Damien Heran, fishing guide in Aveyron and specialist in tenkara fishing

Discover the portrait of Damien Heran, fishing guide instructor in the Aveyron department and specialist in tenkara fishing.

Hello Damien Heran, first of all, could you introduce yourself briefly ?

Hello Rodmaps team,

I will be 44 in a month and I am from Millau where I also live there. I exercise my activity as an instructor, animator, fishing guide on the rivers of southern Aveyron such as the Dourbie, the Jonte, the Tarn and the Cernon essentially. I am also vice-president of the company of guides of Aveyron whose Jean-Michel Bauguil is the president.

Where did your passion for fishing come from?

I followed my grandfather and my father in my childhood on the beautiful Jonte and I caught the virus when I was ten years old. Since then I have never let go of this passion.

I believe you did your training as a fishing instructor-guide at the Naucelle training center. Can you tell us a little more about the course of this training?

Indeed, I did my training at Naucelle MFR in Aveyron. The training is based on the profession of animator with a specialization in recreational fishing (important for those who think that we only practice guiding).

It consists of several days or weeks focused on different fishing techniques. This allows us to be able to open up to other techniques and also to be able to estimate our level and from there, to be able to appreciate the work that awaits us. These trips are animated by big names in fishing such as Lionel Armand with 4 days on the Toc, Gaël Even for the Carnivore and Martin Pascal for the Fly, but also carp, blow etc.

During the training I was able to learn how the small fishing world works in France, then to work with children and therefore set up activities and educational projects with leisure centers or local actors.

Could you tell us what you took away from it? This could be of interest to future fishing guides

It was very educational for me since the center of Naucelle works in close collaboration with the FDP12 and its fishing school, one of the most active in France. I had the chance to do my work placement at the FDP12, which allowed me to prepare for the animation part of my future job. Besides, I still work for the FDP12 these days for activities for young audiences.

Besides, I will act as a network guide Tenkara Pyrenees in training with great pleasure in September 2018 for a day dedicated to the discovery of Tenkara.

One last thing that is important, beyond getting a diploma, this training is necessary to refine your professional project and to put it in place upon graduation.

Finally, the training center is a very good establishment that I recommend because the people who run it are all competent, professional and human. It will remain a superb experience where I made superb encounters who have become friends.

Why did you choose to do this job?


For the transmission of knowledge and through fishing to make my country and my rivers known so that they are understood and subsequently better protected.

What fishing techniques do you teach?

I teach deep drift natural bait fishing, nymph toc, whip and tenkara fly fishing as well as lure fishing.

You are a specialist in tenkara fishing, a technique that is increasingly popular in France but which is still little known to the general public. Could you explain to us what this fishing technique consists of and its interest?

First of all I discovered tenkara fishing during the training. It was a revelation for me, imagining myself practicing it on my waterways. This allows me today to offer something else, another product than the classic fishing techniques. It was a good choice because Tenkara fishing today appeals to customers and represents a large part of my guides. Tenkara is a Japanese technique of drowned fishing only, practicing animations in the torrents. Tenkara was imported to the United States and then to Europe where the first fishermen used it dry, nymph and drowned.

It is the fly fishing of our ancients, the simplest possible and that we could compare to the fly fishing practiced at the time throughout Europe. It is a type of fishing based on moving in the river and on approaching the fish, which requires discretion and knowledge of the desired fish.

Normally for pond heads, it is possible to fish medium and large rivers. And with practice, it is possible to catch fish over 50 / 60cm as long as you move with it! Personally, I fish Tarn with Tenkara and it works very well on all species (trout, barbel, vandoises, chub) , bleak etc).

The advantage of tenkara fishing is that the minimalist equipment: a telescopic rod of 100grs up to 4.00 m, a fly box, a line, nylon and let's go!

That said, the learning time is shorter than with the whip but it remains a technique in its own right which requires concentration and precision, which can be used in addition or in exclusive fishing.

You have decided to set up your activity under the name of Pêche Aveyron Emotion. For you, therefore, fishing is above all a matter of emotions?

For me, what fishing allows is to be able to feel the same emotions as when we were kids, to commune with nature and be part of it and above all to awaken our memories of children.

It seems trout is your fish of choice, doesn't it? What excites you the most about trout fishing?

Ha trout, the myth!

For me first of all I used to say that we fish what we have under the window and for me it was Jonte! I could have done worse! It was therefore obvious to me that my favorite fish was trout.

And I remain a trout specialist because I think that practicing everything is not possible. At some point, you can't be good at everything...

The trout, for me, is grace when it moves, beauty in the differences in its dress, the intelligence of its swimming, the softness of its movements, its fragility and that of its environment, its legendary mistrust, his madness sometimes, his relentlessness in combat, but above all for me he is the most successful fish and adapted to his environment.

Let's protect our rivers...

What do you like most about guiding?


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

Pedagogy, patience, passion, love contact and question yourself as often as possible.

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

To tell the truth I don't really know, you know it's my 4th season and I don't live from fishing. I haven't given myself a salary since the start, so even if I know it's a passionate job and therefore hard to live off of, you have to hang on and never let go.

I think that we should not go with too many guides trained in France not to saturate the territory. Rather have an access policy on the quality of the guide's work and his professionalism. Then try to have a better distribution of fishing guides. Basically better supervision of the profession.

How could Rodmaps help you in your activity?

I think that sites like yours are interesting for refocusing the fishing offer in France and orienting the customer more easily. But you're not alone now, and I'm afraid the digital fog will reappear for customers.

I think that to make a difference and for it to be effective, after having found your service providers, it is necessary to be able to seek out customers in order to offer our services? I'm thinking, for example, of contacts that we don't necessarily have: works council, companies, network or other com support,...

Any future projects you would like to tell us about?

After having redesigned my communication a lot (logo, flyers, etc.), changed my vehicle and flocked it, having done the fishing shows last winter, I am thinking of working on a new product for next year. I will try to set up two weeks of fishing for teens, one in July and one in August.

Accommodation, fishing equipment, fishing license included. What a summer camps!

An anecdote to tell us about a guide?

Oh not much but one day a client after a day of knockout fishing confessed to me that he had been fishing upside down for 20 years. It is in these moments that you tell yourself that your job is useful.

For me the best time is when you explain something to the customer, make one or two changes and explain why. And that subsequently on the first pass he takes the fish when he had passed ten times in the same place but not as he should.

It is the joy of triggering a click and therefore of taking my customers to a new level that drives me.