FLY FISHING & PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE
ISSUE #22 - MARCH 2014 www.flymage.net
trout fishing without leaving madrid By Ignacio Zanca
4
WILD TRoUT TRUST
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SHOOT AND RELEASE
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FAREWELL TO A FRIEND
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By Marc Montocchio
By José H. Weigand
Sometimes it could be said that “It’s only one step from Madrid to Heaven”, but it is not easy to see it that way from the middle of the city, surrounded by cars under leaden clouds threatening a storm, an unequivocal sign of pollution. To experience Madrid as it should be, you have to spend many hours on the river, not at all far away, really.
Trout fishing without leaving Madrid By Ignacio Zanca Additional photos: JosĂŠ H. Weigand
Madrid does not have many miles of trout water, indeed, there are few and you need to know them very well. The main stream, and the area where I fish, is the Lozoya River and it’s the river of my life. As a mountain area is heavily influenced by rain and snow, a classic chalk stream but with different range of scenarios as it descends the Valley from the high to the low mountain. Its main trout waters in the upper area range from the source of Lozoya (Angostura creek) to Las Presillas. His middle area from Refugio del Purgatorio to tailwaters of Pinilla reservoir and finally the low area from the Pinilla dam to Riosequillo reservoir.
I remember my early fishing days as a young kid, with my family, fishing small creeks and using all sorts of techniques, but ending up as a fly fisherman. After many hours of fishing as an self-taught angler, and tips from Celedonio, a regular fly fisherman there, I really learned to fly fish.
Personally, I hardly get away to visit other provinces. I find all kinds of swims on my river; pockets, different species of trout and cyprinids and even an odd pike in some forgotten dug out pool...
My first rod was the standard trout one of the time a 9 ‘#5, a result of misinformation. Soon after I realized that it was too long for those rivers, and I moved to use short rods, 6 to 8.5 ft and lines # 2-4. I choose the rod according to the stretch of the river, but within these measurements between 7.5 and 8 feet, no more. I can fish perfectly on dries or nymphs. Light reels line # 2-4, with no vest, I use a harness and my lower back appreciates it, especially after spending 8 to 12 hours fishing.
Regarding the place itself, I would further promote catch and release, and allow fishing in certain streams classified as experimental, where the current use does not convince me, and increase tourism control of bathers. You should see how they leave the environment below and above the Paular! With regard to the Lozoya Valley, above Madrid, I fish the Manzanares and Jarama, bordering the Guadalajara and the Cega and Eresma, in Segovia. Finally, some stretches of the Cofio and the Ace単a.
I use and tie mainly four flies: Royal (in any of its variants), March Brown, caddisflies, and olives. With these flies I cover the whole river but if there is one that is more constant, I would be inclined to the Royal either classical or parachute tied as a Red Tag, with their red or yellow antron tails and Pla or CDC wings.
madritensis.blogspot.com.es
Wild Trout Trust Auction 2014 The Wild Trout Trust is a charity in the UK that works with landowners and fishing clubs, giving practical advice and carrying out habitat improvement projects. Every March they hold a fundraising auction on eBay and with 258 lots donated by their generous supporters, it is quite an event! The auction is a vital fundraiser for this small charity, and it also serves to give remarkable access to many fishing beats that are otherwise private and very exclusive. The illustrated catalogue is available to download from their website www.wildtrout.org and there is a google map with all the fishing lots marked to help you find your way around. England is most famous for its chalk-stream fishing, particularly the rivers Test, Itchen and Avon in Hampshire. These are the rivers closely associated with Halford, Skues and Sawyer and there are beats with these historic
connections represented in the auction. Halford was the father of the dry fly revolution, and it is his centenary year in 2014 so it is appropriate that the auction has a mayfly day on his home beat on the River Test at Mottisfont, complete with his original thatched fishing hut. Further north in Derbyshire and many years previous, Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton fished on the River Dove, and their favourite beats are also in the auction. One of the benefits of fishing beats which are private is that they are often lightly fished, carefully managed and owned by people who are absolutely passionate about their river. There is a whole group of auction lots that fall into this category, particularly on the Upper Itchen and Upper Test. Top UK writer, artist and guide Charles Jardine is offering a day on a private section of the Upper Itchen to include a sketch by him to remind you of your day. The gentle, gin clear waters of the chalkstreams are in contrast to the ‘freestone’ rivers of the north and west of the UK. Some of the Scottish rivers, famous for their salmon, are also gaining a reputation as big trout and grayling rivers. The challenge
is to know where to go, and how to get access to the best beats. There are three lots in the auction guided by resident Fisheries Biologists - men who really know their rivers! A day out with Kenny Galt on the River Tweed or with Nick Chisholm on the River Annan will be an experience to remember. There are also fishing holidays abroad, donated by top class operator Nervous Waters - fishing for bonefish on South Andros, golden dorado in Argentina and brown and rainbow trout in Chile. In Europe, there are holidays in Bosnia with guide and writer Paul Procter (superb grayling), in the clear blue rivers of Slovenia, and the chalk streams of Normandy in Northern France (donated by Charles Ritz’s fishing club). It’s not just fishing, but some superb art works, flies, tackle and signed books. Take a glass of wine and evening to browse the catalogue, then get bidding on eBay! The auction runs from 4-13 March 2014.
