Fly Fishing - Italy
Pesca del Mosca! Yep, that is fly fishing in Italian. If you love flicking the rod and Europe, fly fishing in Italy offers a great opportunity.
Fly Fishing - Italy
When people speak of International fly fishing, they usually think of Scotland, England, or the Scandinavian countries. This is where the sport had its origins and is still popular there, but they are by no means the only European hotbeds of fly fishing. One of the overlooked areas that offers excellent fly fishing opportunities is Italy. The sport is growing very rapidly in this country.
Fly fishing in Italy is centered around three major areas. The most popular is the Tuscany region of Northern Italy. Florence, Italy is the cultural and population center of the Tuscany region and the headquarters for Tuscany fly fishing trips to the rivers and streams of this exquisite and rustic countryside. The second area is Northern Italy running up to the Swiss border. The third area is the Dolomite Mountain region north of Venice.
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All three fly fishing hotbeds feature a main transportation hub that serves as a starting point for excursions to the more remote fly fishing areas. Florence serves this purpose for Tuscany; Venice is the jumping off spot for trips to the Dolomites; Milan is the center for the Northern border region. All of these cities have services that provide organized fishing excursions complete with transportation and guides.
Many of the fishing tour packages are combination tours that include sightseeing and visits to the fine cultural attractions of Florence and Venice. These cultural and fishing tours are very popular with tourists who travel to Italy and do not want to waste the opportunity to savor the non-fishing side of the trip as well as the excellent fishing prospects. Italy is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe and the historical sites in Rome and other parts of Southern Italy can be combined with fly fishing in the North.
The rivers and streams contain trout including a European variety known as the marbled trout that grow to a rather large size. Grayling is another common target of the fly fisherman. The grayling is a fish found across Europe. It is related to the salmon and grows to a maximum length of 24 inches and a maximum weight of nearly 15 pounds. Centuries of fishing pressure and industrial pollution have greatly reduced the native populations of trout and grayling, but Italy has been engaged in a very active conservation program that has been slowly restoring their native inland fisheries. Catch and release areas are very common in the fly fishing areas of Italy for this reason.