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Spinadesco - Living up to expectations? |
World Champs Preview
The Canale Navigabile, Spinadesco, Nr Cremona, Italy
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Spinadesco Canal was constructed between 1966 and 1968 and is a 40
metre wide concrete-banked venue with depths of about 4 metres in the
middle. The canal connects the metropolitan areas of Lombardy with the
Adriatic Sea.
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Picture courtesy of http://www.impresasarti.com
For
years it was a prolific venue with hundreds of matches held on it a
National level, but in recent years the fishing has become difficult,
due to the fish not spawning in the venue because of the high
fluctuations in water level. The main culprit seemed to be the gates
that connect the canal to the River Po, this also affected the venue by
creating a heavy tow at times.
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The banks are concrete lined and all anglers must set up on the level
land at the top of the bank so you will be fishing some way above the
water level, depending of course on the water level at the time. The
concrete banks could cause some concern with regard to spectator noise
as the venue is for the most part, fairly quiet, save for the odd
service vehicle travelling its course! How it will cope with the full
World Champs 'circus' in terms of noise and disturbance remains an
untested variable.
The Canal has a flat silty bottom from 8 metres out to the beginning of
the rise of the bank on the far side. Fishing distances will be
dictated by the bottom of near shelf and the bottom of the far shelf.
Tactics will evolve around long whips, of which the Italians are
masters at, as well as the Bolognese or big waggler methods. However as
the venue has become harder over the years, so short lining on the long
pole has become more important.
The main targets are carassio, which run to 3lbs, bream (up to 4lbs),
as well as rudd and asp, which both feed on the surface during the
summer months. Ruffe will help anglers avoid blanks in the more
difficult sections. The information gleaned from Italian sources shows
us one thing... this venue is unpredictable! For example, the numbers
of carassio in recent years has declined as they have been removed from
the venue after various matches.
The information on methods we have is only general. Wagglers from 8 to
12 grams for fishing across, pole floats in the 2 gram range with ultra
fine hooklengths for the long pole. Not much to go on but the emphasis
seems to be on the venue fishing hard. One important fact which all
teams will need to take into account, is the possible distance between
the anglers seat and water level. This is likely to cause serious
problems if teams do not take keepnets long enough, 3m or more should
be enough (see pictures below).
The Italian Federation have made the decision to stock the venue in the
run-up to the World Championships in September, but this could be
dangerous to the fish due to the higher temperatures between March and
November. Furthermore, these new stocked fish will group together and
could change the distribution of the native fish in the venue.
All we've read about this venue raises some concerns. We cannot believe
that this venue will be anything other than 'peggy' with sections being
won in the draw bag, rather than ability. However, you could say this
has been true of the last few world championships, look at what
happened to Didier Delanoy and Stuart Conroy last year! But in these
competitions the best teams still seem to come out on top and that is
always a sign of a decent venue. If the whole venue proves 'peggy',
then we could be in for a major upset. This could be exciting as it
would open the door of 'Lady Luck' to teams who have an otherwise
'zero' change of a result!. Perhaps it would make a change for some
'minnow' to take the podium at the end.
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Just
some of the possible carassio on offer on the Canale Navigabile,
Spinadesco. Our thanks and appreciation for this and all the photos
below go to Fabio at www.pescagonismo.it
If the venue is
hard, but fair, we will be in for a cracker of a match. Hard and fair
we like, what we don't want to see is a lottery where every section is
dominated by a handful of good pegs. The Italian venue on last years
European Championships was one of the finest seen in modern times and
if the host nation can get this venue anywhere near as good as Cavo
Lama, then we will ALL be in for a stunning championship. We will know
more once the practising starts and try to keep you posted here on Matchangler.com.
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