Cédrick Plasseau, fishing guide from Haute-Vienne to Spain
Discover the portrait of Cédrick Plasseau, fishing guide between Haute-Vienne, New Aquitaine and Spain. Cédrick specializes in tracking predators and salmonids with lures and flies.
Hello Cedrick, before we start, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Hello all. So I introduce myself, Cédrick Plasseau 45 years old and self-employed fishing guide instructor since December 2016 in the heart of the Périgord Limousin regional natural park in Saint Yrieix la Perche between Limoges and Périgueux.
I am one of the full-time fishing guides. I exercise all year round in my department and neighboring departments. I also belong to the family of so-called nomadic fishing guides. Indeed, I also offer sport fishing services and courses for predators with lures in other regions. For example in the Great East, in the Aube exactly, on the lakes of the Orient forest, the lakes of Amance, the Temple and the Orient of course.
I also work abroad as an accompanying guide instructor on several destinations. For example Extremadura in Spain on the great lakes of Cijara, Garcia sola, Orellana and Serena which I particularly like.
Where does your passion for fishing come from?
This passion was transmitted to me at a very young age by my maternal grandfather. A great fisherman with multiple techniques and practices and above all passionate about this wild nature hidden under the water. He was able to transmit his knowledge to me, whether in fresh water to track trout, pike perch and pike from the stream to the estuary along the Charente and Dordogne rivers. Or even bass, conger, meager and tuna fishing on the Atlantic coast from the shore and by boat.
This passion has never left me. Existing from my earliest memories to today, it is with a cane in my hand that I see myself near him.
Today, fishing for you is a way to…?
I would say that it is above all a philosophy, an art of living, a simple way of being in contact with nature. They are also clean moments of escape. We sometimes go fishing just to be there at the edge or on the water. Find yourself a little alone in a peaceful place allowing reflection. It's kind of my daily therapy.
Then come the sport and the challenges that we throw at ourselves with ease. Lure or fly fishing have the particularity of defying in the sense of luring a poison and making it bite on an artificial object, trying to imitate by its shape, its vibrations or the animations produced by the fisherman, a prey alive that could appeal to the target fish in question.
It is a special game where the fisherman must arm himself with patience, knowledge and technical skills to achieve it and make a beautiful fish in the rules of the art.
But sport fishing is also for me a way of protecting our environment. Regular presence on the water makes it possible to observe and study changes in the environment by interacting with species without destroying them. Fishing for pardon or reasoned samples allows us to do this.
What fishing techniques do you teach and in which region (s) in particular?
I offer different fishing practices and courses, depending on the targeted practices and the environment. The goal is to be able to initiate fishermen on a wide range of practices so that they find the one or those that appeal to them the most.
I am above all a sport fishing guide instructor. I offer technical initiations and practical training courses in predator and salmonid fishing with lures. They are carried out from the shore by wading or by boat. I do this for an audience of adult fishermen or accompanied children. Also, I offer Initiations and practices of catfish fishing with lures or bait by boat, in Haute-Vienne / Aube / Dordogne / Gironde.
I also work in partnership with the Federation of Haute-Vienne in the initiation and training of our young fishermen, within the AAPPMA of Aixe sur Vienne (87). I lead the nature fishing workshops for the youngest there or during sport fishing courses organized directly by the Federation for a public of passionate teens.
I also design and run “nature and environment fishing” workshops for all audiences, in partnership with the town hall, the leisure center and the tourist office, as well as the Périgord Limousin park office.
We are fortunate to be in a territory at the head of the basin with a majority of 1st category rivers, giving its sources to two watersheds that we value and try to protect all together.
Finally, I also offer introductory fly fishing courses in collaboration with the Moulin Authier in Coussac Bonneval. This allows everyone to approach this technique and practice, very simply with a new, curious and protectionist perspective on all the natural environments frequented by passionate fishermen. Fly fishing often broadens the gaze and opens up new reflections on all living things.
Could you tell us a little more about your regions under guidance and what makes them rich in fisheries?
