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Estonian Learns To Fly!

I have had a very busy but satisfying and productive week - one of those weeks when it feels that you have achieved something. Toomas Reisunbuuk contacted me back in February about coming over to learn the difficult art of fly fishing. Toomas is from the city of Tallin in Northern Estonia which is situated on the edge of the Baltic Sea just a two and a half hour ferry crossing across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki.

Travelling here had to be via Barcelona and a three hour wait for the connection to San Javier so it was obvious from the outset he was a pretty determined character. As some of you will know fly fishing is not something that you learn in an hour but when you do get into this form of fishing it is very satisfying as you are totally involved with every move of the rod, line, bait and fish. Now as we all appreciate the weather has not been too good just lately and I have, be honest, been feeling the cool breezes. Toomas thought it was positively balmy and hoped it would not get any warmer! A fact brought home when his wife rang to say it was zero degrees and snowing back home. Six days then, in which to help Toomas with casting, loading reels, backing line, sinking, floating and intermediate line differences, leaders, lures, flies and much more plus the fact that when he arrived he mentioned he had never caught a Carp. It was decided then that Friday would be rest day from the fly and a trip to Embalse de Argos was planned to land his first Carp. We started off the fly training on the shore, with a slight wind blowing inshore, for a days casting tuition. Toomas had read every magazine on the subject, watched every TV programme available and he knew more about Matt Hayes and Paul Young than I did! After a couple of hours the line was whooshing back and forth and confidence was growing quickly, the grin factor said it all, he was happy with his new found skill. We visited several of my favourite fishing haunts over the week in Valle De Ricote,  Cieza and Calasparra enabling me to show my guest some of the fantastic scenery we have here. He loved the nature and marvelled at the vast amount of wildlife present around the waters. As I have said many times the pleasure of fishing is not just about catching fish, it is the whole experience of relaxation and been in touch with nature. The special moment of the week was the look of satisfaction and excitement all rolled into one when Toomas landed his first Carp always a special moment for any angler, whichever fish, when it the first of a species. Toomas is coming back in late summer with his family and in the meantime is planning fly fishing trips to Norway, Sweden and Ireland……..lucky man!              

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