Marina Gibson BlogEuro nymphing for beginners

14 August 2023

Spain’s trout waters are a fly fisher’s paradise and I was lucky enough to be able to take a week off before the busiest time of the year at my fly fishing school: Mayfly Madness on my rivers in England.

My destination: Catalonia. A beautiful region in the northeast of Spain with a picturesque landscape through which numerous streams and rivers run and form impressive valleys. And these waters are known for two things in particular: Big brown trout and the technique known as ‘Spanish Nymphing‘. This is a facet of Euro Nymphing, where particularly long, thin and fine leaders are used. The waters in this region of Spain are wide, but rather shallow. This is another reason why the fish here are extremely shy! In the crystal-clear water, therefore, smaller nymphs are used more often, and a very sensitive setup is an advantage for their presentation.

So I travelled with the adh-fishing team and our friends from Adams Fly Rods, whose special nymph rods were developed on these rivers, to the hilly backcountry of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. I took a few nymph set-ups with me straight away. But my ‘main weapon’ was my Adams XTZ 10’0 2#, paired with a Guideline Fario 46, which features a closed spool cage and is therefore extremely well suited for using thin nymph leaders. This combination felt incredibly good to me and I was able to cover the vast majority of situations during our trip with this setup. A combination that I will also use intensively on my home waters in England in the future.

Continue reading on the AHD-Fishing website.

Back to blogs
Site Built by Maddison Creative Site designed and built by Maddison Creative