Hello Mattéo, can you introduce yourself to Fishing.news readers?
Well, hello everyone, my name's Mattéo, and at almost 26 I'm slowly slipping into my thirties. I'm originally from the south of Meusien, and recently headed for Brittany. After wandering between Meurthe-et-Moselle and Burgundy for the past few years as part of my studies, I've settled in Le Relecq-Kerhuon, a suburb of Brest, for a while.
Today, I'm president of a small audiovisual production association (ed. note: The Fin Chasers Media) that I founded with my girlfriend Ãmeline, and we've been lucky enough to partner the hPa, Fiiish and JMC âeuros Mouches de Charette brands for the past two seasons.
Can you tell us about your early days in fishing?
I can't tell you whether it was my passion for the aquatic world that led me to fishing or vice versa, but one thing's for sure: for as long as I can remember, fishing has always fascinated me. It was on the shores of the Mediterranean that I caught my first fish, a small gilthead bream on a cork at the entrance to a port, the first of many.
Since then, I've always been a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, captivated both by the diversity of the fish and the techniques available to catch them. So it's only natural that, back in freshwater, I've been fishing for chub in the little canals around the house, chub with cherry, barbel with waggler and cheese. And all kinds of trout fishing, from long casting to minnows, including toc and spoon.
It was in my teens that I began to gain some technical skills, thanks in particular to the Street Fishing boom, initiated by Fred Miessner, and the emergence of Skyblogs (the forerunner of social networking for younger people). With my partner at the time, any opportunity was good to go and land perch, pike and chub after school.
I got into fly-fishing a dozen years ago out of a sense of obligation, after seeing a number of large chub tirelessly gobbling up the gravel thrown into the river by passing onlookers under the bridges in the town of Bar-le-Duc, which was, and still is, an exclusively fly-fishing no-kill course.
After a detour of a few seasons in search of carp, it was meeting the man who is now one of my best friends and mentor that naturally led me back to fly fishing and lure fishing, both of which make up the majority of my seasons, whether in France or abroad.
When, how and why did you agree to become a Pro-Staff?
In April 2020, Émeline and I founded the production association The Fin Chasers media, of which we are still the sole players today. Passionate about fishing, but also photography and travel, we were keen to develop a structure that could frame our activity and help us organize ourselves in order to produce quality content, and eventually participate in short film festivals and produce audiovisual content for the general public.
In addition, I've always been keen to keep my activities separate, so I've always had accounts dedicated to fishing that were separate from my "personal" accounts on the various social networks (mainly Facebook & Instagram), which already gave me a certain degree of visibility.
Shortly after the association was founded, during our gap year in 2021 and in preparation for the first fishing trip of the year, we were contacted by Renaud, the creator of the hPa outdoor equipment brand, who was interested in our profile as part of a partnership. Having already been a consumer of his products for several seasons, and after several telephone exchanges, we were delighted to accept.
That same year, we went on a three-and-a-half-month road trip to Scandinavia in our roughly converted Berlingo, during which we produced a fair amount of content. On our return from this trip, several brands contacted us. Two of them caught our eye: Fiiish and JMC âeuros Mouches de Charette.
As we discussed with them during our respective interviews, we have a vision of things where we want to retain a certain form of editorial freedom in our content, and our schedules are always quite fluid, which is not always easy to understand for a brand, but after a number of exchanges we came to a common agreement.
For us, partnerships have never been an end in themselves, and we attach great importance to collaborating with brands that share a common vision and a desire to push each other to the top, even on our own small scale. Put a little crudely, with or without partners our projects would take their course, but if it can benefit the greatest number, there are only advantages to be gained. That's why the human dimension of the exchanges we've had, and which is confirmed in the relationships we still maintain today, makes us confident in the idea of collaborating with these two brands.
What does being an ambassador mean to you?
On a personal level, it's a great source of pride to represent the colors of the brands that have placed their trust in us. There's also a not inconsiderable sense of recognition that our work is appreciated. We put a lot of time and energy into producing our content, despite not always easy schedules, and it's always galvanizing to see that even on a small scale our content finds its audience.
On the other hand, for the past few weeks I've been lucky enough to have joined the Fiiish corporate communications team, so I've been on the other side of the line for a while now. While this is already something that can be felt as a "simple" ambassador (with very big quotation marks), the responsibility inherent in pro-staff is even more palpable. Indeed, these teams are one of the key elements in the communication strategy of the companies they represent, and on their shoulders rest the integrity and credibility of the brand. Whether through their presence on social networks, in contact with customers at in-store events or on the water's edge, ambassadors are the brand's standard-bearers and the guarantors of its image.
What's more, the ambassador must act as a bridge between the brand and its end-users, so his or her ability to pass on and share experience and knowledge is essential.
What's your fondest memory or anecdote from your time as a Pro-Staff?
