A river runs through it, deep in the Spanish Pyrenees.

Trout of This World

Forget Patagonia—the world’s best fly-fishing may just be hiding in the Spanish Pyrenees, where one legendary outfitter guards a “Destination X”

By David Coggins

Fly-fishing, like international espionage, prizes access, inside information, and closely guarded secrets. The stakes are lower, but its practitioners still take the endeavor very seriously. The highest currency in the angling world is the river nobody knows about—the kind that inspires speculation about the dream equation: plenty of trout and few people.

Now imagine you and I are enjoying a civilized drama at a bar, and we discover a mutual interest in the piscatorial arts. As the evening progresses, I would lean over and say conspiratorially, “Yes, Patagonia is great, but have you ever fished in Spain?” You might respond, “Are there trout in Spain?” I would nod knowingly. There are indeed trout in Spain; in fact, it’s one of angling’s great unknown destinations.