Dordogne

[kojak]

Hi all, has anyone been to the Dordogne in France! i'm off this year for the Barbel would like to hear from anyone on the suject, cheers

[gudgeonowl]

Hi mate. We had a 10 day family holiday in the Dordogne last August. We were in the Domme/Le Roc Gageauc area. Firstly, the river. The amazing thing, it was virtually identical to my local River Wye, only about 3 times the width of the Wye. Very clear water, weed, gravel bottomed mostly, rocky bottomed areas too. Full of features, drop offs, overhanging tree,s etc.

 

We did a 10 KM canoe trip (well worth doing) and if you wear polaroids you,ll be able to see loads ! The fish i saw from the canoe--chub, dace roach, in abundance, a fair few barbel too. The barbel were mostly in the 3 to 6 pound bracket, but we did go over one small shoal which had a couple of larger fish to maybe 10 lbs. I also saw a couple of small carp.

 

Sadly, I only fished for half a day on the river, and blanked then. I think your best bet is to fish the river early and late due to the hordes of canoes. It would be a good idea to hire a canoe (plenty of places to hire one from) and to take it out and use it to fish from. You could find some where nice and quiet, and of course it would be very easy to move swims. The problem with the Dordogne is that a lot of the bankside is overgrown, and the only real swims and open areas are around the bridges--where all the canoes launch ! Hope this helps, atb, Kev.

[Newt]

You could find some where nice and quiet, and of course it would be very easy to move swims. The problem with the Dordogne is that a lot of the bankside is overgrown, and the only real swims and open areas are around the bridges--where all the canoes launch !

 

Sounds ideal for some great lure fishing then. Overgrown banks are naturals for holding fish and from the water, easy enough to cast to them.

[Severn Wolf]

Theres a caravan / camp site site a couple of miles upstream from Le Roc, I was there for two weeks a few years ago.

 

The mission was to catch a river carp. Its a fairly shallow stretch and there didn`t appear to be too many swims which would hold fish. However, about a ten minute walk upstream (with the gear) through what was then an open field followed by a large maize field you come to a copse which is slower & deeper water on the inside of a bend. This was the chosen area to target. I`ll bung a picture below to show the spot.

 

I baited it heavily with hemp, maize and boilies virtually every day and fished it most evenings. Barbel were caught, probably not as many as could have been but I was using large baits on two rods specifically for the carp. They were all shoalies, between four and five pounds but went like stink even on heavy gear.

 

The one big problem with the stretch is the boats. theres literally thousands on the river and it makes fishing impossible. Even backleading wouldn`t really help. The boats finish about six to half past but even though theres still a few stragglers coming down for the next 45 minutes its possible to get the rods out. This only gives about three or four hours fishing and I did find myself going right into dark a few nights, even fishing a complete night one time (cough, cough).

 

One mistake I made was to not take a spod rod along or get hold of a boat for prebaiting. This really limited the distance fished and I`m pretty sure if I could have got mid river the sport would have been much better.

 

As previously said though, its stunning scenery. The spot I fished was amazing, there was a chateau perched on top of the far bank cliffs and a family of eagles working the area. One evening just as the light was fading one of these birds came and perched on a tree branch not 30ft from where I was sitting. It was one of those magical moments.

 

 

 

Looking downstream to Le Roc

 

 

 

The swim (chateau on the top of the cliff)

 

 

 

Baiting without the proper equipment!!!!!!

 

[gudgeonowl]

I,m sure I,ve seen the "angler in the water" photo on BFW before Mr Severn Wolf, is that right ?!

 

Are you "Ooh big Gudgeon" on there ?!

Edited February 15, 2007 by gudgeonowl

[kojak]

Thanks lads, keep em coming! taking note the river looks fantastic in the photos, I tend to fish from 5pm onwards when in France (do the famliy things during the day) so it sounds perfect if I can locate a clearing on the bank.

[Severn Wolf]

Gudgeonowl, yup, thats me

[gudgeonowl]

Gudgeonowl, yup, thats me

 

 

Before I went to the Dordogne, I put up a post about it on BFW, and you were kind enough to reply to it, and posted that picture too !

 

Great place, not just for the river but the history too. Try and check out some of the pre-historic sites, especially Lascaux 2. Hell of a drive down to the Dordogne though !