Fly shop in Barcelona? Yep!!

skyriver

skyriver

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Stumbled upon a fly shop in the Gothic Quarter! Last thing I expected to see. Sure, they had all the name brand stuff...Orvis, Simms, Sage, yada, yada, yada, but they also have flies tied by local guides specific to brown trout fishing within an hours drive of Barcelona.

In fact, an American was out on a guided trip today and one is scheduled tomorrow.

The owner was super nice, has great English and was willing to BS with me. Not sure if I've seen a dropper dry with a metal (maybe plastic?) loop on the back.
He said they fish these upstream and then let them swing down. Mostly on 2 hand trout spey, but also said single spey. The dropper is what he called a "Spanish soft-hackle".
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They also had some fry/minnows that look deadly. Not sure I've seen quite this version, but I think @Kfish might tie some similar.
I assume these are baby brown trout. They are sick!
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And yes, I'm rockin my trucker hat from Casey Underwood. A dude from Bozeman started chatting me up. "American I assume?" I said "that easy huh?" He said "yep, the hat gave it away."

I'm ok with that. Everyone has been very nice here despite my rusty Spanish and non-existent Catalan.
If you ever have the chance, Barcelona is a great city!
 
skyriver said:
Stumbled upon a fly shop in the Gothic Quarter! Last thing I expected to see. Sure, they had all the name brand stuff...Orvis, Simms, Sage, yada, yada, yada, but they also have flies tied by local guides specific to brown trout fishing within an hours drive of Barcelona.

In fact, an American was out on a guided trip today and one is scheduled tomorrow.

The owner was super nice, has great English and was willing to BS with me. Not sure if I've seen a dropper dry with a metal (maybe plastic?) loop on the back.
He said they fish these upstream and then let them swing down. Mostly on 2 hand trout spey, but also said single spey. The dropper is what he called a "Spanish soft-hackle".
View attachment 115872

They also had some fry/minnows that look deadly. Not sure I've seen quite this version, but I think @Kfish might tie some similar.
I assume these are baby brown trout. They are sick!
View attachment 115873

And yes, I'm rockin my trucker hat from Casey Underwood. A dude from Bozeman started chatting me up. "American I assume?" I said "that easy huh?" He said "yep, the hat gave it away."

I'm ok with that. Everyone has been very nice here despite my rusty Spanish and non-existent Catalan.
If you ever have the chance, Barcelona is a great city!
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Cool flies, sounds like a fun trip! My wife and I have been to various countries in Europe before we had kids, but never to Spain. I bet the food and architecture are amazing.
 
Kfish said:
Cool flies, sounds like a fun trip! My wife and I have been to various countries in Europe before we had kids, but never to Spain. I bet the food and architecture are amazing.
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We had some great paella and tapas. I'll be honest, I was really excited about the food and was a bit underwhelmed. Part of it is we stayed in the Gothic Quarter, which was awesome. Fun scene all day and late into the night. The bad part is it's also where all the Fench, German, UK, Canadian and US tourists are. Some tapas was like gas station food while others were awesome. Patatas Bravas and croquettes were good anywhere they were using clean oil.
The best thing no matter where we were was the sangria. Red wine sangria, not the cava (white).
The pastries and Gelato were also all very good. As was the Estrella and San Miguel beer.
And La Boqueria was fun. Some really good fruit and some crazy meat. And the old reliable...strawberries and Nutella.
 
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skyriver said:
I really want to do Portugal now that I've been to Barcelona. More and more Americans moving to Portugal. Hopefully, that doesn't end up being a bad thing.
Permanent Visa is only like $10k. And they have carp and even a few trout streams!
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Read several articles on expats in Portugal. This is only one of them;
immigrantinvest.com

Living in Portugal: 14 Pros and Cons of Moving as an Expat — Immigrant Invest

Relocating to Portugal has many advantages: beautiful beaches, a warm climate, security, and tax incentives. However, living in Portugal has pros and cons: the need to learn the language, use cash and live without snow in winter. Move to Portugal and get a residence permit by investment in 8—10...
immigrantinvest.com immigrantinvest.com
 
My wife was in Barcelona over twenty years ago...she said the food and wine was outstanding.

I hope you bought those flies...tying in a loop to the back of a dry fly to hang a dropper is a great idea, I might have to try it...
 
