Let me tell you about what happened in France last week end.
It was the European fishing show in Nantes, one of the few big fishing shows in France.





























The Nantes show is rather focused on saltwater fishing, and this is not by chance.
Indeed, this show is located in western France, where there are most seabass anglers. In this show, there is two part. One part is dedicated to boats, and the other part is for fishing tackle. But since years, this show is especially dedicated to lures, whether for salt or freshwater. So this weekend, it was the place to be for french anglers.

When you get to this show, first you go to the area where the boats are exposed. They are sometimes  really impressive, and the large motors too. It is a nice place, but for a freshwater angler like me, it is not the most interesting one. It is obvious that I prefer bassboats!

After passing quite fast in the area of boats, it is time to enter the fishing tackle area.

At that time, I feel really good, because fishing gear is everywhere. 

First, I did not know which way to go. Then, I started to move from stand to stand, carefully inspecting what was new. There were lots of things to see, I will tell you about some of them.

On the Lucky Craft stand, I saw Ryusuke Hayashi, who showed me some new baits. 

Here is the new Pointer 140, which will interest french pikes, and not only them!


This new topwater has a good action, and seems to be very easy to use:

It is the new Lucky Craft "Each-One"

Another Lucky Craft topwater lure, with an useful  tying system. In fact, you can tie this lure at different positions, to slightly modify the action. Its name is "C-cube".


Finally, born from a collaboration between Lucky Craft and Optimum Baits, let me introduce you these softbaits, a french exclusivity, presented here by Ryusuke Hayashi.


As you can see on the picture, its body is thin and the paddle tail is large. To our delight, it comes with attractive and realistic colors. It could be used with small weighted or non-weighted swimbait hook, jig head, or even texas-rigged. I will try this lure as soon as possible, without a doubt.

Not many new casting reels were exposed, but I could see the new T3 Ballistic from Daiwa, and the last Pixy for bait finesse. They are pretty cool.


At the French Touch Fishing stand (distributor for Reins, Tiemco and Sworming Hornet) there was  a nod to the current controversy. FTF team has tied at the ceiling  an Alabama rig rigged with five Rockvibe Shads, their best seller Reins lure. For information, this rig is illegal everywhere in France, except in saltwater.


There were some premium baits, and most of brands had beautiful windows. 
 Below, some hard swimbaits on the Ultimate Fishing stand (distributor for Megabass, Gan Craft,  Vagabond, Duo, Sawamura…), and the new One Up Shad 7”



Sakura, a well-known french brand, presented a complete range of lures in a brand new stand.



An innovative range of spinnerbait from Hart, the Diamond and Diamond Deep spinnerbait, were designed by David Dubreuil, a French tournament angler. They are quite heavy, and built for fishing in deep freshwater.

Designed by the same man, I saw a new crankbait, the "Echo Bottom", with a metallic stem crossing of the lip. It would better convey information.


There was a lot of lures and some were really amazing, like this one :


Such a show is a good opportunity to see friends, and to meet people passionate about fishing. Along the paths, all discussions are focused on fishing. 

And after fishing, you knows that talking about fishing is the favorite activity of anglers. 
This year I could just attend to the last day of the show. On the evening, it was time to hit the road for more than five hour,  to go home. 
Damn, it was exhausting!


Jacques Mourin, French Ambassador for WFN