Trout Fisherman 492 (Digital Sampler)

GOALS

FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

FOR 2017...

Ways you can

l Be more daring l Improve your skills l Travel the world

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Battling

'BOWS Advice for great sport COMPETITION

£1000 WORTH OF

NEW GREYS FLY-LINES UP FOR GRABS

JAN 4 - JAN 31, 2017 | £3.40

ISSUE 492

GET OUT THERE

Tips for 11 top waters

SMALL WATERS

WHEN TO FISH The best times for action

RESERVOIRS

FISHERY MAP

Eglwys Nunydd hotspots

RIVERS

RIVER WHARFE

Stunning fish on a £4 ticket

TACKLE

GEAR TESTS

Our reviews help you buy

Contents

BE INSPIRED

FLY-TYING

Trout Fisherman contributors share their angling goals for the new year

Peter Gathercole ties up a weighted bug for grayling

6 Think global in 2017

59 Weighted Bugs

COVER STORY

Cover image by: Jonathan Tomlinson

62 Flymasters

TACTICS

Peter Gathercole judges the weighted bug entries and selects a new challenge

Peter Cockwill goes small to tempt wily fish at Woolaston Court fishery

66 Flybox fillers

18 The Prince Nymph

TACKLE

12 Scale down for success

One Scottish angler still flies the flag for this almost forgotten pattern

OFFERS 30 Subscription offer Get 3 issues of Trout Fisherman magazine for £5 when you subscribe

WIN £1,000 worth of Greys fly-lines in our great competition COVER STORY

69 New gear

24 Dig out your lures

COVER STORY Robbie Winram tests the latest gear including a travel rod and neoprene waders

COVER STORY On the hunt for a winter specimen at Haywards Farm

74 Fly-tying gear Reviews of a new dubbing, barbless hooks, synthetic fibres and yarn

FOCUS ON...

OPINION & NEWS

32 Prime time

COVER STORY Plan your visits carefully to get the most out of your winter trout fishing sessions

76 Reader competition

Russ Symons ties a Winter Damsel

78 News

All that’s new on the trout scene and Ian Muckle’s Scottish news page

77 Reader offer

80 Investigation

Get a Stillwater cassette reel for £30 plus a Stillwater fly-line for £10!

36 Retrieves Nick Hart discusses the retrieve options available when trout refuse to chase

What can be done to help angler numbers grow in 2017?

84 Letters

WHERE TO FISH

Trout Fisherman readers have their say on line twist, fly scent and fishing on a motorcycle

Four stillwater fisheries worth visiting this month

86 Book reviews

42 Spotlight on Eglwys Nunydd

Making Better Flies and The Healing Stream – a book about the River Wharfe and the River Eden

39 UK waters

COVER STORY

JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN Bankside

an-up Cle Our Bankside Campaign Clean-up 2016 campaign continues to gain momentum with more fisheries asking for the poster and creating their own bins for discarded leaders. Spread the message…we can do this.

WHERE TO FIND US...

Winter and early-season hotspots

88 Cockwill 44 River Wharfe Fred Bainbridge sings the praises of a £4 day ticket stretch of Yorkshire river COVER STORY

There’s a new trout species to go after in 2017 – the sparctic trout

90 Troutmasters

ADVICE

Are you amongst this month’s badge winners?

50 Advice squad

95 Match news

Our experts answer your questions on tail-nipping, smutting, vice choice, gutting your catch and more

Iain Barr starts his new, hard-hitting column all about competition flyfishing

54 How to...

98 Wading in

Paul Procter explains how to make the most of winter trout fishing

Jeff Prest compares two types of angler – the home boy and the nomad!

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THIS MONTH’S WINNER Sunset at Grafham Water.

Sent in by Alan and Maggie Ward

HOW TO ENTER

Shot of the

MONTH

If you have a flyfishing image that you would like to see here, please send it to us.

Images must be: original size • high resolution.

Email them to leigh.johnson@bauermedia.co.uk If the image is too large to go over email, send via the free service wetransfer.com (for help see wetransfer.com/howitworks).

Published photographers will receive a landing net from Sharpes of Aberdeen.

Browse their products at www.sharpes.net or call 01466 794415.

Enter our competition now for your chance to win a Sharpe’s landing net

Think global

Begin the New Year with angling goals to renew your excitement. Four contributors share

6 TROUT FISHERMAN | JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31

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in 2017

BE INSPIRE D

Ideas to m a an incredibke 2017 le year for you

their intentions...

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JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 7

Words: Peter Cockwill Pictures: Peter Gathercole Peter scales down his flies and leader for success at Woolaston.

Scale down Peter Cockwill visits a water he’s never fished before and

12 TROUT FISHERMAN | JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31

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TACTICS Catc

h more with winte stillwater t r ips

FOR SUCCESS goes small to tempt wily fish. Copy his methods...

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JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 13

TACTICS WINTER SMALL WATERS Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest

The glaringly OBVIOUS...

They argue over what it is, yet many anglers call the Prince Nymph crucial to their fly collection. High above the helicopters at Woodburn, one man shows us why…

18 TROUT FISHERMAN | JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31

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As the day dwindles, John Shaw makes a few final casts at Woodburn.