Latex caddisfly puppa
Summer Nymph
CDC Caddis
Caddis Puppa II
Danica
Buzzer
by Mikel Elexpuru
Flymage Fly Tying Videos Here
One of the questions I get asked most because of the type of subjects I shoot is “are you a fisherman?” It’s hard to give a yes or no answer. The answer is a bit more complex.
shoot &and release by Marc Montocchio
Bonefish work the sand on the flats of Ascension Bay, competing for food.
I grew up fishing, spear fishing, diving, anything that let me spend time on and in the ocean. I have worked as a military diver, SCUBA instructor, sport-fishing mate, boat captain and fly guide. I fell in love with fly fishing while working in Mozambique on Inhaca Island and that’s where it all changed for me. Fly fishing was the next natural step in exploring the sea; it gave me hundreds, if not thousands of hours of pleasure in many different countries around the world in some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet.
A striped marlin grabs a sardine from the school, crushing it in the corner of its jaw. This was shot off Mexico’s Baja Peninsula on Golden Gate Bank. It was a four day epic photo safari of bait balls and marlin as far as the eye could see.
It was through fly fishing that I began to become aware of how important a complete understanding of the fish you were targeting was, especially in the blue water of the open oceans. To be successful on a fly you had to get within 90 feet of the fish you wanted and be able to cast a fly, based purely on skill, within eating distance of your target. This was often in the worst conditions any fisherman could imagine. To do this we began teasing fish with hookless poppers, getting big offshore species right to the boat before casting the fly to them.
Years later, because of what I learned from Harry, I put my fly rod down for the last time, swapped my fly tying bench for a camera bag and started using the same teasing techniques to bring fish into range of my camera, free swimming and unhooked. It isn’t only teasing that I now use to get the shots I want but also many other techniques related to fly fishing. I travel to incredible destinations and work with some of the best guides to get the shots I want. If you can catch it on a fly, I use the same techniques to shoot it with a camera.
Photography had been a passion from early on, especially underwater photography. I had carried my camera with me on my travels where ever I went. It wasn’t until a trip to Quepos in Costa Rica in the early 90’s when I got to fish with fly fishing legend Harry Gray, that I got to see the true potential of teasing fish in range of the fly. Harry had many sailfish and marlin world records and his crew was unbelievable at getting BIG fish to do what they wanted with nothing but a hookless teaser.
So, no, I don’t fish anymore and haven’t for many years. Occasionally I’ll pick a up a rod on the boat and give it a few casts. That feeling of a tight loop pulling line off after a double haul always feels fantastic. For now it’s all about the camera but I do see a time when I again will be chasing GT’s in crystal clear water along breaking waves on some tropical island, 12 WT in hand, waiting for that giant mouth to surface behind the popper and explode.
Shot off the Mexican island of Isla Mujeres on the Yucatan Peninsula, “Over and Under� gives you a view above and below the water as frigate birds pick off sardines driven to the surface by schools of Atlantic sailfish.
This is another in my series of motor drive sequences. This fish, a Pacific sailfish, hits the hookless teaser and is photographed over a period of less than one second.
Shot off Challenger Bank on the island of Bermuda. This 300 pound blue marlin hits the hookless teaser. The blue first crashes the teaser on the surface and drives it down before releasing it. You can see that the fish has a commercial long line leader trailing a stainless hook still in its jaw from an earlier encounter with a commercial long liner.
Over the past two years, with changes in technology, I’ve begun shooting a lot more video, especially in slow motion. I think this is a natural progression from my motor drive sequences like “Shades of Gray” or “One Second.” At present I’m working on a documentary film about the Sian Ka’an Reserve in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Sunbrella Fabrics and Casa Blanca Lodge are sponsoring the film. Although it is not specifically a fly fishing film it does cover many of things that make the area so popular with fly fisherman. One of the sequences we have already shot is of a school of bonefish feeding in slow motion. We got these shots at 240 frames per second, which is 10 times slower than normal time. In the shots you can see every aspect of how the fish feed and interact with one another. On some days during filming, with a lot of patience we were able to get within inches of the feeding fish, capturing their behavior in unbelievable detail.
The film also features sweeping aerial shots of the giant bays of Espiritu Santo and Ascension. To get these in this very remote area we carried a powered paraglider down to Mexico in a large golf bag. I would take off from the beach and was able to fly sometimes just a few inches above the breaking waves then to several thousand feet up to get the shots I needed. From above you get a whole new appreciation for the area. You can see the massive schools of bones mudding up the flats, tarpon working the shallow reefs and pockets of bait along the white sand beaches of the island of Punta Pajaros, as well as sharks and rays cruising the giant flats. The film is scheduled for a Fall 2014 release. You can find more information and take a look behind the scenes: www.originofthesky.com
Casa Blanca Lodge on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The small sheltered beach in front of the lodge is a perfect harbor for the flats boats that service the fishing grounds of Ascension Bay.
