Poissons in Paris!
(Fish in Paris)

There's just a short time left till anglings' premier event - The World Champs - kicks off in the heart of Paris.
To give you a flavour of what's to come, Déclic Pêche took Didier Guessard, one of the key players in the French squad, down to the Seine to show what the venue is capable of. Take a look at how Didier gets on and get some idea of the possiblities on offer for this years' event.

Above: Organising the WC in the middle of a major European city like Paris is no mean feat as Paris is, in reality, one open air museum and was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. Before any angler can take to the bank all sorts of authorisation needs to be sorted out.
Today Didier has decided to fish the Tino-Rossi stretch just upstream of the Saint-Louise island on the left bank of the Seine (this will be Section E on the World Champs). As Didier mixes up some goundbait notice one of the 'smaller' river buses in the background!

Left & below: The river in Paris has a steady flow and when you add to that non-stop boat traffic you need to select a float man enough for the job!
Didier has opted for a 6 gram Waterqueen 'Brahms' float, which is a standard river pattern float but with an internal line guide to allow for better control as the float edges through the swim.

Left: Rameau are the main groundbait competition to Sensas in France - no prizes for guessing that Didier is sponsored by them!
Watch the bucket colour for a clue to who sponsors who... Red - Rameau. Green - Sensas.
In Paris the Seine is a deep and powerful river, with heavy boat traffic, so groundbait needs to be heavy and sticky. Didier is using a mixture of River Roach and River Bream, to which he's added hemp and fixceine (a sweet binder similar to our PV1). For weight, Didier adds river soil (see soil article).

Right: The Seine is a big fish river but Didier, like all French anglers, adds joker to the groundbait, but he believes that casters and maggot hookbaits are more important in selecting the better quality fish, which abound.

Left: In the heart of Paris the fish often stay close to the bank, where they have some protection from the incessant waves of the heavy boat traffic, also the cement banks are coated in a green weed which is full of natural feed so close in is the more natural line. Didier therefore is fishing less than 7 metres out.
However one of the big questions for this year's event is 'after a weeks practice, where most teams would have been on 14 metres lines, would any angler risk fishing a shorter line'???

Right: With so few people fishing in the heart of Paris a gallery of curious onlookers quickly forms.
Far Right: These pristine fish never see anglers in force so they are not hook shy. Didier used a size 16 with double maggot.
Below: It only took three trot downs for Didier to net his first fish - a prime roach nudging the 1lb mark.

Below: After only 30 minutes the big fish move in and Didier gets snapped on 0.12mm. He instantly changes up to 0.14 mm with a 14 hook and double maggot.

Above: Didier is now starting to motor and nearly every run down produces a decent fish - most are hybrids, with some breaking 3lb plus.
If it follows suit in the WC the match will prove a cracker and despite the extra team entries there should be plenty of fish to go round.

Left: Didier looks well pleased with himself and proves once more that there are quality fish to be had in the Seine (look at the size of that boat in the background!).

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