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A mythical river
The Touques is located in Normandy, and flows mainly through Calvados. We usually fish various stretches between Lisieux and Pont L'Evêque.
It's a powerful, deep river, populated by brown trout, grayling and sea trout, with the presence of salmon and other accompanying species.
It's a mythical river because of its sea trout population, which is one of the best in France. In recent years, returns have been declining, as they have everywhere, but it still returns several thousand sea trout, even if the proportions of sea trout of several years and finnocks (1 stay at sea) are largely in favor of the latter.
In fly fishing, sea trout are mostly caught by drowning, a traditional technique that comes to us from across the Channel.
However, sea trout are not always inclined to ride on sunken flies, tube flies and other flies used in downstream fishing.
For almost 10 years, Gaël has revolutionized their fishing by looking for them in nymphs, because while fishing for grayling, he realized that sea trout were interested in his flies.
He will develop the technique of nymph fishing with an indicator (a float that supports the nymph), looking not only for the most successful models but also for the types of position where this technique allows you to catch sea trout all day long, even in bright sunshine.
In parallel, line nymph fishing (NAF) is also a technique to be used, particularly on courses where the bottom is less uniform and the nymph needs to be able to follow the contours of the substrate to get close to the sea trout.
First half-day of training accompanied by Gaël
We arrive in the early afternoon, as it's a 5-hour drive from Brittany. After collecting our migratory assortments (obligatory for sea trout fishing, ?50 for the year), we meet up with Gaël, who is available and offers to spend a few hours with us.
We'll be fishing mainly with wire nymphs for a change from the indicator nymphs we've often fished in recent years, although we also like to fish with drowned fish and fly tubes because of our habits as salmon anglers on our Breton rivers. In fact, my best stay was in 2019, when we found the river in flood and fished mainly with large tubes in plunging tip. I personally caught 4 beautiful sea trout, 2 over 60 cm and one that was close to that size. An unforgettable stay on this beautiful river!
Gaël is already fishing on the Lisieux runs and vaccinated several fish before we arrived (grayling and sea trout, which are sometimes on the same spots) while keeping the best stretch to accompany us. Gaël loves catching these little silver devils for his friends who visit him throughout the year. He loves to please. He's a very kind man, and his welcome is always a warm one.
Lionel is, as always, very excited about his return to the Touques. As for me, I'm just savoring the moment. Being on vacation for 3 days outside Brittany, and having a great time with friends fishing!
I'm too relaxed, in fact, and not at all into fishing. I'll miss this first half-day a little, but I'm happy to be in their company and to see Lionel enjoying himself by first catching a finnock (sea trout from a single stay at sea) then a nice sea trout but also some nice-sized grayling without looking for them, as their fishery has been closed since the trout closure.
Find the right positions and create beautiful drifts
All three of us practice line nymph fishing, a technique similar to toc fishing, where the quality of the drift and presentation are paramount to success. The idea is to offer nymphs as close as possible to the fish. Sea trout take them more out of aggression than to feed, unlike grayling and trout, which are also present in sea trout stations.
For the latter, you need to support the nymph a little more and be a little more tense than when fishing for fario trout, which will be a big change from my usual habits. It's the first time I've fished sea trout in this way, so there's a bit of getting used to. My drifts aren't perfect and only one nice trout over 40 cm will take my nymph on this first session.
Gaël has a thorough knowledge of the sea trout spots on the Touques, and knows each one like the back of his hand. Sea trout love precise spots where you have to pass perfectly for the nymph to be caught.
When nymphing on a line, you need to be able to pass flush with the bottom and ideally as close as possible on the first pass or passes. They can then be more wary or disturbed, even if this can sometimes irritate them and make them aggressive.
In the evening, as usual, we finished on the Coquainvilliers course. Fishing with a tube fly, Lionel caught a nice male finnock, and took two more good taps. Nothing on my side, closer to the surface and with a tube called "sunray shadow", but a sea-trout magnet!
The following day, we have the whole day to ourselves. Gaël is busy and we'll be fishing with Lionel on the previous day's spots. We know where the fish are active and the most interesting time slots, which seemed to be between 11:00 and 16:00. Knowing that Gaël fishes each spot at a specific time. Sea trout are active at different times depending on the light and their position in the pools.
On the previous day's stations, sea trout, which may have been disturbed the day before, will keep their mouths shut.
We'll find fish on other spots and Lionel and I will each do two finnocks and a retrieve for me, all between 11:00 and 13:30.
The rest of the day was much more complicated! We changed spots several times, but to no avail, apart from two average brown trout for me, and a few small grayling and chub for my partner.
In the evening, Lionel, with his favorite tube, plucks a sea trout on the last cast.
Fishing on the Pont L'Evêque courses before our departure
Gaël will invite us to his home on both evenings of our stay, for a chat, an aperitif (in moderation) and a delicious home-cooked meal. All in all, it's a great way to spend time together. We'll also be able to meet up with another great name in fishing, Philippe B., who has been living on the banks of the Touques for a number of years, and who also looks after the sea trout!
For our last big half-day before returning to Brittany, Gaël takes us on a trip downstream of Pont l'Evêque. The river is not at all the same, as its waters are swollen by the Calonne and Paquine rivers, and its width increases from 7/8 meters at Lisieux to over 20 m in places in these sectors. It is also much deeper, and very large sea trout are often caught in these areas.
Nymph fishing with wire becomes more complicated on this type of course, as once again you have to make beautiful drifts, this time from a distance. The water is lower than in other years, and that's in our favor.
The sea trout seem to be fairly inactive overall, even though we hit a sea trout on the first three spots. I caught two (finnocks) to my great delight, and Gaël, who always leaves us the best spots, one of 50 cm. Lionel missed a few bites as they were quite fussy, perhaps due to the lack of sunshine like the day before!
Gaël has to leave to go to the Morvan for his work and with Lionel we'll finish off with a quick trip to downtown Pont L'Evêque, where I've never fished before. It's a beautiful place with a very special atmosphere. I missed a decent bite, and Lionel caught a chub and a small grayling, but no sea trout.
A very pleasant stay, with plenty of time to share on the banks of this magnificent river, good meals, anecdotes and lots of laughs, and a few sea trout. To be repeated as soon as possible!
