Villerest is the big Loire reservoir above Roanne — seventeen kilometres of drowned river gorge held back by the 1984 dam, sitting at around 320 metres on the Forez granite. It is a second-category water first and foremost, which means pike, pike-perch and perch are the staples, but the upper end of the lake where the Loire itself comes in still holds trout and grayling in numbers that would surprise anyone who only knows Villerest from the motorway crossing. The fly fishing is a mixed proposition: pike on streamers along the drowned banks of the old gorge, and trout/grayling dry fly or nymph in the upper Loire tail where the river still runs free. The water level drops significantly through summer for Loire downstream flow support, which exposes the old gorge walls and changes the fishable margins week by week. Worth a visit for the predator fly fishing if nothing else.
- Reservoir
- Granite