Brute said:
My wife was in Barcelona over twenty years ago...she said the food and wine was outstanding.

I hope you bought those flies...tying in a loop to the back of a dry fly to hang a dropper is a great idea, I might have to try it...
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I did!
 
I was actually there a few weeks ago but the shop was closed when I went by and I didn't make it back. I'm glad you were able to check it out. Definitely the last thing I thought I'd find in that area (Gothic Area) of town.

I agree with you on the food in general. I was expecting to be blown away and while most was good, most of it was just OK. The Paellla was something I was really looking forward to but overall, most of it was low on fish and meat and was to "fishy" overall.

But, the Sangria was outstanding. I'm not a wine guy but man, the Red Sangria just about everywhere we went was incredible.

And the amount of people was surprising as well. So many people! We have an old college buddy who owns a private tour company there and we were lucky enough to have him hang out with us a couple days and show us around.
 
Aleforme said:
I was actually there a few weeks ago but the shop was closed when I went by and I didn't make it back. I'm glad you were able to check it out. Definitely the last thing I thought I'd find in that area (Gothic Area) of town.

I agree with you on the food in general. I was expecting to be blown away and while most was good, most of it was just OK. The Paellla was something I was really looking forward to but overall, most of it was low on fish and meat and was to "fishy" overall.

But, the Sangria was outstanding. I'm not a wine guy but man, the Red Sangria just about everywhere we went was incredible.

And the amount of people was surprising as well. So many people! We have an old college buddy who owns a private tour company there and we were lucky enough to have him hang out with us a couple days and show us around.
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We were so glad we stayed in the Gothic Quarter. It is quite the cool vibe. Lots of people out enjoying themselves.
We only felt targeted by pick pockets once, but we identified what they were trying to do right away and easily avoided them.
 
SilverFly said:
Umm, don't get me wrong, I love trout...

BUT, THEY HAVE FLY FISHING FOR BLUEFIN TUNA IN BARCELONA!

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That's awesome. The owner didn't mention the tuna fishing. Maybe it was because I was looking at the trout flies, but he was very proud to say they have some good brown trout streams.

The lady at the front that rang up my 12 flies wasn't too thrilled with having to count the flies I bought. Haha!
If I read the room correctly, I'm guessing she was his wife and probably had better things to do.
Or maybe she thought he should had sold me a tuna trip. 😁
 
Wish I’d known that a few years back, I’da searched it out. We started a Spain/Portugal trip in Barcelona a few years back. I recall our room was above a “Gentlemen’s Club” that started up at 10 (“I’ll go turn it down Honey, be back in an hour.”) I also remember having a great lunch out on the pier. I went into the restaurant to use the bathroom and when walking back to our table the biggest cockroach I ever saw came out of a drain. I guess I offered shade because he kept coming at me. I was dancing around like a Soul Train reject trying to get away. Family loved it.
 
We made it back home. We did 3 days in London, 1 day in Oxford, 1 day driving across the Cotswolds and then stayed in Salisbury. Drove to Bristol and then flew to Barcelona for 4 days. Then took the high-speed train from Barcelona to Paris. A very nice way to travel.
Did 4 days in Paris then took another high-speed train to London and then flew home. Long day yesterday, but good to be home.

Some highlights-
St Paul's Cathedral was incredible. Tower of London was pretty epic. Crazy building and some crazy history. We had some really good Indian food our last night at Churchill Arms. Highly recommend.
My favorite day, even though we had to stick to a tight schedule was our drive across the Cotswolds. We had a VW Tiguan 6-speed manual even tho I had booked a Ford Kuga (Escape) auto. I hadn't driven a manual for 8 years and using the left hand was odd, but I'm fairly amphibious (as my wife's grandpa would say) so was having fun in no time. It was the best manual I've ever driven. Only killed it twice and it auto starts if the clutch is in and key on so pretty posh.
We ate lunch at Snowshill Arms and had a great conversation with a local guy. He was pretty much their "Norm!!"
Found graves of my wife's great-great-great-great grandparents in Oxenton. They lived in Aston-on-Carrant and attended Oxenton in the 1800s. It was right out of a painting.
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We then had a sunset tour inside the stones at Stonehenge. We didn't get a sunset because of the clouds, but it was definitely worth the $$.

