This
spring I was going to the " Blinker Moderator Fishing" to the Po, to
the camp Casa
Silure near San Benedetto Po to be exact. I travelled by train with a very
heavy suitcase and Harry Stadlhuber,
the guy who runs the camp, was friendly enough to pick me up at the station of
Mantua. Peter and Volker, the other two moderators had arrived earlier and
already successfully feedered some baitfish (her more about that later). In any
case I could already fish that night, guided by Harry. Normally we would have
stayed on the water for the whole night but I had somehow forgotten about that
and didn't bring a sleeping bag so we decided we'd come back to the camp later
in the night. Anyway we went downstream a bit, Harry
explained the navigational signs on the Po to me and we tied up near the right
bank between the tributaries Mincios and Secchia. Harry tied a few Rigs with
underwater-floats, meant to keep the baitfish off the bottom a bit. I was
surprised, that he obviously wasn't going to use a sinker but fastened the rigs
to big stones with a rip-off line and placed the stones strategically in the
current. That made sense though, because the current was so strong that any
reasonably sized sinker would sooner or later drift in behind the boat with our
big baitfish. But the stones could be placed right where you wanted them and
stayed there for sure. As bait we had rigged bream in the range of 25-35cm montiert
and an eel. Live bait is allowed here and that is what we used.
After all the rigs had been placed, the comfortable part of ground fishing
followed: waiting for the bite, as a die-hard spin fisher I wasn't used to that
any more but it does have some appeal. After
a while we really had a fierce bite and Harry handed the rod over to me after
setting the hook, the fish pulled quite strong having the current to help him
and all. In the meantime Harry pulled in all the other rods and I pumped the
fish with the heavy tackle as hard as I could. Looked like it wasn't exactly a
small fish and Harry decided to lift the Anchor and continue the fight drifting.
It was much easier now and soon I had the fish by the boat having a hard time
keeping it away from the motors propellor and from diving underneath the boat
but then it gave in. With a rod of
100-400g casting weight and a super line of c. 80Kg breaking strength you can
really but some serious pressure on the fish. I'm very happy about my first Po
catfish which measures in at 1.65 m. We doze a bit on the boat and around 2 in
the morning we go back to the camp. In the meantime it's become quite cold but
to tell the truth, my room is only slightly warmer. The next Morning there's a
quick photo shooting with a 2m something fish caught by Jens. Jens
has been at the camp for 3 weeks now and is really good at fishing for these
catfish. And not only that, he also cooks for us from time to time and helps us
bringing out the rigged stones. because the best way to do this is really when
one boat stays put while the other places the stones. That's what we do the next
evening, when I go out with Volker and unfortunately can't make anything of a
very nice strike on a big bream. The drag is set a bit weak and I miss putting
my thumb on the spool, besides that theres a lot of weed in the line and it
turns out that the breaking line didn't break and the (to small?) stone is still
tied to the rig. What a pity, that would have been a good fish. This time we
sleep on the boat, I'm a bit cold but ok because Volker gives my the catfish
weighing bag as a sleeping bag substitute and I've got a woollen blanket with me.
But nevertheless I am glad when the sun finally rises and it warms up again.
Flashback While "Bait Fishing"
To
fish for bait it should be said that your best bet is to use heavy closed
feeders of about 60g and hook sizes around 8. I put one maggot on the hook
lengthwise and two by the tail. I don't own a special feeder rod but was able to
fish reasonably well with a 3m spinning rod of appropriate casting weight. The
population of bream and barbel ( the latter not very popular as bait) in the Po
seems to be enormous and I have good fun exercising my long forgotten skills at
ground fishing for cyprinids. Another memory from my youth comes alive when I
have closer look at one of the big insects which occasionally go astray in the
kitchen-dining room-lounge: it's a cockchafer and I can shoot a really cool pic
of it. There's actually quite a bit of wildlife to be seen here, when you look
up from your fishing gear: rabbit, muskrat, pheasants, king fisher, heron and a
night hawk are the highlights. The Po itself is guided by dams for flood
protection and riprap on the outer curves but it is not straightened and still
flows very interesting and variable: shallow sandy banks used as beaches by the
locals, over 10m deep holes with gurgling eddies giving away their location,
peaceful bayous.