One of Casa Blanca Lodge’s dolphin skiffs cuts through the narrow channels of mangroves in Mexico’s Ascension Bay.
Deep in the western part of Ascension Bay, Iguana Island is the last in a string of islands that line a shallow sand ridge several miles long. Behind Iguana you can see the three islands of Tres Marias.
A school of permit circle the edge of one of Ascension Bay’s many blue holes.
Schooling permit are blurred as they dash past the camera’s lens. The mixing of clear ocean tides with green flow from the mangroves causes the background of golden green water.
Lead by a fish in the 20 to 30 lb. range, permit leaves the blue hole in single file.
Schooling tarpon in the 20 to 40 lb. range doze under a coral ledge off Grand Cayman’s north side.
To see more of Marc’s work, visit his website: www.marcmontocchio.com Keep up with new projects on his Facebook page. He can be contacted at marc@marcmontocchio.com
Fly fishing in the fresh and saltwaters of Spain is amazing, from trout, atlantic salmon or sea trout to carp, barbel, wels catfish, pike, bass, bluefish, tuna and even white marlin.
“After fly fishing, photographing and filming in over 35 countries, I have come to realise what a real treasure chest we have in Spain. I am committed to your knowing my home waters.” José H. Weigand Spain on the fly /Flymage Magazine
Spain on the Fly is a specialised company dedicated to organizing your custom fishing trip to Spain, in collaboration with some of the best and most experienced guides in the country. A different way to make your fishing trip, all customized for you to get the best in Spain. First we listen to your preferences, then suggest and finally we will prepare a tailored trip for you.
Special Fishing Programs 2014 Trutta Waters Join us this summer in pursuit of wild brown trout in southern France, northern Spanish mountains and chalk streams.
Golden Grand Slam Big carp, three species of barbel, bass and northern pike in reservoirs and rivers of Southern Spain. March to October.
Flying Fish Parade From mid September till November, flying fish arrive in their thousands to the southern coast of Spain. Bonito, bluefish, sea bass, barracuda or amberjack hunt for them. Cast a fly in the feeding frenzy and you´re on! Cast us your line! spainonthefly@flymage.net
How many of you, thanks to fishing, have met some of your best friends? I certainly have and today I pay my simple tribute to one of my dearest.
Farewell to a friend by josĂŠ h. weigand
I was lucky enough to come across Gerardo Alonso in the mid-’90s, when I worked in his fly fishing shop, in Madrid. Fisherman, businessman and, with his brother Mario, guitarist in one of the groups of the ‘Movida Madrileña’: “Mario Tenia y los Solitarios”. His passion for fishing and the guitar brought us together from the first moment, and we forged a great friendship for nearly two decades. The first time we went fly fishing was in Bolarque, a reservoir where pike fishing is spectacular with a landscape of overwhelming canyons and crystal clear waters. Since that day, his vision of fly fishing changed. He almost completely gave up trout fishing, except over summers in Galicia, and focused on freshwater predators, becoming a specialist, an innovative fly tier and expert on sinking lines. Such passion for fishing led him years later to build his “refuge” on Extremadura waters, where he went almost every weekend of the year. This is where he developed a superb fishing technique. I remember many conversations about his observations of fish behaviour and possible action to catch them on fly at any time of the year.
Not given to media outreach, Gerardo was one of those fishermen who really knew what they were doing and why. A fly fishing investigator, he spent much time and effort testing any material that he thought interesting to fly fishing, from fly tying synthetics to very special lines, reels and rods, until he found an outfit that would fit him like a glove. And with that outfit he achieved some of his biggest pike on fly. Saltwater and South American species such as peacock bass and dorado were his other passion. Lately he has been obsessed with Mediterranean bluefin tuna. But it is on a personal level that Gerardo really stood out, with natural goodness, enormous generosity, an always optimistic view of life and a great sense of humour, qualities which spread to those around him. Destiny has chosen to take a young Gerardo, full of life, the love of his wonderful family and friends, which has left us all broken hearted.
I want to think, and I am convinced of it, that Gerardo is already in the place which corresponds to good people, the generous, the pure in heart. Rest in peace, my friend.
Back Issues
E D I T O R S
José H. Weigand
Antonio Goñi
Fly fisherman, photographer and TV fishing editor at Caza y Pesca channel on Digital+ for 14 years. Avid traveller, have fished over 35 countries. Fly fishing guide.
Fishing video producer, photographer and fly fisherman. Currently producing fly tying series “The Silk corner” at Caza y Pesca channel on Digital+.
Contributors in this issue Ignacio Zanca, Marc Montocchio, John Landridge, Wild Trout Trust Advertising, please email us: advertising@flymage.net
Issue #23 #22 from June 2014