Barcelona was great and one of my favorite spots was Montjuic Castle. The history of Catalonia is crazy!

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Paris was probably our favorite city. I'm old enough to have heard all the "Parisians hate Americans" and "they won't want to speak English" stuff, but I think the internet and social media have changed that in the last 20 years. We found Parisians to be the most friendly and sweet people of our entire trip!
They would let you start the convo and if they could tell we were not proficient in French, which we aren't, they would say "We can do English" and did it with a smile. And the food! Holy crap. The food is ridiculous. The best bread and cheese for sure, but also had maybe the best bacon cheese burger I've ever had. And the wine was good anywhere we went and I even had one of the best lagers and ciders I've ever had there.

And the history is crazy. We did the Louvre and saw this gal-
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That's a cropped pic from about 15 yards away. It was funny to see people disappointed when they saw this one. She's only about 2x3', maybe not even that. Take away the big frame and it's like a 11x17. Haha! The Wedding at Cana on the opposite wall is actually more breathtaking and takes up most of the wall.
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The Louvre is crazy. At some point in the 1700s, it was the king's palace and largest building in the world. Got a decent selfie with the fam out front-
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The government buildings, past and present, are pretty impressive. This is the Le Invalides. Napolean is buried here, along with a bunch of other French rulers and kings. It still has a military hospital and is the main office for the French Army governor.
King Louis XIV ordered it to be built in recognition of all the French that died defending France.
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The highlight for Paris may have been our last day and our spontaneous trip up to Montmartre. It's the best view of Paris and if you go, make sure to go up the tower!

Now back to some fishing! :)
 
Agreed. On our Spain/Portugal trip, Liz (travel agent extraordinaire and lifetime partner) discovered we could save enough flying through Paris to cover lodging. Based on age old perceptions, I was hesitant. (Thinking: I never lost anything in France, so why go.) But of course I agreed. Turned out I loved Paris. I’d go back, enroute to Southern France, trying to hang like a local (as much as possible).
Sidebar: We’ve traveled Europe several times now and in Paris I observed the funniest thing in the Louvre. We finally made it to the Mona Lisa, and not surprisingly it was crowded. Easily a hundred Asians up front taking selfies. I hung back as did several, including clearly a Texan (w/cowboy hat) and his wife. “Alright!!! We’ve seen the god damned Mona Lisa, let’s get the hell out!!!” Loud and with a Texas drawl. Priceless.
 
Dloy said:
Agreed. On our Spain/Portugal trip, Liz (travel agent extraordinaire and lifetime partner) discovered we could save enough flying through Paris to cover lodging. Based on age old perceptions, I was hesitant. (Thinking: I never lost anything in France, so why go.) But of course I agreed. Turned out I loved Paris. I’d go back, enroute to Southern France, trying to hang like a local (as much as possible).
Sidebar: We’ve traveled Europe several times now and in Paris I observed the funniest thing in the Louvre. We finally made it to the Mona Lisa, and not surprisingly it was crowded. Easily a hundred Asians up front taking selfies. I hung back as did several, including clearly a Texan (w/cowboy hat) and his wife. “Alright!!! We’ve seen the god damned Mona Lisa, let’s get the hell out!!!” Loud and with a Texas drawl. Priceless.
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That's pretty funny. We heard a couple families with drawls a few times. They REALLY stuck out.
We saw a few "typical rude Americans" in Barcelona & Paris, but most of the rude people I saw were from the UK. My experience on the west coast of Mexico over the years is that most rude travelers are Canadian women in their 50s & 60s.
We only saw one real obnoxious American. It was a mother (probably 40 yrs old) of 3 that looked tired and didn't like the place her husband had chosen for lunch. Which I get, but she was taking it out on the restaurant people. I got the impression she's probably a pistol anyway. Pretty ugly behavior that I don't think she even realized.

Yeah, the young women doing selfies and then 10 different poses (regular pose and acting like their appreciating the art pose were the most common) while their friend takes the pics is super annoying. I assume for Insta and/or TikTok. I know they think they're living their best life, but it's so frickin rude and selfish. Take a selfie and even a pose and then get the hell outta the way! Ok, old man rant over.
 
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