We are taking you this Monday to the lake of Grand-Lieu, in Passay, in Loire-Atlantique. After two years marked by the Covid-19, the traditional fishermen’s festival has made a comeback this long weekend.
This year, with the drought, the lake is very shallow, and one might have expected not to find many fish. And yet, this Monday, the fishing was very good, in particular for the famous demonstration of the “seine stroke”, a traditional fishing technique.
– Leonie Cornet
Fisherman’s Day, it is also the only time of the year when you can embark on the lake of Grand-Lieu. “We take you to see “the seine net”, says Bertrand Baudry, originally from a family of fishermen in Passay, who guides us on the boat. The seine is an ancestral net that is 150 m long, with a central pocket. Then there are five or six fishermen to shoot on each side of the net.”
It is the areas where there is very little water that are the richest in oxygen” Fabrice Batard, fisherman on the lake of Grand-Lieu
The problem is that this summer the level of the lake is really very low, with only 50 cm of water in places while usually the lake is two meters deep on average.
But for Fabrice Batard, professional fisherman, this is not a problem, on the contrary. “Fish go where there is oxygen, he explains. When we are in hot periods like that, especially in the morning at daybreak, there are places where the fish lack oxygen. However, it is the areas where there is very little water that are the richest in oxygen.
Carp that can weigh up to 25 kilos
The proof, when the boat stops near a sandbar in the middle of the lake, where everyone walks, there are dozens of carp that the fishermen carry at arm’s length. And it’s who will catch the biggest fish. “They are really huge, Natalie exclaims.
Record of the day, 12 kg. “But it can go up to 20 or 25 kg, explains one of the professional lake fishermen of Grand-Lieu, even in very shallow water. That’s where they usually congregate. The proof: they are very round and always have something to eat.”
Only seven professional fishermen on Lake Grand-Lieu
The miraculous catch has the merit of impressing those who sail for the first time on the lake, like Juliette, optician. “It’s very impressive, you don’t realize the size and weight of some fish that you find in only 60 cm of water!”
At the end of the demonstration, the carp are all released into the lake. The Grand-Lieu lake is home to many species of freshwater fish and seafood, such as eels and crayfish, which can be tasted once on dry land during the fishermen’s festival. Currently, only seven fishermen carry out a full-time professional activity on Lake Grand-Lieu.