Fly fishing for barbel in Spain

[Cliff Turner]

Hi all, just wanted to share a new experience for me which some of you may also fancy. Last week I was in Spain fly fishing for barbel on a very large reservoir and also on the river. We flew to Madrid where our guide Louis picked us up and took us to our base in a small town Esparragosa de Lares 300km south west of Madrid. Louis organises everything including a boat and driver for the reservoir fishing. We stayed in a house in the town and the fishing base was 5 mins away at a beach bar on the reservoir. This was where we had our lunch and evening meals too. This is a very rural Spain experience, no fancy food or bars, local home style cooking in the company of very friendly Spanish people who speak limited English. The fishing on the reservoir was great, it's very large with a shoreline of approx 500km but the boat was capable of 70kmh so we were able to cover plenty of water, it also had an electric motor for keeping us in position once were fishing. we averaged about 10 takes each a day but could have had more if our casting and fish spotting skills were better. They barbel are very close to the bank, literally inches, looking for insects that fall in. We were using small imitation beatles and if you presented it properly the takes were very aggressive, fish averaged between 2-4lbs and fought great on light weight 5 outfits. We had one day one the river which was amazing, stunning scenery in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived there were barbel spawning everywhere, literally hundreds but as is the case usually they were not interested in our flies. So all in all a great trip and new way to catch our favourite species. There is a Facebook page MEANA FFE if you want to look at some pics or get more info (for the record I have no interest or otherwise in this business, just sharing).

 

[Cliff Turner]

 

[Mark Swaby]

Looks like you had a great time, and off the surface,i see your guide describes them as 'European Bonefish',something i always thought. Sadly American fly fishermen would think they were sukers and so Trash fish. I saw this stunning Belize Bonefish trophy a while back,that looks very familiar,exactly like a wild Barbel.

 

[Paul Richardson]

Brilliant -thanks for the post Cliff - one to add to the list, just need to learn how to chuck the fluff.

 

[Gavin Hoe-Richardson]

Thanks Cliff, an interesting read. I'm always on the look out for something a bit different.

 

[Cliff Turner]

I think any fisherman would enjoy the experience, I certainly did.

 

[Jon Kennard]

Awesome cliff thanks for the article. Got beaten to it but fresh water bone fish. Really stunning looking fish. I wonder if other flies would of worked? One of the wonderful aspects of fishing is how many different locations plus styles of technique we can use to enjoy essentially the same thing. I currently fly fish more than coarse (living in north Devon) rivers and coarse fishing don't come easy. I enjoy fresh water fly but also fantastic free sport in the sea and estuary from time to time. Got a Wye trip lined up so looking forward to it. My mate is going to have a go for barbel in the fly whilst I hipper to catch one on the float something I've never tried before thanks Jon

 

[Jon Kennard]

P.s shame about the river but amazing to see none the less

 

[Richard Parsons]

On my Google Plus Barbel Fishing page there's a regular poster who fly fishes for barbel in Spain. It looks like an exciting way to catch!