Here is the story of a short rodtrip we did in italy during 2012’s summer. We went there to fish a river called “La Gavala”.
It was an exciting trip and we keep of it a lot of memories !
02.08.2012 Valais Switzerland
Early morning I met my fishing buddy Polo in Saxon to go for a long week-end fishing in Italy!A long road ahead before tightening the line ! Around 3.30 hours later we arrived on the spot !
The private itinerary, called LA GAVALA, is a 3.8km river located in val sesia, north of Milano. First we had to stop to buy a fishing licence, 42 euros for a day or 37 euros after 16h. You can buy the licence in a small restaurant called L’ANTICA QUERCIA.
A good italian coffee and ready to go to fishing ! We decided to start from the bridge ! It was the first time for Polo to fish there, so he was super excited when he saw a big trout just under the bridge !
A few minutes later he caught his first Rainbow trout with a nymph. After that we stayed fishing around the bridge. We caught a lot of fish with dry fly and nymph during the whole day. We decided to stay at the camping to sleep. From there we could walk to the river in less than 2 minutes !
03.08.2012 Piode Italy
After a good breakfast in the camping we decided to go fishing in Piode. It is another private itinerary upstream of La Gavala. In this river there is a lot of big fish but they are hard to catch !
If you want to go fishing there you have to call to make a reservation ! Only 6 fishers are allowed to fish there per day and it’s not allowed every day !
It costs 60 euros per person per day. This part of the river is very difficult to fish, the water conditions can change a lot ! The best time to go there is at the end of the season, when the water is low and clear.
The main fishing technique is czech nymph and streamer. You can buy your licence in the hotel close to the river called RESIDENCE GIARDINI. When we got our licence we went fishing upstream. During the morning we caught many fish. After a lunch at L’Albergo Ristorante Dei Pescatori we went fishing downstream for the rest of the day. The fish were a little bit smaller but still really good.
04.08.2012 La Gavala
After waking up in the camping and taking a good breakfast under the morning sun, we were ready to walk ! We wanted to go fishing downstream in a good spot but we had to walk about 30 minutes to get there.
After walking we discovered the spot, a big and long pool. We could see some fish coming at the surface on the oder side of the pool. It’s really hard to put the dry there because of the wind, but when we finally managed to be perfect, the fish were not selective.
After a couple of fish for each of us, the surface activity dissepear . We caught a couple of fish on the streamer but then we decided to move. I saw a good pool upstream but I had to cross the river and that was not easy !
I spotted a big rainbow trout crossing the pool, so I tried to catch this fish with a dry and a nymph, but no reaction.
I finaly tried with a streamer and after 2 cast BING this huge rainbow was on my line ! After a few seconds, my 22/100 line broke 🙁 I saw the fish leaving with my streamer! During this time Polo decided to walk upstream and try all the small spots on the side with a czech nymph. He caught one big trout hidden just behind a rock.
After that we walk back to the camping and eate a PIZZA in the city (you will find a lot of good restaurant there). In the afternoon we went fishing in the pool under the bridge. Fishing was good but not incredible and the weather started to change.
At the last daylight we were fishing just in front of the camping because we were afraid of the thunder. Few minutes before the rain started, Polo caught a good rainbow with a dry. After releasing this fish we ran in the camping under a pouring rain.
We had rain all night long and when we woke up the next day, the weather was not good ; it was still raining a little bit but the river was clear.
The big advantage there is that the water condition is always good maybe high but clear. Cause of the weather conditions, we decided not to fish this last day and go home after 3 really good day of fishing !!
Polo had a lot of pleasure fishing there and he went back 2 times more before the end of the season, in October !
