Trip Report by Dave Noll
In September of 2024 Mary and I spent 24 days in Europe visiting Spain, Italy and Slovenia. For the first 10 days our youngest daughter, Alexandra, joined us.
The fishing story starts in January of 2020 when I made reservations with Gianluca Bonomi of Alps Guide Service for three days of trout fishing in the Dolomites of Northern Italy. Well, that spring the world shut down. So, fast forward to November of 2023 when Mary and I started planning a trip to Italy. Once our dates were set I contacted my good friend Brian Smith and asked him if he would be interested in fishing the Dolomites in September. A few minutes into the conversation Brian mentioned that Slovenia was only four hours from Bergamo by car, so we added four days to our trip!
On September 11, after four days in Madrid, we met up with Brian at our Airbnb in Bergamo, the home of Alps. We had lined up three days of fishing with Gianluca and his guides Ottavio and Andreas. Since Mary and I were traveling light with only carry on luggage, Brian brought over my Oni 395 Honryu tenkara rod and I had arranged to borrow a few additional rods from Luong Tam who was in the area at the same time. I only used one, the Tanuki Barebones Nymphing Pro 360 with a carbon grip. What a great rod. It is very precise casting and incredibly sensitive.
On the 13th we got together with Gianluca, his wife Sylvia, Luong and Jim Vandagrift for a pizza party.
On the 14th Alexandra headed home and the next day Mary, Brian and I headed for Zatolmin, Slovenia where we had arranged two days fishing with Gregor Novak.
The rivers in both Italy and Slovenia were fast, clear and incredibly gorgeous. Because of the fast water we nymphed most of the time. Both the Pink Squirrel and my Red Neck Pheasant Tail did very well along with nymphs the guides recommended. We caught mostly browns, with a few hybrid marbles and some rainbows. Brian and I highly recommend both guides and at sometime in the future hope to return. So little time and so much water!
Dave Noll lives in the Minnesota Driftless Area and in 2010 decided to take up fly fishing. After reading an article in Backpacking Light, he purchased a Hane, and in early 2012 contacted Chris Stewart about rods to purchase for fishing in retirement. Dave has now fished in 10 states plus Spain and Patagonia and usually gets out over 100 times a year.
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A great trip. My first to Italy and my third to Slovenia. Both wonderful venues for the Tenkara angler. My favorite memory of Italian trip was not the fishing although great, it was the food especially a spur of the moment visit to the dairy which produces Taleggio cheese. As for Slovenia the scenery was spectacular and the clarity of the water was unbelievable.
Looks like an AMAZING trip! I can’t get over the photos of the water. Dave sent over even more we couldn’t fit in this article. I’ve never fished in anything like that before. Stellar!
Great pics Dave. Looks like quite the memorable adventure!
Spain, Portugal, Italy and Slovenia all have incredible water plus the culture and food are incredible. They are all worth fitting in a few extra days to include fishing.
Looks like some wonderful travels, Dave. Where next??