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Hi Clive - thankyou so much for such a detailed reply, much appreciated! The river in question is actually at the bottom of the garden of the house I will be staying in, and I think fishing rights for the two swims there are granted to the property (or those staying in it more accurately). I’ll check out the licence situation though nonetheless, obviously if we decide to wander off and try somewhere else.Hi Graham, 15lbs is some French barbel. The unofficial record is only just over that and that was caught over 30 years ago.
The gaves are more renown for salmon and trout rather than coarse fish. I have not fished the one you mention, but further west most of the mountain rivers are classed as catagory 1 i.e. trout rivers and are only open from the second Saturday in March to the last Saturday in September. Looking at google images it does seem that barbel are present.
You will need a carte de peche. That can be bought online from the departmental fishery website. You need a scanned photo and your friend's address. Type "carte de peche" then the departmental number which is 64 for Pau. The CdP is €100 for the year or less for the fortnight or day tickets and you can get them locally if you prefer. Tourist Information Centres and some tabacs sell them. The annual one runs from Jan to Dec. Night fishing is only allowed in specified places otherwise if you can access the river and it doesn't say Privee or Peche Interdite you can fish.
Règlement - Fédération de pêche des Pyrénées Atlantiques
Domaine piscicole Première catégorie : toutes eaux où les salmonidés prédominent Deuxième catégorie : toutes eaux où il y a prépondérance de cyprinidés et
I would appreciate hearing how you get on and best of luck.
That’s great Clive, thankyou for confirming regarding the CdP - I’ll crack on with that! I’m not too hung up about the size of the barbel there, just looking forward to a week on a venue in France which isn’t all about carp and catfish, although there are large carp there too (which he’s sent me photos of him having caught). A mixed week of barbel and carp and whatever else shows up will be very welcome - first fishing trip away since pre-pandemic, I’m even going to pack my waggler rodGraham, you will require a CdP to fish any river even if the banks are private. Only lakes that are not connected to a river system can be exempt from the requirement. Also, all departmental fishing rules apply, i.e. night fishing.
The photos on google are inconclusive. I am sure that there are some people in this world with fingers like bananas and most of them seem to be anglers.
Well that’s going to give me a sleepless night!The Douane chappies are a bit hit and miss. Most of my customers who have travelled to Blighty and back have had no problem smuggling my mole traps and auction win vintage reels over, but they seem to give anglers a hard time. To be fair there is nothing that you need that you cannot buy here.
Decathlon shops are all over the place and stock pellets, boilies and groundbait. Also www.pecheur.com can send bait to a point relais close to where you are staying with no delivery charges. Supermarkets and garden centres stock milled maize in 5kg bags. If you pour boiled water over the milled maize and then add crushed hemp and maize groundbait from Decathlon or Pecheur that is all you need for the feeder. Hookbait is banded Frolics dog biscuits or sweetcorn, both from the supermarket. If you want to go exotic buy whelks or prawns from the fish counter. It really is that simple.
The gaves are mountain fed rivers, cold and very clear. I would suggest taking fine hook lengths and small hooks. Buy some maggots if you can find a tackle shop. They are very expensive, but might be useful in the clear water and blue sky.
Also, be aware that there are brown bears around Pau. The type the Yanks call Grizzlies. If you discover a steaming great pile of poo in the woods it might not have been left by a barbel angler
.. the swims we have access to as part of the property we are staying in are, apparently, up to 20ft deep on the near bank with a rocky bottom and shallowing up considerably towards the far bank - so I wasn’t thinking about fishing fine! The owner catches on standard carp rigs with big boilies.. so I think I’m going to be taking a lot of gear to cover all potential scenarios! Carp have been caught to 40lbs apparently, alongside the barbel.. this is feeling like a true voyage of discovery, and I’m very grateful for your insight 
Ha ha! You’re Collingham in Yorkshire? One of my best friends lives there if so, and I used to live in Leeds which is where my love for barbel and chub fishing on rivers was first kindled - I’ve been back in Essex for many years though.. no barbel here, so after years of carp and then fly fishing when my young family along, I’ve gone back to my coarse fishing roots. River Lea for barbel now, although trips to Yorkshire are now back on after the past couple of years.
I think the river you are asking about joins with the Adour river a bit closer to the coast. One of the YouTube videos I watched recently shows a very capable french angler fishing a tidal stretch of the Adour, it makes for interesting viewing!
Thankyou for this, interesting indeed.. the swims we have access to have produced large carp (30lbs plus) in addition to what look like some large (for France anyway) barbel so we’ll be targeting these initially. That said, I’m not one for sitting around waiting for long so I’ll be taking my river feeder and float gear in addition to a couple of heavier specimen / carp set-ups to cover all bases!
