Bertrand Masse: Fishing guide in Haute-Marne

Discover the portrait of Bertrand Masse, fishing guide instructor in Haute-Marne since 2017 and specialist in finesse baitcasting trout fishing.

Hello Bertrand, first of all, can you introduce yourself to our readers?

So hello, my name is Bertrand Masse, I am 30 years old now and I have been a fishing guide instructor in Haute-Marne since 2017. Before that, I was a bar manager for 6 years. I have also worked for a long time in forestry and one thing leading to another, I discovered the BPJEPS and told myself that becoming a fishing guide in Haute-Marne could be a good opportunity for me. I am indeed lucky to have a mill with accommodation, a course that I have been maintaining for years with friends as part of an association for the protection of natural environments.

Fishing is my passion since I was little. With a fishing guide diploma in my pocket, I told myself that I would have a private course to present to people in a natural setting and a department of Haute-Marne rich in rivers and lakes. Being already in tourism, events (because it's a bit of the event to organize fishing days), welcoming people and the environment, this job was simply a good summary of what that I was looking for in life. It was also a good opportunity to start again as an independent. And then here I am!

I worked my fishing for a long time and the passion to transmit gradually pushed me to follow this training.

Today, for you, fishing is above all…?

It is above all a pleasure, a moment of relaxation. It is also a moment of learning about nature, architecture too. I sometimes learn from my clients. It is therefore also a moment of exchange and sharing. Finally, when you are a guide and you are in pre-fishing, it is also a moment of solitude, escape, concentration, to find yourself with yourself and nature.

What types of fishing guidance do you offer?

I teach trout fishing with lures from March to September, whether in spinning but also in finesse baitcasting. I also practice fishing for pike in lake and other predators like percids. I also guide my clients on sight nymph fly fishing or dry fly fishing to look for large Haute-Marne trout and grayling.

Behind that, I try to offer services with high-end equipment and that is what I want. I find it a very important point for my clients to have equipment that some might not have in their hands every day. It is also a pledge of sympathy and quality to give them suitable and good quality equipment.

In my opinion, you are one of the only guides in France to offer finesse trout baitcasting today. Can you tell us a little more about this technique and what is so interesting about it?

What is interesting behind finesse baitcasting trout is first of all the finesse side. Everything is at your fingertips, it's light, the lure animations are super precise, fast and without downtime. Zero latency! We immediately make contact with the lure that we immediately animate.

Then the fights, it must be said that it is just madness! It's already a great pleasure to catch a 30cm fish, but finesse baitcasting is something else all the same. So there is this thrill and this feeling that really makes all the difference.

It is also a gesture to learn and we realize that casting with small lures it becomes very fun and technical. This allows, for example, fishermen who are already very experienced in the practice of casting or classic casting fishing to relearn something. People who have been around fishing a bit will find new sensations there.

Do you have a favorite fish?

You will understand, for me my favorite fish is the trout. Already he is beautiful, he is super combative and there is this stalking aspect which, I find, is brilliant in the approach of the fish. Under a stump, a branch, an impossible access after 2 hours of wading, it's a bit of all that trout fishing. It is also a very wild fish, especially our Atlantic strain which is quite special. At the same time very aggressive but also very suspicious compared to what I could find elsewhere like on the Loue with the Mediterranean stocks. They may be a little less aggressive but more difficult. In short, trout is quite a story.

And then there is the pike. Me who listens to metal / punk, I like the side a little "nag"! Throwing bigbaits all day, taking big cartridges, having great fights, that's also something I love. It is a fishing that sends and where we have fun. If, in addition, we are lucky enough to catch a measured fish on the boat, it's just champagne!

There is an expression that I really liked on your site the first time I went there which is “fishing for all”. Is that what drives you the most today in your job as a fishing guide?


Yes that's exactly it. During my half-season, I had the chance to guide 12-year-old children but also elderly people who have fished all their lives or fishermen who had never touched a lure rod. I have had people who had never fished and therefore had never caught a pike in their life. After a first boat trip, they finally had their first catch! This is the kind of audience that comes here and that I like to guide.

I also work with people with disabilities whom I take coarse fishing or lure fishing. I am very proud when they catch their first perch or their first pike on their own without me helping them. This is because they understood the mechanics of the throw and the handling of a lure. By dint of learning, with a little pedagogy and by going slowly, we can see that everyone can learn to fish, regardless of the fishing technique. Women, men, elders, children, young people, those who have never fished, those who have always fished, or even those who are not convinced of their practice.

For example, I guided a local who kept hearing that there were no more good trout in the Marne... It only took half a day for him to catch a 48 and one of 46, not counting the ones he missed. That too is fun. Simply make the locals rediscover their river. It's a bit like "fishing for all".

How do you see the profession of fishing instructor-guide evolving in the future?

I don't think we have yet acquired the guiding culture in France. In our country, paying to do something when you can do it on your own, even if you do it badly, is still a difficult choice to make.

