liège on my terrace - in the heart of downtown Toulouse - and I was assembling the rods at night in a room of 7 m², without windows. We all had a job unrelated to fishing and full time and everything worked essentially by word of mouth.

Gradually, a relative success allowed us to develop a wider range of products, in particular the NII range, manufactured in series, which integrates all that makes the essence of a Native rod while remaining at a more accessible price. Today, the range has been further extended with the Basalt and Trutta ranges, but also a 6-piece Peregrine model, dedicated to travel. The rods of the Native range are available in 3 lengths, with a choice of cork or carbon handles, but they are now assembled in our workshop, in Mazères in Ariège.

Origine Carbone
Top Flor cork or carbon handles

You wanted to create something different. Can you explain how your rods are different from other brands?

If we take the example of fly fishing, it is commonly accepted that trout are fished with rod powers ranging from #3 line to #5 line. Sometimes #6 in particular contexts. There are two reasons for this: the weight of what you want to cast and the fineness of the leaders used. It would never occur to anyone to fish for trout with a rig of less than 1 gram on a 10/100 leader and a carp rod: it's guaranteed to break.

And yet, the majority of traditional rods have powers equivalent to #8 silks, and sometimes more, up to #10 or #11!

So we have a diametrically opposed approach, which in a way is similar to that of fly fishing: progressive action rods, with powers adapted to our fishing technique. The objective is that the rod bends along its entire length, without a hard point in the middle of the blank, while keeping a very good spring at the bottom - what is generally called the power reserve. This will allow you to cast nymphs or very light rigs, to protect the leaders, while strongly bridling the big fish.

Presentation of the Native team

Matthieu is now a professional fishing guide, he divides his time between his guiding activity, his nymph store and the development of Native products.
Lenka is also a fishing guide, with a focus on women's fishing, and is very involved in the daily life of the company. Among the founding members, there is also Domi. He is the wise man of the team, the one who helped us to launch the project, and it is to him that we turn when we have a question without an answer. As for me, my time has been 100% dedicated to Native for 2 years now.

We also have a great team of ambassadors, who are either certified fishing guides or regular fishermen, which allows us to have feedback on our products and real testers in the field.

Téo avec une belle truite prise en nymphe
Teo with a nice trout caught in a nymph

Any product to introduce to readers for the opening?

I want to tell you about the Trutta line, which is new for the 2023 season.

The idea was to take the specifications of the Origine range, sanded blanks in Mitsubishi High Modulus carbon, Fuji rings, and to propose rods assembled in series. We obtain, for a very reasonable price, very light rods, hyper reactive, which allow to throw very light weights and to have fun on all sizes of fish.

I can also tell you about Chromos nylon. It's a nylon made in Japan, extremely visible in all light conditions, with just the right amount of stretch and very good knot strength. It took us several years to develop a yarn that met all of these criteria, and we're really proud of it today.

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Chromos nylon, available in 0.148, 0.165 and 0.185 mm diameter

Where can we find your products?

All our products are available on our online store, but also in more than 20 retail partners, all over France.

Native attaches particular importance to the ethical and environmental sides how and why?

There is one thing that we have cherished since the beginning of the adventure: we donate 1% of our turnover to associations for the protection of rivers or environmental awareness.
Apart from that, we do our best to limit the packaging and to produce it locally when possible, knowing that it will never be enough.
So I prefer not to talk about it too much to avoid "green washing".

Any plans for Native?

Today, we are very happy to be able to offer a complete range of rods, each model having been designed specifically for a given application.

But there are always things that we try to correct, to improve. We are constantly thinking about this or that feature, about the right power, the right action. So everything is always perfectible and we are really in a perpetual testing and development process.

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A fishing technique full of sensations
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