France 🇫🇷 La Saâne
10 Jun 2025
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Serenity and trout between the cows
The Saâne is a beautiful river, and when fishing there it will feel like a best kept secret given it's not very obvious that you can fly fish it. If you put some time into it in the summer months you'll have a great time catching trout.
Big thanks to Pascal, a local fly fisher, for fishing with us and teaching us everything we needed to know about the Saâne.
Longueil and Saâne-Saint-Just
We focus on 2 beats: one South of the centre of Longueil (just North of the Camping de la Vallée) and one further down south in Saâne-Saint-Just. Both are indicated on the map that's on this page.
Both beats are fly fishing only and strictly no kill: so catch and release only.
License
Obtaining a license in France can be a bit of a challenge, but it has become much better of the last few years. As a tourist, you can buy a so called holiday license online on cartedepeche.fr that's valid for one week where you choose the start date, and it will cost you about €34 (2023). We've been told you can fish almost any water with it, but make sure to check if this is true for the water that you want to fish as there are exceptions.
When buying a holiday license you have to choose an association or department when buying it online. For the Saâne means you will have to select Dieppe (76200).
Bank fishing and wading
Almost all fishing can be done from the bank, but wading is allowed so if water levels are low you can choose to wade. Just be mindful that the trout are all wild and easily spooked. Wade slow and observe!
Both beats are in a meadow with cows. Pascal fishes here for years and never had any issues as the cows are friendly, but please be respectful and careful.
Wild trout, easily spooked
As mentioned, it's all wild trout here. It's mostly brown trout but if you're very lucky you might encounter sea trout or even salmon! This is because the Saâne ends up in the sea (at Quiberville) and fish can migrate in and out.
The fish are easily spooked. Best is to observe, see if you spot any fish rising and if so, approach them carefully and from a distance.
Flies
Everything in your trout selection can work. Use Mayflies when they're there (best months: May/June) and if there's fish rising but no Mayflies then Sedges and Caddis Fly imitations are the only thing you need. If there's no fish rising, use classic nymph patterns such as a Hare's Ear or Pheasant Tail, and Pascal's personal tip is a Red Tag.
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