Asking a fisherman to give just one memory or anecdote is not easy enough, so many things happen in the course of a season, but multiply that by 5, 10 or 20, and you can imagine...
As far as I'm concerned, my best anecdote about Fiiish revolves around the human element rather than the fish. It was last February, when I was living in Madrid and we had just signed our contracts, when I received a call from Julien, Fiiish's digital media manager, to tell me that part of the team was going to the shores of the Orellana la Vieja lake for the 'Big Bait Shake', a small trade show organized by the brand's Spanish distributor, bringing together Big Bait enthusiasts of all kinds and a few brands.
I was told about a meeting with members of the company I'd just signed up with, about fishing and equipment. Without missing a beat, my weekend was planned, my hotel booked and my loaded car headed south! It was on the shores of the lake that I was to meet the team and our Spanish counterparts for what was to be a weekend rich in encounters. I was immediately integrated into the Fiiish team, even though I had initially come as a visitor, and the contact was made naturally, confirming our choice of a joint partnership. We were able to share a few brief sessions (where I caught my first Spanish black bass with a Blaster Shad) as well as a handful of very convivial meals in the company of the team and our Spanish colleagues.
What do you think of fishing in France?
I'm not just going to make friends here (laughs). To be perfectly honest, I don't really look at what's being done in France any more, or very little. Most of my inspiration comes from abroad.
Firstly, I find that many French anglers take themselves too seriously. Add to this the biases induced by social networks, and you often end up with a kind of constant one-upmanship, to put it politely. However all-consuming passion may be, we mustn't forget that it's "only" fishing, and having seen some of the best fly fishers of our generation at work, talent often speaks for itself and we can't help but admire such mastery.
On the other hand, my experience abroad often puts what's happening at home into perspective, and frankly, I'm rather pessimistic about what's to come.
It has to be said that we are paying the price for decades of inaction on the part of our authorities, which has led to a definite deterioration of our aquatic environments and an impoverishment of fish populations. As someone who mainly looks for salmonids, and particularly on the rivers of Franche-Comté, this is an observation that can hardly be doubted. What annoys me most is that we probably have one of the most interesting fishing grounds in Western Europe, but we don't make the most of it. In France, it's worth remembering that we have the two strains of brown trout in existence - in the world, only the Spaniards share this privilege with us - trout rivers of all types, chalks streams, acidic rivers, limestone rivers, mountain rivers, plain rivers... We have two major mountain ranges, the Alps and the Pyrenees, both with radically different profiles. In terms of carnivorous fish, the diversity of environments and species is also unquestionable, as is the case for the sea, with two fundamentally opposed seaboards, and carp, with, let's face it, some of the largest specimens in Europe, the envy of our neighbors.
And unfortunately, despite all this, most of our French fishermen are heading abroad, if they can afford it at all. Isn't that a problem?
Isn't the grass necessarily greener and better maintained elsewhere? Perhaps, although we do need to put into perspective many of the practices implemented in our neighboring countries. It has to be said that, in some cases, they have succeeded in developing their fishing grounds where we have failed.
Fortunately, attitudes are changing, and a handful of new diehards are getting involved to get things moving. We could mention, for example, the Madine fishermen's association, the Lot federation or the actions of the Brittany federation, to name but a few, who are committed to the enhancement of their environments.
We can also be optimistic about the young hopefuls on the French fly-fishing team, some of whom I'm lucky enough to share with on the JMC âeuros Mouches de Charette team, who are well on their way up the ladder, and most of whom are very committed to their respective territories.
Any advice for anglers who want to join a Pro-Staff team one day?
Get out on the water, go fishing, get involved in any way you can, but above all, do it for yourself.
These days, on the water's edge or at trade shows, we come across many young people (and not so young people, for that matter) who start out fishing with sponsorship, or rather partnership, as their goal. You end up with a lot of similar profiles, following trends in both content production and techniques, which I don't think is necessarily the best approach.
In fact, it's important to understand that a pro-staff team is made up of a multitude of different but complementary profiles, some of whom are sought after for the quality of their photography or writing, others for their participation in various competitions, still others for the quality of their technical feedback or for their involvement in local fishing. The ideal ambassador is, of course, one who combines all these qualities.
However, the common denominator for all these profiles is experience, and for that, there's no secret: you have to fish!
The right question to ask then is more along the lines of "What can I bring to the brand?" Rather than "What can I get out of it?
I would also add that being part of a team implies work that requires a certain amount of organization. Being a pro-staff is not only an advantage, but also a commitment to the brand: you have to be available, mobile and able to give back to the brand what it is able to give you. So it's important to be sure of having a shared vision of projects, so that it doesn't become a chore.
Nevertheless, sharing this kind of relationship is a wonderful experience, and an opportunity to meet and exchange around a common passion, so if you feel ready and the right opportunity presents itself, go for it!
