Trout Fisherman 501 (Digital Sampler)

FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

TACKLE ST TE ONerne ss fly rod l Wild l Geo wading jacket l Vibe floating line l Ultralite reel

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n i s w o b n i Catch ra

N M U T AU

! d e l a e v e r s r e t Best flies & wa

13 SEPT - 10 OCT, 2017 | £3.50

ISSUE 501

Amazing reader offer

Save 45%

RIVER SKILLS

on Hardy Shadow rods

How to fish Spiders STREAMS

BE STEALTHY Tips for bare bone rivers

DRY FLY SKILLS

WAKE 'EM UP! Dries static or twitched!

RESERVOIRS

CARSINGTON

Autumn hotspots & flies

STILLWATERS

HIT THE WEED

Corixa, snail & fry patterns

Contents

BE INSPIRED

ADVICE

Steve Cullen shows you how to catch river trout in low water conditions

TF’s expert panel answer your questions on shortlining, offset hooks and positive hook-ups

6 Low water success

Cover image by: Jeffrey Prest

COVER STORY

TACTICS

60 How to...

Iain Barr and Gareth Jones do meerkat impressions at Chew Valley Lake

64 Snowbee advice

18 Foam up your dries

FLY-TYING

COVER STORY

12 Pick off the pods

COVER STORY Jonathan Tomlinson switches from small dries to large Poppers to tempt the fish up

24 Sinking to their level

Drew Dickson tries his Hotspot Buzzers to tempt trout feeding just subsurface at Watch Reservoir

OFFERS 46 Reader offer COVER STORY

Get 45% off a Hardy Shadow rod

76 Subscription offer

30 Spoilt for choice

How to fish Lough Melvin – which hosted the Ladies International this year

36 Beat the blues

Save up to 49% when you subscribe to Trout Fisherman magazine

WHERE TO FIND US...

Top buying tips for waterproof clothing

65 Foam Post Emerger

Peter Gathercole ties a fly to target trout feeding around the weedbeds

68 Flybox fillers

Russ Symons ties a Yellow Owl dry fly

72 Flymasters

Your snail creations are judged by Peter Gathercole who also sets a new challenge

TACKLE

FOCUS ON...

COVER STORY An indepth look at the latest rods, reels, clothing and accessories

77 New gear

COVER STORY TF highlights the trout food lurking in the autumn weedbeds

82 Fly-tying products

42 Fishing at a snails’ pace

OPINION & NEWS

COVER STORY Ireland’s Campbell Baird uses snail patterns to great effect at Eskragh

an-up Our Bankside Cle Campaign Clean-up 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.

Paul Procter’s guide to fishing Spiders

Damsel Nymphs tempt battling blue trout at Cornwall’s Siblyback Reservoir

40 Weedbed critters

JOIN OUR CAMPAIGN Bankside

56 Advice squad

WHERE TO FISH 47 UK waters

Four top trout fisheries to visit this month

50 Spotlight on...

COVER STORY

Late season hotspots on Carsington

52 Guide to Draycote Water Draycote ranger Tom Bird focuses on the bank spots ready for this year’s Troutmasters Senior Final

ONLINE www.troutfisherman.co.uk TroutFishMag troutfishermanmag Trout Fisherman

Stonfo’s dubbing brush machine

84 News

The latest developments on the trout scene

88 Letters

Trout Fishermann readers have their say

90 Cockwill

When an old book still rings true today

91 Troutmasters

This month’s badge winners and catch pictures

95 Match news

Iain Barr’s monthly match column

98 Wading in

Jeff Prest comments on tenkara and its current inner turmoil

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PRINT AND DIGITAL

EDITIONS AVAILABLE

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THIS MONTH’S WINNER

Lough Acalla, Co Galway, Ireland.

Sent in by David Turner

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

Words & pictures: Steve Cullen

Low water SUCCESS

Steve Cullen shows you how to catch river trout in low-water conditions...

6 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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BE INSPIRE D

Rivers may be but they st low ill produce

Big brown trout can be caught in low water if tactics and flies are right.

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 7

TACTICS SMALL WATERS Words: Jonathan Tomlinson Pictures: Peter Gathercole

Foam up YOUR DRIES Jonathan Tomlinson switches from small dries to large Poppers to tempt the fish up ...