Other Predators
Of
course I also had to pursuit the black bass I had hoped to find here. I had
picked a nice bayou for that which really looked very suitable for largemouth.
Only the very turbid water was to me and the basses disliking. But I had met
them in quite muddy water in the USA. One strike I got near the shoreline I'm
about 95%
sure was a small black bass, but that was it. The zander taking a jerked white
X-Rap in 2m of water come as a nice surprise then. I didn't catch any asp while
spinning but there where some around and smaller ones to about 35cm where
caught while feedering quite regularly. Also I didn't catch any catfish on
spinning gear. According to Harry the best time for that would be in June/July
when the water levels is very low.
This
spring I was going to the " Blinker Moderator Fishing" to the Po, to
the camp 
After
a while we really had a fierce bite and Harry handed the rod over to me after
setting the hook, the fish pulled quite strong having the current to help him
and all. In the meantime Harry pulled in all the other rods and I pumped the
fish with the heavy tackle as hard as I could. Looked like it wasn't exactly a
small fish and Harry decided to lift the Anchor and continue the fight drifting.
It was much easier now and soon I had the fish by the boat having a hard time
keeping it away from the motors propellor and from diving underneath the boat
but then it gave in. With a rod of
100-400g casting weight and a super line of c. 80Kg breaking strength you can
really but some serious pressure on the fish. I'm very happy about my first Po
catfish which measures in at 1.65 m. We doze a bit on the boat and around 2 in
the morning we go back to the camp. In the meantime it's become quite cold but
to tell the truth, my room is only slightly warmer. The next Morning there's a
quick photo shooting with a 2m something fish caught by Jens.
Jens
has been at the camp for 3 weeks now and is really good at fishing for these
catfish. And not only that, he also cooks for us from time to time and helps us
bringing out the rigged stones. because the best way to do this is really when
one boat stays put while the other places the stones. That's what we do the next
evening, when I go out with Volker and unfortunately can't make anything of a
very nice strike on a big bream. The drag is set a bit weak and I miss putting
my thumb on the spool, besides that theres a lot of weed in the line and it
turns out that the breaking line didn't break and the (to small?) stone is still
tied to the rig. What a pity, that would have been a good fish. This time we
sleep on the boat, I'm a bit cold but ok because Volker gives my the catfish
weighing bag as a sleeping bag substitute and I've got a woollen blanket with me.
But nevertheless I am glad when the sun finally rises and it warms up again.
To
fish for bait it should be said that your best bet is to use heavy closed
feeders of about 60g and hook sizes around 8. I put one maggot on the hook
lengthwise and two by the tail. I don't own a special feeder rod but was able to
fish reasonably well with a 3m spinning rod of appropriate casting weight. The
population of bream and barbel ( the latter not very popular as bait) in the Po
seems to be enormous and I have good fun exercising my long forgotten skills at
ground fishing for cyprinids. Another memory from my youth comes alive when I
have closer look at one of the big insects which occasionally go astray in the
kitchen-dining room-lounge: it's a cockchafer and I can shoot a really cool pic
of it. There's actually quite a bit of wildlife to be seen here, when you look
up from your fishing gear: rabbit, muskrat, pheasants, king fisher, heron and a
night hawk are the highlights. The Po itself is guided by dams for flood
protection and riprap on the outer curves but it is not straightened and still
flows very interesting and variable: shallow sandy banks used as beaches by the
locals, over 10m deep holes with gurgling eddies giving away their location,
peaceful bayous.
Of
course I also had to pursuit the black bass I had hoped to find here. I had
picked a nice bayou for that which really looked very suitable for largemouth.
Only the very turbid water was to me and the basses disliking. But I had met
them in quite muddy water in the USA. One strike I got near the shoreline I'm
about 95%
sure was a small black bass, but that was it. The zander taking a jerked white
X-Rap in 2m of water come as a nice surprise then. I didn't catch any asp while
spinning but there where some around and smaller ones to about 35cm where
caught while feedering quite regularly. Also I didn't catch any catfish on
spinning gear. According to Harry the best time for that would be in June/July
when the water levels is very low.