I bumped into a very good fly fisherman on the river and we got to chatting for a little while. He told me that he fished dry flies exclusively and, even though there was no discernible hatch on and no evidence of trout feeding on the surface, that an attractor pattern could bring the trout up. I asked if he would show me what fly he was using and he was kind enough to open his fly box and show row after row of very similar patterns differing mainly in size. Generally those flies were pretty small – no bigger than a size 14 but perhaps mainly 16 or smaller. They each had a post, usually white, but often with some pink or orange added to enhance visibility.
Continue readingTag Archive: fly-fishing
I have spent a few hours recently stalking barbel and carp at the point where the river Ebro flows into the Embalse del Ebro. This is a beautiful place and I have been fortunate enough to have it all to myself.
Continue readingOnly an idiot would go fishing on a Monday or, for that matter, on a Thursday. Where I am in Cantabria, if the guardia civil caught you in the act of trying to catch a trout in the local section of the Ebro on either of those days they would land you with a fine that would make your head spin.
Continue readingThis article was published in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Monthly, December 2024
Hey! I have some good news for you. You know how you don´t catch as many fish as anyone else? Come on, let´s face it. It´s true! The same is true of me and I understand that this can result in envy and a deep sense of personal worthlessness. You don´t think you´re that bad? Come on! Just look at the rest of the pages in this magazine. Check out the amazing flies everyone else is tying – way better than yours! And then there are the fish everyone else is hauling out – more than you ever catch, way bigger too.
Continue readingReinosa is the closest town to the source of the Ebro river and it is a short distance upstream of one of the largest reservoirs that the river passes through on journey eastwards to the Mediterranean. Right in the centre of the town you can see Ebro trout and I have spent quite a lot of time doing just that.
Continue readingSean and I spent a few hours fishing Lough Guitane in County Kerry on our last fishing day together last week. Guitane is about 10 km from Killarney and, at over a mile in length, it is a reasonably big lough, though it will raise few eyebrows in the west of Ireland.
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