PARIS – On a recent winter afternoon along the Seine, a Parisian teenager pulled a fishing rod out of a narrow holster, stuck a shiny rubber fish on a hook and threw his line into the water.
Fisherman Eliot Malherbe, 19, soon found his friend Kacim Machline, 22, an arts student, by the river. But first, Machline spray painted a greenish striped fish on the concrete walls beside the river, in an old renovated industrial area near the Jardin des Plantes, on the left bank.
The Seine used to be the fishing playground for older working-class men who spent their retirement days on the river. Today, a younger and more diverse generation is disturbing the scene.
Many of the younger fishermen were attracted to the Seine by the promise of other adventures. The city’s piers offer one of the main skateboarding territories and, for graffiti artists, offer areas with little traffic so that they can discreetly spray their labels at night.
While the calmer pleasures of fishing don’t seem to have the same emotion, that is not the case, said Manuel Obadia-Wills, 40, a former graffiti artist and skateboarder – and now a fisherman in his spare time.
“There is a buzz, an addictive side, a repetition until you reach the moment of grace,” said Obadia-Wills. “In skateboarding, it’s the perfect trick. As for graffiti, it’s all about adrenaline when you’re in a forbidden place. When you fish, it’s the most beautiful catch. “
Like skating and drawing graffiti, fishing on the Seine too, sometimes flirts with legality. Many fishermen leave after work or school – although France has officially banned fishing after sunset since 1669, even during winter.
During the official fishing season, from May to January, young fishermen meet at certain points – near barges that stretch for miles along the river and under which the fish take shelter, or through the Canal Saint-Martin or Canal de l’Ourcq, where the waters are calmer and warmer than in the Seine.
However, eager to find unexplored terrain, some venture into restricted areas, such as under Bastille Square, in the “tunnel”, as it is known, a kilometer-long underground canal covered by a stone vault. The city recently closed its entrance to try to prevent people from entering.
While continuing with a centuries-old tradition of fishing in the shadows of Notre-Dame or below the Eiffel Tower, younger fishermen have brought updated rules and codes with them.
Most importantly, the ultimate goal of catching the day is no longer to share a meal with friends and family. Instead, the goal is to share close-up images of pike, perch, zanders, wels catfish and other species on social media – and then release them back into the river.
“Fishing is a sport and fish are our game partners, that’s why we release them,” said Grégoire Auffert, 21, crouching on a parapet at Quai Anatole France facing the Tuileries Garden, across the river . “You would never ask a tennis player to eat the ball.”
In addition, the new generation uses artificial plastic baits to attract fish, not natural baits, like earthworms still favored by pensioners who wear berets. Fish do not swallow the bait, and anglers can hook it out of the mouth cartilage, causing the least possible damage.
The new customs aim to protect the growing biodiversity in the Seine. In the 1970s, there were only three species of fish left in the river, but after decades of water purification policies, there are now more than 30 – although plastic bags, industrial waste and, lately, electric scooters with lithium batteries continue to contaminate the river .
“The environment has steadily improved and the coronavirus pandemic has intensified it”, offering a quieter environment for fish, said Bill François, a marine scientist. He pointed out that last year there were fewer tourist boats running on the Seine. During the summer, he said, “we observed very good reproduction”.
Thierry Paquot, who studies urban life and teaches at the Institute for Urban Planning in Paris, sees urban fishermen as part of an effort by city dwellers in France to be more in tune with nature.
“There is a whole new range of practices going in the same direction, such as urban agriculture,” he said.
He said that a generation of young people, who suffer from growing economic insecurity, find a sense of community in the fishing tradition, which they have transformed by an ecological conscience and sharing their passion for technology.
The Parisian fishing federation has 8,500 members, all of whom purchase an annual license for around $ 120. Adding up those who occasionally acquire a daily license for $ 15, and those who fish illegally, the total number of people fishing in the capital can reach more than 30 thousand, according to the owners of fishing shops.
“The number of fishermen remains quite stable, but now young people clearly outnumber those of a certain age,” said Marcelo D’Amore, who has been selling fishing gear in Paris for 30 years, first on a sporting goods chain and now on “ Giga-pêche ”- which means something like“ megapesca ”- a store that opened in 2016 in the east of Paris.
The growing appeal of Parisian fishing to the younger crowd caught the attention of entrepreneurs like Fred Miessner, who says he noticed the trend in the early 2000s and dubbed it “street fishing”. With a business partner, Mr. Miessner – who also fishes on the Seine – launched French Touch Fishing, a wholesaler of fishing goods, and Big Fish 1983, a collection of streetwear for urban fishermen that includes hats, printed T-shirts and polarized sunglasses.
“We didn’t recognize ourselves in the old codes,” said Miessner. “We don’t wear plastic boots, military uniforms, or tight sweaters. We would fish and then go to parties with our friends without changing clothes ”.
Its brand and others like it sponsor young fishermen who have become influencers of social media in the community. Mr. Machline, the art student, receives hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise from a company in exchange for posts mentioning the brand for his 4,000 followers on Instagram.
Some fishing customs remain unchanged in the age of social media. While sharing photos of the catch of the day’s trophy is essential, anglers tend to avoid making their exact locations obvious to protect them from “crabs” – as they call those who identify good spots from photos.
And bragging about the size of the catch remains unshakable.
On a recent late afternoon, after a day wandering the shores, Machline caught a fat 15-inch perch at Bassin de l’Arsenal, a barge port near Place de la Bastille, where the Canal Saint-Martin meets the Seine. Mr. Malherbe, his friend, captured the moment on his cell phone, so the fish was re-immersed in the water.
“I always stretch my arms out in front of me,” said Machline with a proud smile. “So, the fish looks bigger in the photo.”