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JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 19

TACTICS SMALL WATERS Words & pictures: Jonathan Tomlinson

Now’s the time to fish the ‘fluffies’ for stillwater trout.

24 TROUT FISHERMAN | JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31

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g i D t ou R U O Y RES U L

d n an winter e d l tt Ho nt for a arm... a M sh’s son hu ward’s F fi t r Spo Tomlin at Hay than ith lures a n Jo en w im spec

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JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 25

WHERE TO FISH RIVERS Words: Russell Hill Pictures: Peter Gathercole

THE RIVER WHARFE

Fred Bainbridge sings the praises of a Yorkshire river where you pay £4, park up and walk a few yards to find stunning grayling

44 TROUT FISHERMAN JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31

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The Yorkshire Wharfe is a noted grayling river with good browns too.

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JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 45

Fly-Tying In association with Veniard

trout FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

Heavy METAL

Peter Gathercole ties a weighted bug for winter grayling ďŹ shing Visit our website www.veniard.com

New Gear

Independen tt Robbie Win ester r puts the lat am e gear throug st h its paces

Everything from rods to jackets & indicators

The six-piece Quest V2 makes an ideal travel rod.

On the move with the multi-piece Quest Wychwood Quest V2 rods from £124.99 www.wychwoodgame.co.uk THIS new rod series covers six models from an 8ft 6in 4wt at £124.99 to a 10ft 7wt at £134.99. I had the 9ft 6in 7wt and 10ft 7wt rods on test.

All are six-piece rods so are going to appeal to the travelling angler who wants something compact and easily stowable, either to keep in the car boot or to take on board an aircraft. If your fishing session involves a lot of walking the rod tube can also be slotted into a rucksack pouch.

When picking up the rods for the first time they did feel heavier than some standard four-piece rods I‘ve tested over the last few months. But these are 7wt outfits, which I consider at the heavy end of the spectrum anyway so their weight doesn’t really become an issue.

“The middle to tip flex makes it a good choice for casters of any ability.”

Initially I thought they had a fairly ‘steely’ action, which I put down to them having six sections. The increased number of joints does stiffen the rod’s action. However, once I started putting the 10ft 7wt through its paces with a matching 7wt floating line the action changed more to a middle to tip flex, which makes it a good choice for casters of any ability.

At short and medium range the pick-up was nice and clean. It produced a good stable back cast with tight loops, and the subsequent forward cast and line shoot was controlled with good presentation onto the water. As I worked on extending the casts with a longer and longer head length outside the rod tip, my casting arm stroke had to become longer to get the very best when striving for distance.

Even with difficult side winds, putting out a straight line was a fairly straightforward undertaking for this www.troutfisherman.co.uk

rod. It has a fair bit of backbone and I could call on its reserves of power, useful with double hauling, when I wanted to really punch the line out.

The rod performed continuous motion casts such as the roll and switch well, but I did need to push the tip slightly further forward to get a good clean turnover. The 7wt rating is about spot on although I felt I could go slightly heavier with both floating and intermediate lines. When it comes to medium to fast sinkers, a 7wt or 7/8wt rating matches it very well.

And although you feel the rod loading deeper it puts the lines out with no complaint.

The deep black blank has matching fittings.

Quick tip recovery You would think the 9ft 6in 7wt would almost mimic the 10ft 7wt but this isn’t the case. Straight from the off it felt a lot livelier and it certainly has a much quicker tip recovery. Everything feels more compact and at short and medium range it can generate incredibly fast line speeds with tight loops leading to pinpoint accuracy on touch down. I didn’t feel as though it had quite the same amount of power in reserve as the 10-footer, but it still went about its job very well and I really enjoyed fishing floaters and intermediates on this rod as it gave me a great fell for what the lines were doing.

VERDICT: The 10ft model is perfect for larger stillwaters and reservoirs from both bank and boat when you have to cope with exposure to wind and the elements. I would also have no problem taking this rod to the coast for some light saltwater fishing, and equally onto a larger river to tackle sea trout and grilse. It has the power and versatility to cope with all these scenarios. The 9ft 6in 7wt rod makes for a lovely bank rod with its lively action and its ability to present the line accurately and with good presentation.

TECH-SPEC MODEL: QUEST V2 10FT 7WT Price: £134.99 Weight: 162gr (5.7oz) Sections: 6 (each one about 22-inches long) ■ Full wells cork handle with reinforced black cork mix top and bottom; 1.25-inch cork/rubber mix fixed fighting butt; anodised saltwater-proof double ring uplocking reel seat.

■ Black gloss blank with matching whippings and silver highlights; alignment dots.

■ Two lined stripping guides, eight dark chrome snake rings, tip and keeper ring.

■ 24.5-inch zip top cordura rod tube with carry handle and partitioned inside.

MODEL: QUEST V2 9FT 6IN 7WT Price: £134.99 Weight: 150gr (5.3oz) ■ All other tech specs the same except it has seven snake rings and a 23.5-inch case.

JANUARY 4 - JANUARY 31 | TROUT FISHERMAN 69

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