Tag Archives: Alsace -en

flyfishing in Alsace with Claude Behr

Portrait of Pierre KUNTZ

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Alsatian Fly Fisherman

Pierre Kuntz in competition on the Dore River
Pierre Kuntz at a national competition on the Dore

Pierre KUNTZ, born in 1994, grew up in Lampertheim (67) and now remains in Grenoble (38), where he graduated from a school of engineering in science materials. He is currently carrying out a thesis on Li-ion batteries. He was very young won by the passion of fly fishing and embarked on the adventure of the competition in 2011. He quickly became one of the best French competitors, despite his young age.

As a competitor, Pierre is a member of the Meribel Sports Club (73), section of fly fishing.

But if he fishes very regularly in reservoirs and river as a competitor, his passion brings him to the edge of the water as soon as he has a moment of free. I am fortunate to have known this sympathetic young man since his adolescence. I have seen him evolve in his technique and approach to the river or reservoir and continually seek to progress. He knows how to challenge himself and adapt effectively to all conditions, which is the brand of the greatest fishermen I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Pierre Kuntz with a shadow of the Bruche
Pierre Kuntz with a beautiful grayling of the Bruche
Pierre Kuntz with a beautiful trout fario of the Bruche
Pierre with a browntrout from the no-kill route of Muhlbach on Bruche

If his record is already impressive as a competitor (cf. infra), he also became a captain with the youth teams, demonstrating qualities of leadership of men. He has not lost his natural humility and is always willing to share an observation or technique with those who meet him on a fishing spot. If you have this chance, do not hesitate to ask him for advice. He will be happy to share any of his competitor tips with you.

His way of practicing fly fishing

  • Flyfishing beginning: 2008 (Competition in 2011)
  • Techniques Flyfishing: Dry, dry/nymph, nymph in sight, nymph with thread, streamer, wet flies, boobies
  • Preferred Flyfishing Techniques: The dry without hesitation, but “the vagaries of fishing conditions and the mood of fish” make him fishing the majority of the time with nymph.
  • Rods preferred for this technique: Maxia MX4 9 ‘ 4 silk of 3
  • Favorite reels for this technique: JMC Yoto
  • Preferred lines for this technique: Scientific anglers VPT n ° 3
  • Preferred tippet for this technique: 9 or 12 foot 5x rat tail
  • His favorite flies:
  • Dry: caddis tyed of duck with a hare collar
  • -Wet fly: Hopper
  • -Nymph: Pheasant tail, gold/silver/copper ball, with and without tag
  • -Streamer: “Pouic” Bunny, Sparkler
  • Favorite Rivers: The Bruche (67), the Dranse (74), the Aude (11)
  • Preferred reservoirs: the Stork reservoir in Seltz (67), the Landie (63), the Mouille (74), Barouchat (73)
  • Favourite fish: Brown trout and grayling. He particularly likes to be able to catch these two species in the same place
  • Best souvenirs of fly fishing: his first World Championship title in 2016 in Spain, as captain of the French youth team. On Today’s Day, France is the only team to have won the title of world champion as well as the first 3 places of the individual ranking in a world championship.
A caddis fly in duck and hare, one of Pierre Kuntz's favourite , similar as the SCL in the C.B.F. collection
Caddis in duck feather and hare
Nymph bead head, similar as the TVC-2 of the C.B.F. collection
Model of nymph of Pierre Kuntz

His palmares in competition

-Champion of France D2 Rivière 2013 -Vice-champion of France D1 River 2017 -third D1 River 2018-Third World Youth Championships Team 2012 (France) -World Young Team champion in 2016 (Spain) and 2017 (Slovenia) -Champion Senior European Team 2017 (Portugal) -Vice-Champion of individual Europe senior 2017 (Portugal) -In december 2019: world champion with the french team in Tasmanie.

Pierre Kuntz on the Bruche
Pierre in his works on the Bruche in Molsheim
Pierre Kuntz with a beautiful rainbow trout from the Bruche
Pierre with a beautiful rainbow trout on the no-kill course of the Bruche in Schirmeck

The stork reservoir

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the stork reservoir under the sun

Located at 50 km in the north of Strasbourg, in Seltz the stork reservoir is reserved for flyfishing. (see the very detailed map) Its pure water (it is the ground water of Alsace, the biggest of west Europe), the quality of his fishes, the convenient laying out, combine to bring this place on the top of the flyfishing areas in Alsace. The fishery, of 2.5 ha, is made up of 2 ponds. They go down to a depth of 10 meters. All flyfishing techniques are allowed (dry flies, nymphs, streamer, wet flies), with a maximum of 3 flies. Barbless hooks only.

