Choice of equipment: Rods, Reels, fly lines, fly floatant, clothes, glasses and other useful items.

In my opinion, using the right equipment makes a big difference when you are fishing, it’s very important to choose the best set for your fishing. I always take several rods and reels in the car and I think about my set when I'm driving to the river. If I don’t know the river very well, I take some time walking to the bank before starting to fish to make the right decision.

About the rods, I feel comfortable with a wide variety of rods. I enjoy casting a soft glass rod as well as a super fast and stiff graphite rod. But If I have to pick up only one dry fly rod I’m pretty standard and I choose a 9 feet 4 weight rod. The rods I like most are those that load deep with a fast recovery. I like fishing a lot in small high altitude creeks, in this scenario I prefer long and light rods, something like 10 feet, 2 or 3 weight.

For the reels, I just want a light and large arbor reel. For trout fishing, the brake is not too important for me. Sometimes I also use old school reels but just for the sound… hahaha.

The lines and leaders are, in my opinion, the more important part of my tackle. A good setup for the rod you are using makes the difference. I always use WF lines, I feel comfortable with 10 to 12 meters long belly lines and I prefer short front taper for a best turn over capacity. By the way, I prefer lines with soft or “camo’ colors

The floatant is always with me, I use two different floatand: CDC oil for all my CDC dries and a silicon based for the other dries. This is an interview from “The Floatant Fly” so put some floatant and keep your fly high and dry! I also use floatand for the line and the butt of the leader, that improve a lot the lifting capacity and you get better drifts.

Some time ago, I prioritized spending my money on rods and reels, but now it’s totally different. The clothes are crucial if you want to enjoy fishing. It’s hard to enjoy fishing if your waders are leaking, you are cold or the sun is burning you badly. A good clothes make you feel comfortable and ready to have a good time in the river. A good waders, baselayer, jacket or anything else is very important for me.

For the glasses I always use some good quality polarized, mostly with amber lenses. They are good not only to fish better but also protect your eyes from the hooks. Ah, And the cap it’s a must have complement for the glasses

Other imprescindible tools for me are a nipper, a plier and a landing net.

Leader material, build up, length and knots.

I like to use long leaders, my standard is about 20-22 feet. A time ago I used to tie my own leaders but now I’m using some 12/15 feet tapered leaders. To be honest, I still prefer my own leaders, but maybe I’m getting lazy… When I have to tie my leaders I use the perfect loop knot to attach the leader to the line, for the thick sections of the leader I use Albright Knot and Surgeon Knot for the others. Finally to tie the fly, almost always use a Double Davy knot. I like to use long tippets (5 feet at least) and mostly in 5 o 6x

Approach and stealth

When I’m on the river, I like to see how other anglers fish. And I classify them as good or bad angler for how they are moving for the river.

The approach is everything for me. I like to move slowly, take time and be patient. If the river is not too deep, I like to kneel and wait for the right moment. When you have a fish rising in front of you, it’s never a good idea to rush and cast inmeadialty. Just, take calm, breathe, get concentrated and then cast. People used to speak about selective fish, in my opinion it is more about alerted fish and it's probably caused for bad approach.

When I focus on a fish, I like to use a strategy: where is the best place to cast and how to arrive there. I like to create different stages in my way, in every waypoint and give some time ( I like to count slowly up to 50, why 50… I don’t know ;) ) You should have control of every situation and if you are doing right, your fishing will be successful.

Reading the Water

Reading the water is the ART of FLY FISHING. The only way to learn to read the water is spending time in the river and when I say spending time in the river it’s not necessary fishing. I like to say there are two kinds of fisherman: Some of them just want to catch fish, the other want to “feel” the fishing with a lot of questions. How? Why? When?... To answer these questions, you should prioritize observation and this is the way to improve and learn how to read the water. Probably, some people have a natural talent to read the water but it’s something you can learn.

Casting ability, Which cast are essential.

If you ask me: Would you be able to catch a fish only if you are a good caster? The answer is absolutely not, but for me fly fishing is more than just catching fish. Fly casting is very important to me. When I’m fishing, I can't accept a fail for my casting. I am not very interested in long distance casting but presentation casting, because it’s much more important for fishing. If you understand what 's happening when you are casting, you'll probably have a better chance to catch a fish.

When I’m fishing, I like to cast with a soft stroke especially for close distances and I like to use aerial mendings. If I need to choose only one cast is the curve cast.

Entomology, what should we know?

Well, I'm a biologist and insects around the river are fascinating to me, but to be honest, for fishing it is not necessary to have a lot of technical info about them.

It’s very important to know the basics about caddis, mayflies or stoneflies. when they emerge, how they live, the size and color, the silhouette…

You need to know in the early season you will see small olive mayflies at midday, but it’s not necessary to know the specific name (The trouts don’t know the names).

