Type of Catfish

• The type of catfish fishermen seek in France is the European wels catfish. The wels was introduced to Europe long ago and now can be found throughout European rivers and lakes. In France, the wels is referred to as the "silure" and it is a scavenging fish. Some of these catfish are enormous; in France they reach from 100 to 200 pounds in weight and 6 feet in length. According to the United Kingdom's Fisheries Management Department, the wels is the largest freshwater fish.
  
  

Commercial Fishing

• The smallest wels, the "siluris glanis," is a major food fish in Europe and is consumed mainly in the less-developed countries where the catfish is considered a delicacy. In France, the wels is not fished commercially on a large scale. The large wels, those reaching 100 pounds to 200 pounds, are not palatable. Therefore, most fishing of the large wels is catch-and-release.
  
  

Recreational Fishing

• In France, fishing for wels is mainly a tourist endeavor. Many people travel to the rivers and lakes of France to fish for the wels, and many businesses have sprung up around this pastime, some of which offer catfish fishing holidays in France. Le Domain des Forges is a company based on a lake outside Paris that offers boat rentals, bait sales and fishing equipment with reservations during fishing season. Bounty Lakes is a larger operation composed of two fishing lakes, camping facilities, a clubhouse and a restaurant. It offers fishing holiday packages and takes reservations up to a year in advance. And in the Dordogne region, Exclusive Angling Holidays offers catfish fishing holiday packages on its three large lakes: Rouge, Vert and Bleu. They all have camping accommodations and furnished mobile homes around the lakes. The average price for a fishing holiday in France is about $1,000 USD per week depending on factors like season and accommodations.