We are completely the opposite of English-speaking customers, who have had this guiding culture for years. They come, put down their luggage, go fishing and have a cool time with friends and in the company of a fishing professional who knows their sectors. They are told a nice restaurant where to dine in the evening with a good bottle of wine and that's it. They will have spent a wonderful weekend with friends or family and you will only be proud to have been the actor of a successful stay for people who needed some air.

In France, some still treat us at times like scammers, I could read this sentence on social networks! We should rather be seen, in my opinion, as artisans. It's a shame… But changes are taking place. We are entering a phase where there are fewer fishermen but where those who remain are more involved and interested. I think that can only be a good thing for our profession.

Afterwards, I assume that those who "stick their fingers" are successful. Whether you guide in town, in an unknown region or in a famous fishing destination in Europe and around the world, everyone has their place. Everyone can succeed, as long as they put in the means. If people work well and work side by side rather than the other way around, I think the job has a bright future.

What is your type of clientele? What are they looking for behind your offers?

I don't necessarily have a typical clientele because my clients range from 12 to 68 years old and over! They come from Belgium, Paris, Haute-Savoie, Switzerland or Tarn-et-Garonne. It's very mixed. On the other hand, most of them are nature and technique enthusiasts who want to learn something more or approach a sporting side. A fishing that moves what!

Unlike an interview that I read a guide in downtown Toulouse, people come to Haute-Marne to find a natural side with little fishing pressure. My role here is to bring this little bucolic and wild setting where there is fish to be found. This is what I try to show through my guides, that there are great fishing destinations off the beaten track.

What qualities do you think are required to be a good guide?

To be a guide, I think you always have to have a smile and motivation. In the morning, even if you're tired or if you had a bad day the day before, you have to show up in front of your customers with a smile. Then, you have to know how to adapt to the person, to their level, their desires while taking into account the fishing conditions. You also have to constantly be more specific and demanding of yourself. Continue as a guide, to learn every day, whether on our territory or our technique to be able to bring the slightest little extra that can make the difference during a day of guiding. Its very important.

You haven't even been guiding for a year. What is your assessment of these few months of activity?

After half a season, I first feel great pleasure in having people catch fish. I also like simply showing or correcting gestures and having people tell me in the end “I understood a lot of things” or “I feel better in my practice”. The purpose of the fishing guide is not specifically to catch the biggest fish as can be seen quite often, but to make anglers understand how he really attacked, triggered or caught it. What I am looking for is that my clients achieve fishing autonomy and that they gain 3-4 months of work in one day. It gives them confidence. That's my great satisfaction from this half-season, in addition to the sharing and exchanges with fishermen of extreme sympathy.

Do you already have future projects in sight?

Perhaps my goal is to develop products in Haute-Loire around an old farmhouse lost in altitude where trout rivers abound. It is in these somewhat remote corners, remote from everything, that we find the best products and the best people. Why not develop something there.

I am also working on a multi-fishing Haut-Marnais trip with supervising guides to be as close as possible to the fishermen. I am trying to develop individualized services that stand out from the crowd. In particular, I try to set up partnerships with top-of-the-range lodgings in order to target a foreign clientele: Swiss, Belgian or even English-speaking and why not even further away!

What is also your fondest memory as a guide?

With my guide friend Florian Boucault, we had guided two Belgian fishermen to whom I had promised to catch a big trout on sight at a specific level of my fishing route. Arrived at this level, we came across a car parked in the distance with two naked women inside… country tourism sometimes has surprises in store! (laughs) While our Belgian friends were laughing among themselves, I saw a big trout in front of us, in 30 cm of water and 3 cm from the edge, hidden between two leaves.

The first problem was that I was the only one in the group to see the fish. The second was the configuration of the spot. So Florian had to explain the technical aspect of our approach without seeing where the trout was before our client placed the nymph, make a slight animation until I observe the pectoral stop and say " iron !! ". The fish was stung!

I immediately jumped face down through the nettles, mud up to my chest with Florian holding my arm on one side and me the landing net on the other.

When I want to put it in the landing net, the branch on which I had leaned breaks and the trout estimated at 50 rushes and explodes the line of 12/100… I was very angry with myself, d 'especially since their record was at 34 cm and a few. But finally, between the naked women on our spot, the trout that nobody saw, the fact of announcing the trout before arriving at the spot and the teamwork between Florian, the fisherman and me, it was an epic moment ! They, in any case, were delighted.

A message to pass on to those who would like to discover fishing in Haute-Marne?

As I said, fishing in Haute-Marne benefits from low fishing pressure, a rural and bucolic setting and just that, not to mention fish, it's worth the detour! Then, you can discover technical fishing, pleasure fishing among grayling, pike from large lakes and beautiful brown trout. We are lucky to have an average in trout which is quite nice compared to anything that can be found in France. So take advantage of it!