🥈Italian boat predator championship at Lake Bilancino.

Our story comes to life at the same time exactly one year ago... me (Valentino Vidrasc) and my partner Daniele Tamborini, following a competition (La spinging forte) at the end of the year in Caravate, a place in which we had been fighting for first place for the past two years.

At the end of the event, over a hot meal and a good glass of wine, here we are discussing the season ahead. A difficult year was expected ... for me, in view of the world championship in shore spinning in Italy and for him along with Andrea Venzi (former teammate who decided to give up competitions) in view of the possibility of being part of the national team in this discipline. The obstacles were many but, in spite of everything, even the desire to compete was not lacking and in view of the 2023 world championship that, it was supposed to be in America, the mirage of reaching that dream seemed closer and closer to reality.

It was my first competitive experience from the boat, but although I knew how to bait all the fish species kept valid from shore, I won't hide the fact that from the boat everything is totally different.

The biggest fortune for sure is to compete with Daniele, who has been hanging out in this competitive world for quite some time and has been able to direct me correctly but, also having Andrea on our side has been and is crucial.

These are time-consuming competitions: to go out and try out the competition fields, to try many different types of baits, with different approaches, chasing different species.

They are competitions that, require the right strategy which, you can only create by knowing the best of the places you will have to fish in.

To face the finals held at Lake Bilancino, we qualified on Lake Orta, a beautiful location that, with its 6 chubs, 6 perch and the only pike in the trial that, took the bait on one of our lures, we peel off that ticket to be there as well.

It starts all over again.... new lake...more fish...different conditions...a new strategy to implement, in short, the game begins again.

Limited time certainly wasn't on our side, but having fished there before, Daniel and Andrea, who had gone before we qualified, already had in mind what in broad strokes needed to be done, unlike me...

Having never been there, I didn't know what to expect, but by trying it two weeks earlier something more we were able to figure out and here we are facing the first day of competition.

Together, we decide to leave on a spot where in the trials we had found many perch that, unfortunately did not react and after almost 2 hours of competition we see ourselves without any catch. Difficult situation believe me but, having faced so many races we knew that, the time we had left was still a lot and by making the right choices we could turn the situation around.

Cold-bloodedly we decided to leave that spot vacant and completely change the type of fishing by chasing perch, which were very difficult to catch because, they were constantly moving around but, playing smart we materialized the first six catches we needed thus closing the first quota.

Afterwards, we knew that we needed the share also of perch and at least one pike to stay in the top 5 finishers of the day and places to catch them were few but, we were close to where we started and gave another chance to that place that, after almost two hours of competition had not yet given us a catch, but believing it rewarded us with a pike and a perch. Time was passing quickly, we had only 3 hours left until the end of the competition and we didn't know what would be the right choice for us.... Daniel believed in another pike in the same place but, I just wanted to get out of there.

We had given ourselves 30 minutes to press further but, nothing had come, whereupon we made the decision to go to the opposite side of the lake which, required 30 minutes of moving where, we would play the last two hours left.

Fortunately, that choice rewarded us by using a lure that those fish had never before seen (VibraShh which will soon be available on vale-pesca.com and in stores) and we also closed the 6 perch quota in just over 30 minutes. We had a good score but, we knew it would not be enough to win.

We had about an hour and a half left in the race and we needed the breakthrough, I believed in it, maybe more so than Daniel who, probably would have wanted to play it differently but, together we went to try to catch the catfish that, in the trials we had seen but, we had not been able to catch.

The fact remains that the fish were there, and if we had found a way to catch one we would have known we had made it. As chance would have it, that fish we needed became two catfish over 70 cm which, led us to win the first trial.

Bold choices that paid off. Definitely nothing predictable, but we "love a well-executed plan," and we can say that here.

The first test had gone but, one was missing, the one that would decide our fate for America, probably the dream of both of us.

We were the frontrunners and taking the risks on the first day was not in our plans, so we decided to go with the most convenient choice--defending the result.

After several hours of racing, with much difficulty it seemed that, everything was going according to plan until, another crew told us that they had 5 pike, at which point we assumed that the pike had eaten that morning and everyone had caught them and we had not even caught them.

In short, we immediately changed our fishing style and within a short time we had hit a pike and with the quota of 6 perch and 4 perch, doing the math, the score would not have been enough for us to win the championship.

Once again we found ourselves in the corner, and you know what happens when you are cornered--you pull out your teeth and take certain risks that in our case for several factors did not work out, finding a crew after 40 minutes of moving to our best spot where we could have turned the tide with only an hour to go.

We tried, and with any luck we would have occupied the top step but, the lie of the 5 pikes and the idea that we had gotten were far from reality.

We would have liked to win that Italian but, it was more important for us to be convocable for the 2023 World Cup.

Goal achieved I would say, and with this silver in addition to being able to call ourselves Italian vice-champions we have become by order of podium position the first choice after the winners summoned by right.

This adventure of ours as a couple continues and the next goal is the Italian street fishing championship on which we fantasized, disappointed but, happy with the result we got we promised ourselves the gold medal.

Valentino Vidrasc.