Rienza River: trouts and graylings

Intro

The Rienza is a medium-large low valley river, which runs through the entire Val Pusteria in South Tyrol. It originates from "Tre Cime di Lavaredo", cross Dobbiaco Lake, runs through the entire valley collecting the various tributaries including the Aurino, and ends its journey by flowing into the Isarco. Here you can find trout of all species such as brown, marble, hybrids and rainbow, and then obviously grayling. Being a large river with deep pools, you can catch fish of all sizes, and catches of size are the norm. It lends itself very well to nymph and streamer fishing, then when the levels and the color of the water allow it, it is very nice to fish in dry fly on the long flat areas between one pool and another. Normally the best times for fishing in this river are early spring, and then from late summer through fall.

Equipment and flies

This river lends itself to all fly fishing techniques. For the nymph you have to fish well and casting a lot, changing weights and flies. The best are classic nymphs such as the Nymph White Black, nymphs with orange beads (even in large beads diameters and hook sizes) such as the Nymph Jig Brown Orange, the M.N. Special Grayling, and the perdigons. For this technique the ideal are rods 10-11' long, and #4 or #5 line because at any moment you can find a big fish in the rod! For those who want to fish it with streamer, it is recommended either early in the morning, or at sunset, although with the changes of light and level, you can have catches even in broad daylight. For this technique, #8 #9 and #10 line rods are excellent to be able to cast even large flies of 10-15-20 cm to move the biggest fish! For dry fly fishing you need to find the optimal conditions: transparent color, low levels, right temperatures and hatches. You can literally find yourself on a carpet of rising graylings! And here the classics: March Brown, Ephemeral Cdc Beige and Emerger The Usual, are a certainty!Dry fly fishing can be done with specific rods such as 8'6 "#4, or go into the river with allround rods example 9 '#4-#5 to be able to pass from the nymph to the dry. Tippet never too thin, line nymph fishing with indicator, and always remember either tungsten paste or sinkers to fish the deepest holes.

Morphology

The river is very varied, there are stretches where it runs fast and is channeled between the walls, especially in the vicinity of inhabited centers and bridges. While then between one curve and another, it widens, forms long flats and then scrapes and deep pools on the sides of the bank. Let's say that the fly angler must also adapt the technique to the spot in front of him, there are spots that lend themselves more to the nymph, others that are excellent for the streamer, and the "slower" and shallower ones for dry fly. We must also always take into account the openings of the dams, the melting snow and the rains, to find the right levels to fish it.

Conclusion

Given the flow of water, it is certainly not an easy river, especially for beginners. Instead it is an excellent challenge for the more experienced. The catches are certainly not obvious, and you can find yourself at any moment with a beautiful marble trout or a super grayling attached to the fly rod!

Below I leave you with some photos of this river and its magnificent fish.

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Thanks for reading and see you soon :)

Matteo Lavezzini