The Sélune is the most important river restoration project in European history. In 2021 and 2022, the Vezins and La Roche-qui-Boit dams were removed — the largest dam demolition ever undertaken on the continent — and roughly 90 kilometres of salmon habitat that had been locked away for over a century was opened again to the Atlantic. The scientific monitoring is ongoing and will continue for decades, but the early results are remarkable. Smolts emigrated from reaches that had not seen a salmon in 100 years within months of the reservoirs being drained. Adult fish followed. The fishing is still finding its shape. The lower and middle river below the old dam sites are gradually rewilding — the bed is readjusting, gravel bars are forming, the thermal regime is stabilising — and the salmon are returning in counts that build year by year. Fish the Sélune in the spring window with floating line and long leader for the lower beats, small tubes in coloured water. The upper beats above Ducey are increasingly productive for wild brown trout on a river that is still, in a real sense, being born. Treat the place with the respect the restoration deserves: catch-and-release on every salmon, disinfect your gear, and remember that every fish you meet is proof that a river can come back.
- Granite