There is a lot to say, for sure! I am fortunate to have fishing sectors that benefit from excellent fisheries management. For example Haute-Vienne. We have magnificent dam lakes such as Vassivière and Saint Pardoux or the Taurion and Maulde dams. Of
true wild paradises for the most part, with an exemplary 87 federation management.
Indeed, our dams do not close to lure fishing while pike is closed, as we see everywhere else. Lure fishing continues for pike-perch, perch, catfish and black bass.
Only the pike fishery is closed at this time. A good example of management to highlight I think. (A nod to PM and to all the members of the Federation). It is also the Federation 87 which set up the first artificial analysis and observation reefs on our large lakes.
Another example comes to mind, the lakes of the Orient Forest. The lakes of Amance, Temple and Orient are paradises for pike, perch and pike-perch fishing. But this is no accident. A protected natural environment in the heart of large game forests, magnificent waters, seagrass beds as far as the eye can see and crystal clear water. The stage is set.
The best is yet to come. The regulations allow to take only 10 predators maximum per year, with ten rings and an annual permit. The presence and frequency of police checks do the rest. In Orient we do not joke with the protection of the environment. That's what pleases me.
It is also thanks to this that we can have magnificent fishing days equivalent to some major European destinations. Enough to make real fishing trips in France.
The species and techniques that you practice are therefore numerous. However, is there a particular fish or technique that you like?
I have a lot of them in fact… I like all the practices. A beautiful hotu or chub can give me great joy on a great line shot taken by a child at the 10/100 fishing school drifting on the Vienne.
But I admit that I have a weakness for large predators. Pike, black bass, catfish and pikeperch rock me every evening, waiting to meet them again in the morning. These fish attract me above all else. For their characters, their sizes and their velocities to end a fight in a whim…, some do not allow any error during the fight and that's what I like most after their stalking and their captures.
In 2016, you went to the Ahun National Training Center for Fishing Professions. Can you tell us a little more about the course of this training and what you learned from it? This could be of interest to future fishing guides.
This training has been vital for me. I had just retired from the Army after 23 years of career and I badly needed to upgrade and be trained to hope to become a business leader one day and succeed in achieving this dream of become a professional fishing guide instructor.
The ten months of intensive training allowed me to acquire the notions necessary for my project, not without difficulty. Getting back on the school benches was not easy. I was lucky, I mean lucky, to have exceptional training comrades. We worked a lot until no time each night, depriving ourselves of seeing our families and friends, stranded at work, aiming for one goal.
What enriched me are the meetings or the meeting of each speaker. Over 50 in total. Each one more fascinating, each with its own specialty and openness. But above all with enormous, open and shared knowledge. A great lesson in life, even if it took a lot of sacrifices.
I would say that the luck of having been in Ahun forced me to measure the level and the work effort required. We emerge much larger and much better able to carry out such a project than in most other training centers. But it is not the 10 months of training that are the hardest. It is after …
You who guide abroad, what is your view on the management of fishing in France? Are you confident about the future and the changes you are seeing?
So, I must admit that I don't have great hopes for so-called recreational fishing in the public domain in France. Too few federations have a modern and protectionist outlook. National regulations are not at all adapted to our environments and our still existing herds.
A good number of Aappma must have forgotten, I think, the very definition of their associations approved for fishing and PROTECTION (and not taking…) OF THE BEST AQUATIC. It is not by still authorizing in our time the fishing of predators with four live rods allowing to take 3 large predators per day from each user that we will protect anything, 3 meshed predators of course ... the others having swallowed the triple leave dead in the water, when they are put back into the water
of course…
In France, a withdrawal 1000 times greater than the actual re-stocking is authorized. I do not find this to be balanced. We are far from even… So obviously, we have been victims of a great imbalance for more than 30 years.
The main problem with fishing in France is its daycare, which is quite simply non-existent ...
The problem is there. We have withdrawn the police resources and reduced the workforce, not to mention our dear volunteer private guards without any means of intervention. I dare a parallel: as much put signs with a ban on driving over 50 km / h on the highways and withdraw all the police from the region. Who will drive at 50km / h? No one !
We see it every day here. Between the trout hiding in the waders and going back and forth to the trunk of the car, all day long… Who respects the mesh and the quotas?… Nobody.