Popper Hopper Hook: Size 10-14 dry fly Thread: Black Tag & Rib: Pearl tinsel Body: Claret seal’s fur dubbing Legs: Knotted pheasant tail fibres Hackle: Dark furnace Collar: Claret or purple seal’s fur Popper: Booby cord

18 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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Bob’s Bits Hook: Size 10-16 dry fly Thread: Black Rib: Clear mono or black thread Body: Black seal’s fur dubbed Wing: White calf tail or similar Hackle: Black cock hackle

Ethafoam Shipman’s Hook: Size 10-16 dry fly Thread: Black Rib: Pearl mylar tinsel Body: Black seal’s fur Breathers: White ethafoam front and rear

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 19

TACTICS MEDIUM-SIZE WATERS Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest

Sinking to THEIR LEVEL Top-of-the-water and underwater are millimetres apart, yet targeting the right zone can make a world of difference in your fishing, as Drew Dickson found on Watch Reservoir...

24 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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Up where you belong. A Watch rainbow finds the ‘hotspot’ irresistible.

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 25

TACTICS LOUGH MELVIN Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest

30 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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Spoilt for CHOICE

Straddling the Irish border, Lough Melvin was the hub of the British Isles generally when hosting the Ladies’ International. We picked a few brains as to how you fish a water where brownies are just the start…

The Ladies’ International gets under way, in the shadow of the Leitrim Mountains.

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 31

TACTICS RESERVOIRS Words & pictures: Russ Symons

Beat the BLUES

Russ Symons uses Damsel Nymphs to battle blue trout at Siblyback Reservoir

36 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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A salmon-like blue trout comes to the net at Siblyback, tempted on a Damsel Nymph.

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 37

FOCUS ON SNAILS

Fishing at a snails’ place

Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest

It’s the water Campbell Baird heads for when he’s preparing for somewhere else.

When fish hit Eskragh Lough’s snails like this, though, we wonder if you actually need anywhere else…

42 TROUT FISHERMAN | SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10

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Getting into position to meet the snails coming off the weedbeds.

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SEPTEMBER 13 - OCTOBER 10 | TROUT FISHERMAN 43

SPECIAL READER OFFER

SAVE 45%

*

ON HARDY SHADOW RODS THIS month’s month great offer from Glasgow Angling Centre is the Hardy Shadow fly fl rod. Built on a high performance, fast recovering middle to tip action blank, the rod is the perfect choice whether you are fishing a stillwater, s river or stream.

It is available in six models from an 8ft 4wt to a 10ft 8wt (see panel, right). Rods R from 8ft through to 9ft 6in have half wells cork handles, burl wood w spacers and double ring uplocking anodised alloy allo reel seats. The others have a full w wells handle and a fighting butt.

Features of this four-piece rod include: Lined butt guides and hard chrome single leg snake snak intermediates l Translucent olive green blank finish, with silver highlights l Section line-up marks l Full ‘AAAA’ grade cork handle. Supplied in a cloth rod bag and cloth-covered rod tube cloth-co

(* Plus £6.99 p&p. Offer available while sstocks last).

HOW TO ORDER

Quote ‘Trout Fisherman offer’ and code 00123TF. Please state rod size you require.

FROM ONLY

£154

MODEL

RRP

NOW

Hardy Shadow 8ft, 4wt

£279.99

£154

Hardy Shadow 9ft, 8wt

£299.99

£165

Hardy Shadow 9ft 6in, 7wt

£299.99

£165

Hardy Shadow 10ft, 7wt

£309.99

£170

Hardy Shadow 10ft, 8wt

£309.99

£170

Tel: 0141 212 8880 Fax: 0141 331 6340 Email: sales@fishingmegastore.com Website: http://gac.fishing/00123TF/ Or by Post: Glasgow Angling Centre Ltd, Unit 1, The Point, 29 Saracen St, Glasgow G22 5HT

SUBSCRIPTION OFFER

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when you subscribe subscrib to

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Print + Digital for £23 when you pay every 6 months by recurring payment OR 13 issues for £50 when you pay by one-off payment *49% saving applies when you choose the print and digital package option and pay by direct debit.

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QUOTE offer code IDAA TERMS & CONDITIONS: *49% saving when you choose the print and digital package option and pay by recurring payment. Subscriptions will start with the next available issue. The minimum term is 13 issues.

After your first 13 issues (1 year) your subscription will be continue at this offer price unless you are notified otherwise. You will not receive a renewal reminder and recurring payments will continue to be taken unless you tell us otherwise. This offer closes on 10th October 2017. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Cost from landlines for 01 numbers per minute are (approximate) 2p to 10p.

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