Recently, my wife and I had a chance to visit Spain. Unfortunately our schedule didn’t allow us time to fish. A friend of mine, Ron Enns, had spent one day fishing in that country the year before and provided me this story:
In April 2015 I walked a large portion of the 780 km pilgrimage from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. I am an avid fly fisher and there were plenty of trout in most of the rivers I crossed so I arranged to spend a day fishing the Cea River near Leon with C & S Fly Fishing Guides based in Salamanca. Jose provided outstanding service — first driving 200 km to pick me up, arrange the complicated fishing licensing — based on region, river and target species, borrowing waders from a stout member of his fishing club, and providing a professional guide.
It was a blustery day but the hatch was active for a few hours in the afternoon. After identifying the hatch using a bug net — there was steady dry fly action with many brown trout landed in the 12 to 16 inch range. One 24 incher was landed. Later in the afternoon with expert coaching I successfully honed my nymphing skills. As is usual when fishing we had “lunch” at about 6 pm. Jose told me that the best fishing in Spain is on the Tormes near Salamanca and is home to the oldest fly fishing club in Spain. It was an outstanding day, a real education, and a classy outfit.