Fishing in France

Freshwater needs a carte de pêche through a local AAPPMA association. Sea fishing from shore or boat requires no licence at all.

4 researched spots — 1 Freshwater, 3 Saltwater.

Licences and permits in France

To fish fresh water in France you need a carte de pêche, and the card is really an association membership: it enrols you in an AAPPMA, one of the approved local fishing and aquatic-environment protection associations, within the national recreational fishing network. The Fédération Nationale de la Pêche en France sells them centrally, which makes this one of the easier systems in Europe for a visitor — you can buy a daily card, a weekly card or an annual one, and there are reduced categories for minors, a discovery card for under-12s and a women's discovery card. Anglers wanting more than one département should look at the interfederal annual card. Sea angling is governed separately from the carte de pêche, and the rules there changed in 2026. The maritime fishing code subjects recreational sea fishing to the same provisions as professional fishing on minimum sizes, permitted gear, fishing zones and periods, and allows specific recreational activities to be made subject to authorisation by ministerial order. One such order now applies broadly: recreational sea anglers aged 16 and over targeting the species it lists must register — a registration valid twelve months, made through the European Commission's recreational fisheries platform or the RecFishing app — and must declare catches of those species on the day they are taken. So sea angling in France is outside the carte de pêche system, but it is no longer outside the paperwork. Closed seasons for pike and zander are set départementally, so the rules that matter are the local ones.

When to fish in France

France offers two quite different seasons depending on whether you face the Atlantic or inland. On the Brittany coast, European bass fishing runs from May to October, and the useful detail is tidal rather than monthly — the two hours either side of low water, at dawn and dusk. Inland on the Loire, summer nights are for wels catfish, autumn is the zander window, and spring pike fishing opens once the closed season ends. That closed season is the thing to plan around: the dates are set by the département, so a pike trip booked on national information can arrive to find the water shut. The Brittany bass season and the Loire predator season overlap enough that a summer trip can reasonably do both.

What the fishing is like

The four published French spots cover the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and one great river. The Brittany bass coast in Finistère and the Cotentin in Normandy are the rock, reef and beach saltwater fisheries, where European bass and pollack are worked on the tide — no licence needed, so these are the more spontaneous options. Sète on the Mediterranean is the advanced one, with bluefin tuna visible smashing bait on the surface through the warm months, and amberjack and dorado around the offshore structures. The Loire at Tours is big, slow, warm river water for wels catfish, zander and northern pike, and the catfish there grow to a size that surprises people who think of the Loire as a scenic river rather than a predator fishery. Everything but Sète is intermediate.

Guides covering France

  • A year of fishing seasons, by country — Nineteen countries don't share one calendar — half run on the northern hemisphere's clock, some on the tropics' wet and dry seasons, a few on their own statutory closures entirely. This lays the year out month by month, so a trip gets planned around when a country actually fishes well, not just when it's convenient to fly.
  • Fishing licences in Europe, compared — Nine European countries, and nine different answers to "what do I actually need to fish here". Some issue a licence nationally, some regionally, some through a local association, and one makes you sit an exam. Every claim traces to the agency that made the rule.
  • Where you can fish without a licence — A country-by-country comparison of where recreational fishing needs no licence — and where "no licence" still does not mean "no permission". Every claim links to the agency that made the rule.

Species you can target

  • European bass
  • amberjack
  • bluefin tuna
  • dorado
  • mackerel
  • northern pike
  • pollack
  • wels catfish
  • zander

Fishing spots in France

  • River Loire — Tours, Centre-Val de Loire. Freshwater, Intermediate. Target species: wels catfish, zander, northern pike.
  • Brittany Bass Coast — Finistère, Brittany. Saltwater, Intermediate. Target species: European bass, pollack, mackerel.
  • Sète Offshore — Sète, Occitanie. Saltwater, Advanced. Target species: bluefin tuna, dorado, amberjack.
  • Cotentin Peninsula — Normandy. Saltwater, Intermediate. Target species: European bass, mackerel, pollack.

Official sources

Licence requirements and closed seasons change regularly. Always confirm with the relevant fisheries authority before you fish — each spot page links to its source.

Fishing regulations and licences by country · Fishing guides · View the fishing map