``The streams I saw and sampled - the Nivelle, the Nive, the Aspe, the Saisin, the Vert - fulfilled fly-fishing fantasies. Their bluey water flows from the mountains over stoney bottoms, and they are energetic and dazzlingly clear. There are strings of fast riffles and quieter pools and they are full of wild, highly discriminating trout.'' - Tom Fort, Financial Times.
The Hotel du Vieux Pont is right on the Gave<1> d'Oloron, France's top salmon river (see map). Just one kilometre away is the Gave de Mauleon, also known as the Saison, which flows into the Gave d'Oloron a couple of kilometres downstream. River trout can be found in abundance. Salmon are not as common as they were, because of netting in the estuary. Nevertheless recent catches are estimated between 900 and 2000 a year - estimates are notoriously difficult because not every salmon is declared! Strenuous efforts are being made to limit the estuarial fishing and with a programme of restocking the rivers with salmon there is every hope for considerable improvement in the future. Also found in the local rivers are sea trout, and because of this fishing is allowed after dusk.
Unusually for France there is much fly-fishing for trout. The flies used are often smaller than the ones used in Britain, for the population of fish is a natural population, and not one topped up by stocking. This means, according to the experts, that they are more fastidious and only go for lures that look like their natural food.
The season for salmon, sea trout and trout begins the second weekend in March. For salmon and sea trout it ends at the end of July, while the trout season ends in the middle of September. Licences are required, but they give the right to fish almost anywhere in the Department - many miles of first class rivers and streams - throughout the season. If you want to fish for salmon or salmon trout you have to buy the appropriate stamps to stick on the basic trout licence. Reduced rate trout licenses for tourists, valid for a fortnight, are available from June 1. We will make the necessary arrangements for licences - a passport-size photo is a help. The 1997 prices are:
| Trout licence | 331 FF |
| Tourist licence | 125 FF |
| Sea Trout stamp | 100 FF |
| Salmon stamp (for two fish: max four fish) | 200 FF per 2 fish |
<1>Gave: local name for a swift flowing mountain river.
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