Italian Grand Slam - Marble Trout
Fly fishing for Marble Trout, Rainbows & Browns in the Italian Alps
Great Day in the Italian Alps!
My buddy Matt connected me with the King of italian fly fishing, Paolo Pacchiarini. Paolo lives in Milan and has numerous world records for fish on the fly, including the largest Pike ever on fly.
I was able to convince my girlfriend Leah to take one day of our Italian vacation for fishing.
Paolo picked us up at a plaza not far from our hotel, the Corner Duomo, in the heart of Milan.
An hour and forty minute drive north brought us to our destination, a beautiful, crystal clear river running through small towns and villages of the Alps.
We started with the Italian breakfast of choice, an espresso and croissant at t vila near the river before gearing up for the day.
Once on the water Paolo got us set up with Euro Nymphing, the style of choice for today.
10ft pole, super light leader and tippet and a 3 nymph rig.
The style is surprisingly different then how we would fish nymphs in the U.S. The goal is to always keep just enough tension on the line to feel a take, but not enough that the line is completely taught, disrupting the natural drift of the fly.
Leah was up first, and right away hooked into a hefty rainbow.
With no real instruction and her first time ever with a fly rod, the fish came off after jumping out of the water twice. Thin leader. Boom. Gone.
She landed a few fish after, with some instruction from Paolo.
After landing a few, I was up. It took a bit to get the Euro Nymphing down, but I was able to land plenty of fish throughout the day. All told we ended with 20ish fish between the two of us.
Leah popped the first Marble Trout of the day. The fish I was after. A small one, maybe 18 inches or so, but beautiful.
I caught my first and only Marble mid morning. His colors weren't as vibrant as Leahs, but he was a bit bigger, and a decent marble nonetheless. A new species for me.
I was also able to land a few small brown trout, and with the multiple big Rainbows landed, put me in the books for an “Italian Grand Slam” - Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Marble Trout!
We fished the rest of the day and caught a bunch of nice sized, and a few big sized rainbows. At one point as a hooked ‘bow was working in, a massive Marble came out of the depths to have a go at the struggling rainbow. Massive. 10+ lbs. It saw us as and spooked as it came near the surface. We tied a streamer on and worked it through the pool a few times. No luck.
All in all, a great day on the water in a beautiful part of the world. Paolo is the man.
Marble Trout - check
Italian Grand Slam - check Italian Grand Slam