Tyer In Focus ‐ Juan Carlos Cambronero González and His Incredible Realis c Flies When Juan Carlos joined the Semperfli Pro Team we were really pleased. His talent for realis c fly tying was something we were keen to add to the team. We have lots of plans working with Juan Carlos to develop new products over the coming years. We can see frequent visits between Madrid and Yorkshire coming! For the past 12 years Juan Carlos has dedicated himself to fly fishing and his skills have become legendary winning realis c fly tying compe ons and we are looking forward to some fishing with him. Watch Juan Carlos on TV and radio and across social media.

looking for information about the real insects, catching and release some, visiting an insectarium plus talking with entomologists

Juan Carlos has been involved in the world of fishing from a very young age, his passion was passed on to him by his brother‐in‐ law. Having tried many fishing disciplines, he has now dedicated the last 12 years exclusively to fly fishing. Ini ally Juan Carlos star ng fishing for trout and predators, he now only spends his me in the search of and fishing for large barbel, and of course always enjoying the joy of the catch and release. The passion for fly fishing especially "fishing with your eyes“ led him to inves gate the habits and habitats of fish and inspired him to give more importance to realis c flies and started developing even more interest in entomology. For Juan Carlos the tying of his own flies is not an obliga on, it is a passion and it is an integral part of his fishing as he says "I could not imagine fishing with a fly which I have not made with my own hands”. One of the things that mo vates him most is making a new fly pa ern and going to the river to see how it performs.

When he started tying ini ally like all of us his first flies were simple nymphs for trout fishing. Quickly he became fascinated with semi‐realis c imita ons, usually made of foam, which was the material with which he began to experiment and e his first terrestrial imita ons par cularly ants and beetles. Juan Carlos has always been a perfec onist and careful person with his work which you can see in his flies. As a father and he recognizes how his son inves gates everything in great detail. This trait has made him look for a beau ful aesthe c look in his flies, good propor ons and finishes. But ini ally me he didn't pay enough a en on to the insects he was trying to imitate and this led occassionally to his target fish resis ng his flies. This stage of fly tying is typical of an impressionist er and not as a realist or semi‐realist. The first realis c fly he ed was a beetle that he s ll has it! The second was a caterpillar, a simple pa ern that he o en es at show. Although it is an imita on used by only a few fishermen, it works very well. Watching some videos of Oliver Edwards he ed some semi‐realis c Nymphs and Mayflies. At the me informa on was limited and was only found in specialist magazines. In Spain only Danica magazine published some "step by step" of realis c or semi‐realis c flies.

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