A Lacustrian Cold
December 11, 2024
Finally trout!
February 19, 2025
His Majesty
Text and photographs by Marco Altamura
The first outings of the spinning season aimed at the Queen of the Deep are the most exciting because they are the ones that factually can give us some "over size" specimens not yet disturbed by noisy vessel engines; for me, who since the mid-1970s I have been insinuating these fantastic fish from the shore with the spinning technique, this is an absolutely unmissable appointment that I cannot and will not resist!
This year during the first week following Dec. 20, I made two outings and on the last one made the first noteworthy catch of the new season.
Accompanying this report are photographic accounts of this 59 cm, 2.150 kg female lake trout caught at dusk on a cold day in late December also characterized by another attack by a trout later dislodged because it was not properly ferreted along with a third pursuit that ended with nothing.
Three fish in one outing is an enormity if we calculate the vastness of the environment in which we operate our research. This large female, having attacked my lipless minnow just a few meters from the shore, seriously strained all the components of the equipment already highly stressed by countless casts and intense cold.
Well, in these extreme situations I rely on first-rate materials that must leave no room for unpleasantness, first and foremost breakage or dislodgement of any kind.
Very important in this particular type of winter spinning is the line, the link between the rod and the artificial and a fundamental element to which extreme reliability qualities are required to bring the fight to a successful conclusion.
For this spinning session, I opted for an Asso Fishing Line product that the Genovese company made available to me to deal with these situations: I'm talking about theAsso Fluorolight 0.26 mm thick, a particularly soft and waterproof monofilament that is very suitable for the reel, guaranteeing precise and long casts; the smooth surface does not affect the high resistance to abrasion and a very high effective breaking load.
In the fight with this Lacustre the few meters that separated me from the fish during the ferrata unleashed all the power that a large wild trout brings to bear with acrobatic jumps and heart-stopping restarts that nevertheless led to a successful epilogue with the successful capture. This is just the beginning of a long series of outings aimed at the prized salmonid that will give me the opportunity to further test Ace products under extreme conditions of use. Until next time!