Stillwater · Granite · Savoie / Haute-Maurienne (Vanoise)

Lac du Mont-Cenis

Lac du Mont-Cenis terrain map
Terrain map

Mont-Cenis is technically a reservoir — the dam went in in 1968 and flooded the old pastures and a hamlet or two — but it sits at 1,974 metres in the Vanoise granite and it fishes like a genuine Alpine water because that is basically what it is.

Marginal · Trout
Small Perdigón · 16-20
A patient day, if you fancy it
Glassy and bright — hard work without a breeze. A flat lough is a quiet lough — wait for the breeze.
41% confidence
limited data
What moved it
  • WindSW 4 km/hCalm
Today’s fly
Small Perdigón
Small Perdigón16-20
Euro-nymph
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Wind
Calm
SW 4 km/h
N
SW
from the south-west
WaveFlat calm
Water temp—
Air temp17°C
CloudOvercast
Pressure1022 hPa
Rain · recent0.0 mm

Some readings unavailable — check directly before fishing.

How to fish it · for trout
When
June–September
Where
With limited drift, anchor or fish static from sheltered positions. Work a bushy searching pattern on the bob and drop a contrasting nymph on the point. In the calm, a single dry fly or a slowly-fished nymph tends to out-fish an active retrieve.
The plan
Plan A

With limited drift, anchor or fish static from sheltered positions. Work a bushy searching pattern on the bob and drop a contrasting nymph on the point. In the calm, a single dry fly or a slowly-fished nymph tends to out-fish an active retrieve.

Plan B

If the main plan is not working, switch to a smaller, more imitative pattern fished slower and deeper. A change of drift angle can also make a difference.

Watch for

Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.

Either bank or boat

Calm evenings can fish well from bank or boat — target rising fish wherever you find them.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
1
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Daddy Long LegsHatch
2
3
2
Lake OliveHatch
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
Silverhorns & LonghornsHatch
1
2
2
2
1

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • AAPPMA Haute-Maurienne Vanoise
  • Standard 1ère catégorie rules
  • Short season — check for ice-out and first-snow closure.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Condition match
59%
Cloud50%
Wind65%
Temp60%

A reasonable day here, though cloud isn't quite in the sweet spot.

Fishing better nearby · 4
Arc
23 km
80
Brown trout · Grayling
Arc (Bessans reach)
23 km
79
Brown trout · Grayling
Plan d'Aval
16 km
Brown trout
Tarentaine
42 km
Brown trout · Grayling
About this water

Mont-Cenis is technically a reservoir — the dam went in in 1968 and flooded the old pastures and a hamlet or two — but it sits at 1,974 metres in the Vanoise granite and it fishes like a genuine Alpine water because that is basically what it is. The drive up from Lanslebourg is half the pleasure and half the filter: you arrive and the lake is quiet and the trout are wild, which is exactly the combination mountain anglers go looking for and rarely find. Ice-out is late — often not until the end of May — and the fishing season is tight, but the window that does open is genuinely good. Expect small fish, genuine wild browns, and the sort of day where the only sound is your fly line and the wind over the col. The char population exists but is modest and the trout are the real reason to come.

  • Lake
  • Granite
Water quality (WFD)
  • Ecology: Good
  • Chemical: Good

WFD classification · FRDL53

Why this score
  • Sedge is in its seasonal window, boosting the chance of targeted feeding.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • TroutLate May (after ice-out) → 3rd Sunday of September
  • Charvaries_by_lake → varies_by_lake
Related guides
Scotland Playbookloch & river fishingThermal Layers & Troutreading depth and temperaturePyrenees PlaybookFrench rivers
Booking & contacts