The Franco-Italian Trout of La Roya in France: Tende

Copyright J. Yesavage 2003/4/5


This area is about 2.0 hours from Nice. Go past all the other town to just before the Italian border. This town has lingered the most with Italy... books have been written about the transitions between the governments.

Last but not least is fishing in the headwaters of the Roya near the town of Tende.

The license from the rest of the Alps Maritime must be augmented here in Tende. It is a very complex system, but here goes an attempt to explain it as it took me years to figure it out. There is a catch and release area in Tende for 20 Euros a day you can catch cooperative rainbows like the above and large. This license you can get in the bar (PMU- betting establishment) across from the station. Sometime the Cafe Central will have them. Licenses are only good Weds and on the weekends. You can get a license in the Bakery (only one in town) in St. Dalmas de Tende (downriver) for the rest of the stream. Licenses good on Thursday and Weekends (BTW I think the weekends include Mondays around there). The rules for the alpine lakes (Valley des Merveilles) are a separate issue and only given in high summer. Best restauranbt in town and probably on the river is the Auberge Tendeasque and the Museum is very interesting, i.e. for fishing widows. Market days are Weds. and Sat. Finally, a license from Tende or a license from Breil does you no good if you fish near the towns of Saorge or Fontan. There are many different licensing systems (includein two for Tende) not to mention the Italian area on this river. I am not aware of any web sites that help English-speaking anglers. But, there are fish here and those in this catch and release area are much dumber than those in Breil....


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