I know its not the UK but I thought that I'd give you some idea of what I have local to me here on the Charente / Limousine / Dordogne borders.
Annual rod licences cost around 92 euro and they give you access to any river and all the public lakes without the need for day tickets or other fees. You can cross fields to access rivers or lakes without any of the hassle of trespass that you might find in the UK.
There are two main rivers nearby; the Vienne and the Charente.
The Vienne is about the same size as the Severn, 100 metres wide, a fast flowing mainly shallow river over granite and gravel for much of its length locally. It holds carp, catfish, dace and barbel in the faster water along with bream, roach and chub in the slower stretches. As the river is controlled by weirs every couple of kilometers and has several huge dams along its length the flow is consistent to within one metre summer or winter. No floods and drought like some UK rivers. In the deeper stretches near to the nearby town catfish of over 120lb have been caught and the river record carp is around 40lb.
The Charente is fed by one of the large lakes and is a more intimate meandering river that flows over a mainly muddy bottom. That too holds barbel and carp, but has some really good chub fishing too as well as roach, bream and catfish. Once the nettles have died back this river is ideal for stalking chub and river carp much the same as I did back in the UK.
Along with the two main rivers are many smaller tributaries some of which are designated as class 1, i.e trout, and others class 2, coarse fish. The classification determines when you can fish them and what baits you can use. For example, there is no close season on class 2 waters and you can't use maggots on class 1 waters. These tributaries range from tiny streams to small pools joined by lengths of shallow stream to fully fishable streams for long stretches. They stock the trout rivers annually and there is a fishfest for about three weeks at the beginning of the season then the trout that are left behind are allowed to grow bigger and wiser as no one seems to bother them until the next nouveau season.
There are two large lakes nearby, 220 hectares each; Lavaud and Mas Chaban.
Lavaud is the 'leisure' lake with several beaches, restaurants and sailing facilities on the main part of the lake. Due to the way they are arranged however, there are always intimate bays and wooded stretches of bank where you can hide yourself away from other anglers or lake users.
Nearby Mas Chaban is the 'fishing' lake in that it does not have restaurants, etc and is favoured by the locals for its huge catfish (160lbs) and impressive carp (60lbs+). There are many areas where you could drive to the waters edge and fish for long sessions and there are also many areas accessible via a short walk that do not get fished by local anglers. Some of it is totally virgin territory. There are some good zander in this lake and from around the beginning of October until the end of the predator season on 31st December the local anglers target zander by fishing the deepest parts of the lakes. And so will I.
Other than the two large lakes there are dozens if not hundreds of smaller lakes all available to fish on the rod licence. Some are stocked with black bass and others carp and trout. The only thing lacking is a decent tench water. When I asked the local tackle dealer ("Le gardon du Chabanais" - sounds better than '"The roach of Barnsley") where I could find some tench he screwed his face, pursed his lips and inflated his cheeks like a shubunkin as he thought deeply then suggested a day ticket water at a nearby village. At 7 euros a day I don't think I'll bother.
Venturing a bit further afield, say 20km gives access to other rivers such as the Tardoire which is a shallow trout river of around 15 to 20 metres wide, similar to the middle Wharfe and half a dozen coarse rivers holding barbel and chub as well as the omnipresent river carpes.
So, for 92 euros a year it ain't too shabby.
