It wouldn’t have hurt to have spent the final day of World Masters Fly Fishing practice organizing our stuff rather than fishing. At least Pete and I that is, being today was our eighth fishing day in a row. Quite frankly, we’re a little worn out. Our tippet, fly boxes, empty floatants and etc. could all use a little refreshing. My waders could use a drying out session as well and perhaps some patchwork after all the blackberry thorns I’ve marched through. I think it’s somewhat obvious by looking in the back of our rental car!
But on another note, we went to what has been my favorite river so far here in Italy, the Chiese. Pete, Stefano, Jerry and I fished here our first practice day. Its somewhat small and crystal clear. All the trout are wild and spooky. If you can pass a caddis over their head before they know you’re there, you have a good chance at catching one.
The issue today however, is that every day since we fished here on July 11th, other World Teams have been here practicing. In fact, the Slovenians were here today sharing the exact water we were on. None of the competing teams are slouches with a fly rod. These fish have been hammered and were nearly impossible to catch today. I changed flies, tippet and tactics more than any day this trip.
Never impossible however and though a couple of us, including myself got blanked, Bret and Loren caught a few fish. Loren actually got six measurable trout, all caught on the ridiculous chartreuse Mop fly.
There was no reason to beat ourselves up too bad on the water. Like almost every day here in Italy, temps rose well into the 90°s. At 1:30 Stefano rounded us all up and led us to an amazing little riverside restaurant called the Locanda Borgo Antico – Osteria.
One look at this place and we weren’t returning to the Chiese. This restaurant was classy and the ladies that served us were fantastic. They delivered us several courses of delicious food and plenty of cold beer. Have I mentioned this is a pretty good trip?
We returned to the hotel and enjoyed a pleasant evening. Tomorrow there will be no fishing. Its registration for the competition and tomorrow night is the parade and opening ceremonies. These are always a big deal and we are very much looking forward to it. Well, it’s time to eat again!