Issue No. 23

Fishing in France... with your feet!
All over France, catching fish for a free meal is a popular activitiy. Mike Cranmer
heads to the department of Finistere in Brittany to join in the fun...
We’d been crouching on the sand for what
seemed like hours. My knees were aching. I
just had to shift position.
“Tranquillement! Essayez de ne pas faire de
bruit” Marie whispered (Quietly! Try not to
make a noise). Our eyes were fixed on a
tiny volcano-like mound of sand. Waiting.
Watching. Waiting. Suddenly a squirt of
water erupted from our target. Still Marie
didn’t move.
Perhaps I ought to explain at this point. I
was doing what 3 million French people do
every year, Pêche à Pieds, which translates,
charmingly, as Walk Fishing, or, more
literally, Foot Fishing. All you need is a pair
of wellies, a bucket, and a hand rake. Oh,
and local tide-tables. Very important that, if
you want to avoid an unexpected dunking.
The best tide for this activity is as low as
possible, exposing fishy treasures normally
underwater. One of the best places to do it
is Brittany where tidal ranges of 10m occur.
Marie has lived within a cockerel’s crow of
Saint-Pol-de-Léon for all of her 82 years,
wed to Yann, both steeped in Breton
tradition, and speakers of that ancient, but
still very much alive, language. More
importantly to this tale, she is a Pêcheuse à
Pied extraordinaire. She knows all the best,
most secret places to seek out her quarry,
and, how to cook it. She was to be my guide.
We headed for our adventure in the
secluded bay of Pointe Saint-Jean: Marie,
Yann, teenage grand-daughter Léa, my wife
and I, plus a carload of buckets and rakes.
The first discovery of the day came when I
put on my newly-acquired wellies to find
they were both right feet causing me to
walk in circles until I mastered the steering.
The second was that the normally quiet bay
was like Wembley on Cup Final Day, cars
parked willy-nilly along the single-track
approach. We were not alone.