We can also speak of the absurdity of professional fishing and fishermen with amateur gear who continue in our time to shamelessly take nets and other endemic and migratory fish traps in our rivers and streams, all along the coast. year, without mesh
nor quotas. The world is not turning right ...
I receive a lot of Europeans and foreigners as clients, whether in Spain or Sweden. I often ask them the question: why don't you come to France for a fishing trip? The answer is simple and identical: “more fish in France, difficult fishing! "
It is not easy to have an objective look at the future of public fishing in France.
As long as the fishery is not more protected and the mainstream media will not share sport fishing events, I don't think there will be any real development. Well, yes, but in the other direction ...
On the other hand, the private domains in no kill management, the private carpodromes as well as the Trout area are doing better and better. It's paradoxical, isn't it ?!
Why did you decide to become a fishing guide?
I am often asked ... A grain or a moment of madness surely.
Let's say that after 23 years of self-sacrifice in the service of the nation, I wanted to try to live on one of my passions. The fishing was the most obvious.
It was already more than 10 years that I participated in the development of sport fishing as a volunteer and in particular in teaching within
of several fishing schools. I often organized outings open to all to share this common passion.
Encouraged by the fishermen who accompanied me, it was therefore quite natural that I continued to develop his skills and make it my job. At least try, because the job of fishing guide instructor is not a job like any other. We interact with nature and the environment as well as with humans. The weather conditions prevail and the mood of the fish governs.
Another nice challenge, but it's a hard, grueling job, in which we must admit that we do not earn money in view of the very heavy material investments. In addition, the profession is not valued in France. Which leads me to believe that to make a living, you absolutely need another school year
money, such as a fixed salary and practicing the profession of second tier fishing guide instructor.
Those who like me do it full time and live off it are either an employee of a structure such as a fishing center or a federation, or offer something other than fishing guidance, such as accommodation, catering, etc.
I won't change my job for anything. I'd prefer him on a fixed salary, in all honesty.
What appeals to you the most today in your job as a fishing guide?
This is what I like most about my job: The emotions, the meetings and the sharing.
Help others, take care of them and bring them some simple happiness. This is what I like.
Whether in discovery, initiation or practice, my primary motivation is to develop the fisherman who accompanies me, whether at the technical level, but also in the knowledge of the customs of our dear fish and the biotope that encompass them.
I especially like to see the eyes of little Matthieu shining when he made his first Pole with soft lures in steetfishing. or the embrace received from Bernard, overjoyed on the boat, who has just made the most beautiful pike perch of his fishing life. These moments keep me going and it is for them that I became a fishing instructor, trying to pass my grandfather's teaching over time to “Cedrick sauce”.
What are the qualities to be a good guide according to you?
Already be on the water regularly and know its environment and its fish. Because above all, any guide must guide his fishermen towards their objectives of having a good day, to be attentive and to adapt his activities, practices, and his equipment to his fishermen according to their experiences and their capacities.
physical.
It also means having high-performance equipment and the knowledge to transmit their proper use. To be able to bounce back and adapt very quickly to all situations. Transmit the ethics of respect for nature and its environment and keep in line, whatever happens, the safety of its fishermen.
Master your territory and make it discover through your knowledge or its gastronomy during the picnic break.
The golden rule is to always have a good hot coffee and a few “Bijou” madeleines, a local specialty.
What is your type of clientele? What are they looking for behind your offers?
It's very varied in fact. But let's say that the average of my adult clientele is between 30 and 45 years old, generally active people coming to recharge their batteries or relax for a few days with friends, or to improve on a technique or a target species of fish.
I have more and more fishermen who also come exclusively to be alone with me on the boat and to benefit from private coaching lessons, on short stays ranging from 1 to 3 days. I find it very rewarding and it allows me to practice my profession with more and more listening, passion and pleasure.
Do you have any future projects you would like to tell us about?
I am going to talk about a great friend, Mr. Denis Desbuard, sea fishing guide instructor, based in Capbreton in the Landes, with whom I have great pleasure in sailing and fishing. Participating since last year in the sport fishing competitions organized by the APLC, and having finished 2nd at 1kl200 of the French champion, we intend to repeat the feat this year and who knows maybe win a place with a little work and luck.
