Fly fishing and traveling through Leon – northern central Spain

León city is found 837 metres (2,746 ft) above sea level in northern central Spain. It takes less than forty minutes  by car or public bus to ascend to the finest brown trout fisheries located just a little higher up in the Cordillera.

Torio River, northern central Spain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Our account is an amalgam of two separate trips made to León province. The sketch map shown at bottom of this page depicts the route of our Christmas 2014 day trip, departing north from León along the LE 311 road that guides us along the Torio River valley – and past the free fishing reserve at Pedrún that I had fished one previous September.
A brown trout falls to a brown dry fly lure cast to the boulders by the far bank in a deeper glide.
It’s a biggie
After enjoying lunch at Restaurante Les Portillas in Matallana we continued to drive north along the LE 311 road, which edges hard up against vertical canyon walls for 7km through Las Hoces.
Felmín fishing reserve is located in Las Hoces and where the very best fly fishing conditions occur from middle of May until the end of June. Bigger fish exist in the deeper pools, located towards the end of the river section.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Keep an eye out for cows en route and enjoy the wonderful mountain views – you’re driving at 1,382 metres altitude (4,000 feet)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The nearby village of La Vecilla is famous, even amongst Japan’s anglers, for rearing cockerels whose feathers (pluma de Gallo de León) are used in the creation of Spain’s finest fly fishing lures..
These special lures can be purchased from Jose Cenador’s tackle shop in León city centre: S.M. Cenador, Avd Gran Via de San Marcos, 53 Bajo 24011 León.
Loads of good stuff is found in León.
Doing good stuff makes you thirsty
Our day trip saw us driving north from León on LE 311 past Felmín then east and south again towards Le Vecilla then west on C 626 before returning via LE 311 to León

For information about fishing guide books, covering Spain, Portugal and France click here: www.spainfishing.com

 

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Philip Pembroke

My name is Phil Pembroke and I write fishing guide books - covering fly, sea and coarse fishing for Spain, France and Portugal. Nothing compares to ordering a pint of Guiness - a favourite drink, in my local Romford bar and nothing compares to a two week holiday spent fishing for carp at my local lake in Dagenham, East London. But the quest continues, to organise more fishing downtime. Fishing Bin El Ouidane lake in Morocco for virgin carp, with friends in 2007 was a wonderful experience. Ice fishing in Poland in 2017 was chilling. I have spent time fishing for Bighead carp in north east China in 2010 and drunk the local whiskey. 2017 is the Chinese year of the Rooster (Gōngjī), the ultimate auspicious symbol signifying luck, romance and personality. May the celestial rooster bring good luck to anglers everywhere they chose to cast a line. My blog has stories from near and far about fishing and travel, plus a few surprises. my website has free fishing maps for all regions of Spain, and a lot of free information about fishing in western and central Europe, Morocco and China: www.spainfishing.com You can get in touch here: philippembroke007@hotmail.com

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