Plan the whole fishing trip in one place.
Where to fish, what you'll catch and when, and the exact rigs, knots and tackle to do it. Free guides written by someone who made the trip.
Pick a water, build the plan, go fishing
How an angler uses the site, start to finish.
Pick a water
Open the atlas and choose where you're going. Each guide tells you what's actually catchable on your dates, what a licence costs, and where to fish from the bank or a boat.
Build the plan and the kit
The guide names the rigs that cover the trip, picked so they share tackle. Pick your fish and where you'll fish in the kit builder and it trims the shopping list to just what you need.
Unlock the cheat sheet and go
One page, folded into the tackle box: what's on by month, the licence line, bank or boat, the rigs, the knots and the kit. Leave your email to unlock it, print it and you're set.
Lac du Bourget, France
The largest natural lake in France, deep and cold, with perch, zander, pike and lavaret off the bank and from a boat. Here's how to plan a few days there: the fish by month, the licence, where to fish, and the rigs that cover it.
Open the guideOne water so far, and that's deliberate. I'd rather do one place properly than list fifty I haven't fished. Lac du Bourget is complete, top to bottom. New waters get added the same way, one at a time, only once I've fished them and worked out the plan.
Six rigs, one box of tackle
The rigs are chosen so they share components. One rod, one reel, one spool of braid, a leader and a handful of terminal bits build almost all of them.
Browse all rigsThe knots that hold them together
Three knots tie all six rigs: the Palomar for almost everything, the dropper loop for a hook branch, and the non-slip loop for free movement at a lure. A knot tied wrong loses the fish, so the diagrams are drawn carefully.
Double the line and pass it through the eye. Take about 15 cm of line and double it back to make a loop. Pass that doubled loop through the eye of the hook, swivel or jighead.
Tie a loose overhand knot with the doubled line, but leave it loose. The hook or swivel hangs in the open loop at the bottom. Do not tighten yet.
Take the open loop and pass it right over the hook, swivel or jighead, so the whole thing passes through the loop. This is the step that locks the knot.
Wet the knot. Pull the standing line and the tag end together to draw the wraps down evenly onto the eye, easing the loop closed. Pull it firm, check it, then trim the tag close.
One box rigs six ways
If you're packing light: a 2.1 m light spinning rod, a 2500-size reel, a spool of braid, a fluorocarbon leader and a small box of hooks, weights, swivels, a float and a few soft plastics will fish almost every rig on Lac du Bourget. Pike adds a wire or heavy fluorocarbon trace; lavaret adds a sabiki. The full guide lays it out as one shopping list, and the kit builder trims it to the fish and methods you actually want. Sizes and types, not brands.
See the full kit in the guideDated, sourced, and straight about the hard parts
Dated
Licence prices and seasons change every year, so every figure carries the date it was checked and a line telling you to confirm it before you travel.
Sourced
Licence rules and seasons link to the official source: the local federation and the national licence site, not a forum thread from years ago.
Straight about the hard parts
If the bank fishing is poor, if a season is closed on your dates, if you'll struggle without a boat, the guide says so.
Written by someone who made the trip
Every guide is mine, from a real trip, not rewritten from somewhere else.
A few quick questions
A free world fishing atlas. Each guide covers one water in full: the fish you can catch and when, the licence and the rules, where to fish from the bank or a boat, and the exact rigs, knots and tackle to do it. It started from one real trip and grows one water at a time.
Yes. The guides and the rigs and knots are free to read, no account needed. The printable cheat sheet asks for your email so I can send it and let you know when I add a new water. Nothing else.
Lac du Bourget in France, in full: perch, zander, pike, lavaret, char and lake trout. More waters are added one at a time, only once I've fished them. Leave your email to hear when a new one lands.
New water now and then
I add a new place to fish every so often. Leave your email and I'll let you know when there's a new one. Nothing else, no other email.
Pick a water and start planning.
Lac du Bourget is ready now. Open the guide, build the rigs, print the cheat sheet, go fishing.