Common tourist fishing areas in the Pyrenees

We admit, we're not fishing experts, so if you read French you'll find the official Ariege fishing site much more knowledgeable! However, we know that not everyone speaks French, so here is our understanding of what you can (and can't) do, with apologies in advance if this is all obvious to you.

Classifications and Seasons

The Ariege has water of premier and secondary category.

• Premier category are rivers and lakes where the salmon family dominate.
• Secondary category are rivers and lakes where the carp family dominate.

For premier category water, the season is generally open from the second Saturday in March to the third Sunday in September.
For secondary water, the season varies for each fish, but is generally longer than for the premier category.

Fishing is forbidden :

• at night (30 mins after sunset or 30 mins before sunrise), with some exceptions for carp
• within 50m of a lock or hydroelectric plant
• without a permit!
• using a large list of electrical and mechanical devices and baits, nets and so on.

Permits

Permits can be purchased easily from fishing and hunting suppliers, and and online on the official Ariege site above. The permits come in the form of stamps, which are fixed to a permit card. These cards are then valid across two thirds of France. The costs are roughly (as of 2019):

• 15 Euros for a daily permit on certain monitored areas of water (see below)
• 32 Euros for a holiday permit (7 consecutive days between June and September) for all category 1 and 2 water
  
• 74 Euros for a local annual permit for categories 1 and 2
  
• 96 Euros for an annual permit for most of France for categories 1 and 2
  
• 20 Euros for a child permit (age under 18) (6 Euros for under 12s)
  

In addition to the classified rivers and lakes shown on the map above, we have highlighted the three 'tourist lakes' which are more actively managed and well populated with salmon or trout. These lakes are easily accessible by car, and can be used by those who have difficulty walking.

Lac de Montbel (10 mins from us)

Lac de Montbel is the one of the largest of the inland lakes in the Midi Pyrénées covering an area of over 1500 acres. Montbel is one of the areas allowing overnight carp fishing, and more details are available about Lac de Montbel (in French only) on the Mirepoix tourist information site.

Etang de Lers (90 mins from us)

Etang de Lers is up in the mountains at a height of 1300m, surrounded by fantastic scenery, and an excellent place to spend a day fighting with the trout.

Lac de Bethmal (90 mins from us)

Lac de Bethmale is a greater distance from us, but can be reached as quickly via St Girons. The lake is also high in the mountains (at 1060m), but is in the forest and widely viewed as the most majestic lake in the department.

View of Etang de Lers

Lavelanet Trout Park

A different idea, at Montferrier just outside Lavelanet is a trout park where they raise fish that they sell at the weekly markets - including each Monday in Mirepoix. You can visit the hatchery and fish for your own dinner, there's no entrance fee - you only pay for what you catch. Click here for their website.

The page below was written during June 2020 for the 'covid reopening' but gives some pictures and an overview in French of their activity. Sorry - because it's a picture we can't produce an English translation.

Pisciculture de Montferrier