The fish you will find in Seltz are mainly trouts: really big rainbow, brown and aguabonitas (the yellows), some chars, an other species like carps, tenchs, roachs, perchs, pikes (big ones). A nice pikeperch has been caught in 1999.

to the map of the reservoir in Seltz 67)

to the rules for the saison

About the daily fishing licences

  • It exist a daily licence for 30 euros , that allows you to keep one trout of more than 30 cm
  • It exist also a daily licence for 15 euros ,that allows a yougman (under 18), to fish with no kill rules. The yougman must be accompained by an adult.

The cards are available for the day in front of the club house, on the distributor (payment only with cash: 20, 10 , 5 euros and pieces of 1 or 2 euros)

News for march 2024

The water level is high in the beginning of march. the trouts begin to come closer the shore. Beautiful emotions are always there.

Fish immersions: On 05 march 2024, 300 kg rainbow trouts with an average weight of 1,3 kg came in the reservoir .

Warning: I would like to remind everyone that trout + 2 kg are to be put back into the water, as much as possible, to allow the greatest number of fishermen to have “big emotions”.

NB: It is also reminded to all fishermen that fishing is allowed 1/2 hour before sunrise and ends 1/2 hour after sunset.

the fish in Alsace

You can catch a lot of kind of fish species with a fly rod. Here you will find the principal species of the mentioned areas and in all Alsace. .

in the storck reservoir

rainbow trout : onchorynchus mykiss

In the storkreservoir, the rainbow trouts are the most representative. With their yellow variety, the aguabonitas, the rainbows indeed account for 90% of the salmonidae. The brown trouts , the brook trouts and chars for the remaining 10%. The biggest trouts become bigger than 90 cm.

But many other species of fish can be taken by the fly there: the pikes, numerous and sometimes very large (record with the fly 1,20 m), the perchs and even the pikeperchs (record 83 cm), the carps (record : 80 cm), the tanches (I took one of 47 cm with a wooly-worm), and even some big breams.

in the Rhine

a grayling: thymallus thymallus

In the Rhine the graylings was a numerous species until 2003, and some specimens came up 50 cm. Splendid combatant, often changing his mood, superb in its silver livery and its coloured dorsal, he is the symbol of the river. But, because of the very hot days from 2003, a lot of them died. So, we have seen their population decline, also because of the predation of cormorants, more and more numerous . A respectfull fisherman would limit himself on one grayling maximum in the year, of more than 40 cm (official minimal size) to help the population coming back. Since 2015 it si forbidden to fish them.

Some nice trouts are sometimes also surprised with the fly. Thus, I had the chance october the first 1998, to catch (and release) one magnificient of 53 cm, taken with a clear nymph.

Especially in the calms, one can touch white fish: chubs, daces, bleaks from who the carnivores are never distant: perchs, pikes and aspes. These are sometimes bigger than 80 cm and are nice sportfish, with streamers. For the next years there is also a hope for flyfisherman to catch an atlantic salmon. These beginn actually to come back for some years (for yet, it is’nt possible to fish them).

in the Bruche

a brown trout : salmo truta fario

In the highest part of the Bruche , brown trouts are the favourite of the flyfishers. Thi kind of trout is the indigenous fish par excellence in the Bruche, because it reproduces there fo centuries. The fishing departmental federation has made many efforts to keep this alsatian kind of brown trout ! The average size of these trouts is not very significant (legal size to 25 cm, rare fish bigger than 35 cm – my personal record is 45 cm) but their fightness and their promptness will delight you. Rainbow trouts have been introduced there for several years, and some reach respectable sizes.

The grayling is also acclimatized in a large part of the Bruche (from Urmatt to Eckbolsheim), and, since the year 1996 one usually touches some with the fly. If their average size is lower than those of the Rhine, the fish from 30 to 35 cm are rare. But you will really catch more fish lower than the legal size of 32 cm. It is very important to release gently all the graylings because in the last years their population comes dramatically down.

The whitefish are numerous down Heiligenberg, even if some daces are already founded in Wisches. Chubs and spirlin breaks come also on the dry flies. With the streamer you will maybe have the chance to take some perchs and pikes.

