Stoneflies
The upper Creuse, before the big reservoirs at Éguzon turn the lower river into something else entirely, is one of the quiet Massif Central trout rivers that rewards patience. It rises on the Plateau de Millevaches — high, cold granite country — and runs through the Combraille in a series of stony runs and deep pools cut into the bedrock. The water is clear enough to see the bottom in most reaches, cold enough to keep the trout in condition well into summer, and unremarkable enough that very few people come to fish it. The trout are wild and small-to-medium. Nothing about the upper Creuse is designed to impress. It is honest water. Fish the nymph through April and early May while the plateau is still cold, switch to dry fly once the caddis arrive in the third week of May, and try to hit the river in June before the water drops too far. The Baetis hatches are reliable, the caddis predictable, and the stoneflies in the rough water worth fishing imitatively. There is very little access information available in English, and most of what exists is out of date. This is a river you come to slowly and learn by fishing. Most of the good beats are small and obscure.
- Granite