Monday, July 18, 2005

Bella Italia - "A River Runs Through It"



After several weeks, a lot of money, and more than a few headaches, I finally received my Italian fishing license last week and was able to make one of my long held dreams a reality - I finally got to wet a fly on the nearby Brenta River. Those of you who read my blog regularly will recognize the Brenta as the river that flows through scenic Bassano dal Grappa. Although I managed only to land one medium sized brown trout it was an unbelievable experience, which I'm sure will not surprise anyone who knows me well. Since the Brenta is so close, I'm quite sure that I'll be up there almost every weekend until the end of the season in late September. To see some photos from yesterday's excursion, click the link below.

Fly fishing the Brenta River


Rik

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do u have you get a license when fishing?
Ohh lucky you, you caught one! it would be nice if there are 'grouper'.

Ed said...

After fly fishing in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, I haven't been able to go fishing any other way since. It always feels like I'm just flailing away hoping for a random fish to swim by.

From your posted pictures, it didn't look like a very likely place for fish to hang out. Of course I couldn't see what was behind the camera either. I didn't see any eddies, overhangs, incoming feeder streams or other places where the big fish tend to congregate.

Blog ho said...

A River Runs Through It was a great book.

Rik said...

Ara - Yes, and in typical Italian fashion, it is almost impossible to do, especially for a foreigner. Luckily I became friends with an Italian fly fisherman who helped me.

Scha - True! But the little villages up there have some cute little bars. And plenty of room for picnics complete with wine! Perhaps a nice Tocai Rosso with a tender rainbow trout...

Ed - Always been my dream to fly fish the Rockies. The trout rivers here are a bit different than in the States. A lot of where we fish the Brenta is wide, deep, flat water with many underwater boulders. And the Brenta comes down from the Alps, so the water is always freezing cold, even in the dead of summer. I'm having to become more of a dry fly fisherman now as that's how most of the fish here are taken. Back home I would always nail the big 'bows on hornbergs and wooly buggers fished wet and deep (not that there's anything wrong with that). I'll be sure to get more photos of the Brenta in future trips. Those pics are only one stretch, the Brenta is a big river.

Ho - And an even better movie. I get a hard on everytime I watch it and see the fly fishing scenes.


Rik

Anonymous said...

Wow you sure love fishing, so am i.. it's just so fun to go fishing especially when you got fish..I had my first license for fishing with groups,..It's fun but not much fish though..LOL