The Bourget is the largest natural lake in France and quite possibly the coldest at depth, which is why the Arctic char have held on here through every warming summer the Alps have thrown at them. It is a long, deep limestone trench — the sort of water that looks indifferent to you from the shore because it more or less is. Most of the char fishing happens vertically from a boat at thirty to fifty metres with weighted nymphs, which is how the locals have always done it and how the fish have always been caught. There are trout along the quieter edges in April and May if you can find them, and the féra run through the mid-depths in numbers that would surprise anyone who only knows the lake from the motorway. It is not quick water, and it is not water that rewards impatience, but it is good water and it deserves the time.
- Lake
- Limestone