We also work with Denis in partnership by offering sea fishing courses of 1 to 2 days, on the themes of bluefin and white tuna fishing on hunts, sport fishing for tuna and white marlin trolling, and tuna fishing and shark with broumé.
Good atmosphere and superb days at sea in prospect.
What is your best fishing memory?
My best fishing memory, not easy, there are so many… I would say my first black bass over 60 cm. An intensive hunt for more than 3 months on a fish that I had spotted in a boat one morning while prospecting. A very clever fish which made me see it, but especially which taught me
a lot on the behavior of his big black-bass which are now part of the freshwater sport fish that I love the most, and for good reason.
Whoever comes on my boat will quickly realize that these fish are driving me crazy!
An anecdote to share during a day of guiding?
Ah, there is no shortage of anecdotes in guidance, for sure. They range from the little 9-year-old Nino to the bass, who fishes us for the car that passed on the bridge while we were fishing the piles in waki with a beautiful reel emptying, through Christophe 37 years, hanging in the stump opposite with his frog which makes the Black Bass of his life by shaking the lure ... ending with Paulo 67 years old who sets a huge pike in a water outlet, and who after more than 3mn of a heavy fight picks up the fish and brings back to the end from his lure another almost new that he extracted from the mouth of this famous pike.
Afterwards, I want to say that not a week goes by without one or two anecdotes completing the collection. It allows you to make great fishing stories during the lunch break.
A message to pass on to all those who wish to discover fishing in France, Spain or elsewhere?
I had the chance to make a lot of trips and fishing trips in twenty countries in my first life shall we say. I fished in many departments in France as well. I met a lot there and learned a lot. Without the meetings, I would never have dared to go further. It is these meetings and exchanges that nourished me and showed me the way.
In my life as a fisherman, I have had to take about twenty fishing guides. It is thanks to them that I have enjoyed myself almost every time. Each time I have learned something.
If you want to discover fishing, whatever the desired practice or just discover a sector, take a guide instructor, hire a professional and let yourself be guided. You will learn 100 times more in a day than on forums and youtube channels, be sure.
What makes me happy the most about my job is when the guys tell you in the evening to debauchery: “thank you Cedrick, we learned a lot today. I understand some things much better. "
" Thank you guys ! Come back whenever you want, you are welcome on board! ".
Wishing you the best, I hope it hasn't been too long. Thanks for reading until the end, and thanks to the whole team at Rodmaps for the work done. Enjoy yourself at the water's edge and respect your nature!
Pony shoeing!
Cedrick
Discover Cédrick Plasseau's guiding offers:
Fishing course in Haute-Vienne with Cédrick Plasseau
Practicing the lure fishing and to bait from a young age, I will guide you in the search and capture of pike, zander, black bass and others predators and Salmonidae of the Haute-Vienne.
Whether at soft lures, swimming fish or surface lures, or landed I will accompany you in initiation, improvement and practice.
Catfish fishing in Haute-Vienne with Cédrick Plasseau
Come learn or improve your skills during a pleasant fishing trip in Holland, accompanied by a professional fishing guide. The choice of the period is essential according to the species sought. As the pike, the pike perch or the pole on the great Dutch lakes or rivers. It is a hunt of another dimension that I propose to you with an extraordinary potential in predators.
Predator fishing trip in Extremadura with Cédrick Plasseau
I suggest you a one week predator fishing trip in Extremadura. The camp is located on the shores of the 3,500 ha Garcia Sola lake, the paradise of black bass both in quantity and quality. The pike is also very present with an average of 80 cm. It is one of the most beautiful lakes in Spain with its mountainous landscapes planted with fir trees, holm oaks and eucalyptus.
Useful links to get to know Cédrick Plasseau and his profession better:
About The Author
Rodmaps
Rodmaps is above all the story of Nicolas and Matthieu, two friends passionate about fishing. Since our childhood, our passion drives us to travel through France and to travel around the world in search of adventure and trophy fish. Through Rodmaps, we want to share our passion for fishing with as many people as possible and make people discover the joys of this sport around us, because yes, fishing is a sport!