Hello Philippe, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hello, I am 58 years old, I have lived in the Gard for two years. I have been part of the Rodhouse family since 2018.
When it comes to fishing, I'm very eclectic. I only fish with lures and flies, but I fish for just about every species of predator, from perch and pike to zander and trout. I also fish for wolffish and tuna, which is one of the reasons why I moved from the Paris region to the Gard. I'm also a competitive angler, where I've had a few results.
Can you tell us about your early days in fishing?
I started when I was a kid, in Brittany during the vacations. My grandfather used to go fishing with his friends on Mondays in the harbor around Douarnenez, and he took me along, inoculating me with the virus... Later, with my uncle, we scoured the south-west coast in surfcasting. During my vacations, it was sand eels, morning tide, siesta, sand eels, evening tide, siesta, sand eels, morning tide, and so on every vacation... I have extraordinary memories of that period, it was crazy... Then I got married and had kids, so I put fishing on the back burner, because I'm incapable of doing things by halves. Then when the kids left, it was all over again. Like a drug, the longer the withdrawal, the more violent the relapse!
When, how and why did you agree to become a Pro-Staff?
When I started fishing again, I fished with commercial rods. My son broke a ring, so I looked on the Internet for a replacement and came across the Rodhouse website.
And then, crazy thing, I see that you can buy everything you need to build your own rod. My uncle and I used to build our own rods. At a time when brand-name surfcasting rods were a fiberglass tip on a bamboo butt with a copper ferrule... With salt, this didn't last long, so we mounted our rods with outriggers for tuna fishing!
So I threw myself into it. Registering on the forum, spending hours watching the tutorials, learning in "sponge" mode. Being fundamentally a sharer, I quickly went from "sponge" to "giver" and became very active on the forum to help others.
Goulven, the boss and founder of Rodhouse, asked me if I'd like to join the team, which surprised me - I hadn't even considered it, but it was a pleasure. I discovered a very nice person and, above all, a team of mentally ill people... It's not a Pro-Staff team, it's a family, really.
What does being an ambassador mean to you?
Sharing. Sharing passion. Sharing pleasure. Sharing competence.
Rodbuilders are kind of UFOs in the fishing world, especially at the beginning. You read so many crazy things about rods and blanks... In my opinion, building your own rods involves two things: defining your specifications. This "forces" you to think about what you want, what you like, for what kind of fishing and in what context. As a result, you ask yourself questions that nobody else is asking, and you find OUR answers. By digging deeper, you develop skills and learn things you never imagined.
Secondly, it's fishing with YOUR rod. It's not only fun, it's effective. You get what you want, without depending on any criteria other than those you set yourself. And that changes fishing.
My job as a Pro-Staff is to share this with as many people as possible. To make rodbuilders, or rods for my customers who don't want to start for various reasons.
What's your fondest memory or anecdote from your time as a Pro-Staff?
Difficult to answer, there are so many... Come on, my first Clermont salon. Immersion for 5 days (well, 5 nights...) with this team of crazy enthusiasts. Days of being stepped on by curious onlookers and customers, then nights of recovering from the day over a few drinks, and the same thing the next day. Huge fatigue, huge moments, huge memories. Really big.
What do you think of fishing in France?
My view of fishing is rather mixed, and I'm worried about certain issues.
Mixed, because it's a world of passion that should be tolerant and convivial, but it doesn't escape the ills of our society, which is searching for itself. People confuse a lot of things, and repeated polemics do nothing to advance the cause and pit people against each other, the latest subject being live-probe fishing, sharpshooting in particular... There are so many different types of fishing that everyone can find something to their liking, so why pit techniques and their supporters against each other? It just doesn't make sense.
Personally, I prefer to concentrate on the real benefits of fishing, sharing, taking people along with me in my delirium, grafting myself onto theirs. A friend of mine fishes for cephalopods, which I didn't know anything about. I discovered something great through him. I got other buddies to catch their first tuna, and what's more, on crazy rods.
That's the part of fishing I want to remember. I don't want to judge other people's fishing, and I don't want to create a hierarchy. But I'm also worried.
In freshwater, the degradation of the environment, the impact of agriculture, dams and micro-power stations. Every day, we increase the pressure on environments that are already heavily anthropized, and the results of our representatives' actions to defend the environment and fishing are hard to measure.
At sea, of course, we need to take measures to protect the resource. It's largely overexploited and we need to take action. But I'm worried about the directions we're taking, because they're not going in the right direction. We need to protect the coastal strip from non-selective gear, during spawning periods. For example, tuna spawn in June in the Mediterranean, and fishing opens in June! It makes no sense! Or meshes too small for the vast majority of species. Or the non-selective techniques that don't allow by-catches to be discarded alive. So many things to do... But that's not the direction we're heading in, and that worries me...
Any advice for anglers who want to join a Pro-Staff team one day?
Be yourself. Authentic. To fish with passion, to develop your own "fishing system" in which you can have fun. And the rest will follow, one or more brands will join and they'll be contacted.