To learn this thing, you could read some books, but again the more valious info you could get is spending time on the bank of the river.

Rise forms, Can they tell us something?

Yes, of course they do. We could write a book about that.

How rise the fish could give us a lot of information about what they are feeding. Adults? emergers? nymphs? Every phase of the insect's cycle of life has its own kind of rise. I love when the fish are feeding on nymphs very close to the surface and you only see the tail of the fish hitting the surface. You can know if they are feeding with one kind of insect or not.

But the rises don't give you only info about what the fish are feeding. You could know how active the fish are and much more important, where the fish are located and it’s very useful for the right approach. A good tip is try to count the time interval between rises, some fish rise with regular intervals, so try to know how many seconds the fish need to rise again and put your fly with the right timing!!

Fly Selection, size, shape, materials, which flies are essential, favorite fly.

This question it's always controversial and very hard to argue because it's absolutely subjective. I have to say I'm a fly tying fanatic, I spend a lot of time tying flies and trying to improve my skill, but just for fun because I'm very skeptical about magic patterns or materials.

I think the right fly is the one which seems natural… but natural flies could drift in a lot of different ways, so you could have a lot of different patterns for every situation.

And I want to say something, the shape is very important, but in the way the fish see the insect. We see the insect from another perspective, and our perspective is not important at all.

When I tie flies for fishing (not for fancy photos) the patterns I like most are simple and minimalist. My dries very often are dressed with CDC feathers and dubbing or feather fibers for the body. In Spain, using silk for the body is very traditional and very good looking and it works fine for emergers.

The patterns I consider essential in my box are: CDC&Elk Caddis, CDC Comparadun, Klinkhammer, winged ant and Shuttlecock. And my favorite pattern is the F-Fly, no doubt about it. And if I have to say something about fly patterns, I have to give a special mention to Coq de Leon Caddis. This pattern is not well known out of the Spanish waters, but it's beautiful, effective and it has carried in its back the knowledge of a lot of generations of Spanish fishermen.

Presentation and drifts.

In my opinion, this is the key to catching a fish. The presentation is not an easy thing, you need a huge knowledge and not only about fly casting, for me, to know the right place to cast the fly is almost as important as your fly casting techniques. And in the presentation, we should talk again about how the fish rise, if you can identify the insect and phase of its life is very important, because the presentation is different in every case, you know, it’s not the same if you are casting a mayfly emerger or a beetle. Another important detail for me is trying the line or the leader don’t drift over the fish, just the fly.

When you are fishing with dry flies, the fly should go down by the river driftless and you have to put all your casting knowledge to get it. Some casts are especially good for getting a good drift, like curve casts. I try to do aerial mending in almost every cast, if it’s not enough a try to do mendings to improve the drift but sometimes the traditional mendings are counter-productive. For a driftless presentation, the leader has an important role,in my opinion, you need to use as longer leader as you can control. The leader should never be totally straight on the surface but in the way you want. You know, there is a huge difference between: When I’m casting my leader is never straight or when I’m casting I achieve my leader is never straight. It’s all about control.

Upstream or downstream

Well, I’m a Spanish angler. Over here, upstream fishing for trout is like a religion but I’m a religious guy and I like to cast upstream, downstream and everything in between.

Generally speaking, I fish upstream in fast waters and downstream in slow waters or for selective fish, but I don’t feel comfortable with rules. I try to observe the river, how the water flows and use logical thought to choose the right way to fish with.

I think both ways are effective and supplementary, if I try to catch a fish upstream and I can not get it, I try downstream and vice-versa.

By the way, it’s important to note, if you are casting downstream by careful when you hook on the fish, it could be easy to break the tippet if you don’t do it softly.

Fish fighting

This is the last but not the least important question.

The best advice I could give you about fighting a fish is: Before casting, take time to identify underwater obstacles or potential difficulties if you need to fight with a fish.

The fish are vital for fly fishing, so we should treat them properly. A short fight is ideal and that's why I don't like to use very thin tippets. Every fish is different, so you should adapt your fight to the situation. It’s very important to use your rod with different angles, when the fish is running, just try to change its direction, be patient when the fish is getting close to you and… use a BIG landing net! A good tip is try to keep the fish upstream to your position.

Not always, but sometimes a good trick is to fight softly, especially with big fish. If you don’t force too much, the fish usually don’t run. If you are patient, it is a cool way to land a fish with a low intensity fight. Maybe some people prefer an epic battle, but this way is better for the health of the fish.

And finally, please release the fish in the best way possible. Be sure the fish is in optimal condition before you release it. Sometimes they need time to rest and get some oxygen and if you want to get some photos from it, do it respectfully and with conscient.