Possible catch with the fly are so many in Alsace, and will be in the future can be even more exciting with the return of the salmon. (The youg salmons are part of the banality of catch in the Bruche, where the reintroduction is the most concentrated). There are still many other interesting places for fly fishing in Alsace where you will touch these species: first category rivers, some 2nd category trails, gravel reservoirs (many in the plain of Alsace), or the lakes of Vosges in the Haut-Rhin.

the Rhine floodway canal

the author, claude Behr, fishing with the fly on the floodway canal in Plobsheim in 1994
C. Behr, fishing the floodway canal. Picture from the magazine ” Plaisirs de la pêche” in 1994

Fly fishing on the Rhine floodway canal allows since some years to fish on very big trouts near Strasbourg in Alsace.

In 1993, while I was at the Federation of fishing associations of the Bas-Rhin, I worked on setting up a fly only part on the Rhine floodway canal (contre-canal de drainage du Rhin in french), with one section at Plobsheim and another at Schoenau. (see picture above where I fish the canal in Plobsheim, published in the magazine “Pleasures of Fishing” of January / February 1994)

The management had been entrusted to the flyfishing club of Robertsau (Strasbourg). The Federation of Bas-Rhin took over the management on its own in 2012 and made it a public course, open to all fishermen holding a fishing card from department of Bas-Rhin (67). Two sections of this channel are managed in no kill sections. On the occasion of the opening of the 1st category, the Federation makes an immersion of rainbow trouts and / or brown trouts, most of them very big, in addition to the fishes naturally present.

The native population, if it includes some trout and graylings, is mostly composed by chubs and barbels. The (big) pikes are also whipped in the quieter parts.

Fishing is particularly interesting from the opening of the 1st category, in march, until May. It is more difficult after that, the fish having been very fished, but also because of the very dense meadows, leaving only few flows for the flies.


A fishcatch book is available by the federation on request or from the federal guards. It is a tool to improve the management of the Rhine floodway canal. Thank you for submitting this book of catch at the end of the season to a fishing guard of the Federal Brigade or return by mail to the following address: Fishing Federation Locality “La Musau” RD 228, 67203 Oberschaeffolsheim


You will find some practical informations on the blog of the Bas-Rhin Fishing Federation by clicking here

Loïc whit a big brown trout of the floodway canal, caught march 2019 the 09
loïc with a big brown trout of the floodway canal
flyfishing in the south of Strasburg on the opening of the trout fishing in the first category
flyfishing on the opening of trout fishing in march
Sophie with a big rainbow trout of the floodway canal
His girlfriend, Sophie, with a big rainbow of the same place

The Rhine and the old Rhine

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the old Rhine near Fessenheim in Alsace


With the downstream of Basle(Switzerland), until Rhinau, in extreme southern of the department of Bas- Rhin (Alsace/France), a part of the river’s water circulates in the channel of Alsace; but there remains a wild part, wedged between this channel, at the french side, and the german motorway, which average width of 50 meters, the power of the current, the richness of watery fauna, make forget this tribute paid to the modernity.


The graylings were the florets of the Rhine: they are splendid, of complexion nervousness and size: exceeding 33 cm regularly, the fish between 40 and 50 cm were not so rare before 2003. Cause of this rarefaction, fishing for graylings is verbidden til 2023. But one takes also sometimes large powerful brown trouts and the whitefish colonize the calms, with their usual predators, which are the pikes. The atlantic salmons are also coming back.

When you find yourselves in autumn on the gravel pits of the Rhine, you are taken in a true enchantement: attentive of the banks, the blossomings or the fish, you don’t notice the noise of the cars wich circulate on the nearby motorway.

IMPORTANT: Classified in 2nd category of the public domain, fishing is accessible to any fisherman having discharged his piscicultural taxes (french yearly fishing license)

Fishing is not easy there: power of the current, rollers slipping, blossomings sometimes too sparse, other times superabondant, difficult fish, inaccessible stations, etc.. All these conditions discourage sometimes the amateur, but don’t put off the enthusiast.

I hope to be pleased of meeting you a day there, to exchange , like all the flyfishers of the world, our anecdotes which ponctuated our course in this splendid passion of flyfishing

the Rhine in december

News of the month : january 2024

happy year 2024 !

a nice brown trout