Alsa is a small reservoir — a couple of square kilometres at most — tucked into the Saja country of southern Cantabria and fed, slightly confusingly, by the river Torina. Small does not mean modest. It has a quiet reputation for growing trout to a size the feeder streams never could, fish that have found a larder and made the most of it. It holds salmon and barbel as well, a reminder that the Cantabrian rivers run down to the sea not far away. You fish it from the bank, reading the drop-offs and the inflow where the cold water comes in, and you fish it patiently. It is not famous, which is rather the point — the sort of overlooked water where a good fish is a genuine surprise rather than an expectation.
- Reservoir
- Mixed