Trout Fisherman 509 (Digital Sampler)

FREE TACTICS DVD INSIDE FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

Reservoir

SKILLS

SUPER DEAL

Starter outfit

Winning boat & bank tips

ONLY £129.99

ISSUE 509 25 APRIL - 22 MAY, 2018 | £3.60

SAVE

£154!

42 f lies to

CAMPAIGN

Take a pal fly-fishing

HIT THE STREAM

RIVER WHARFE

Top grayling & brownie tips

INSECT HATCHES

MAYFLY TIME

Get ready for rich feeding

tie now

VENUE SPOTLIGHT

ELINOR GUIDE Spring hotspots & flies

TACKLE ON TEST

LATEST GEAR

Our reviews help you buy

Contents

TACTICS

6 Wowed by Wimbleball

COVER STORY A rejuvenated Wimbleball reservoir produces supercharged early season sport

Cover image by: Peter Gathercole

12 The double Booby

Gareth Jones uses two buoyant flies to catch at Llandegfedd Reservoir COVER STORY

60 Tackle advice

Simon’s Simon Kidd advises on what rod to choose and how to gain extra distance on the cast

FLY-TYING

61 The Golden Olive Booby

Peter Gathercole ties a muted version of this stillwater favourite

18 Storm amid the calm

64 Flybox fillers

24 Making moves

68 Fastmail flies of the month

Peter Cockwill persuades fish to come out and play on a mirror-flat Buckinghamshire fishery Keeping on the move on small stillwaters often works in your favour, as Mike Thrussell discovers

OFFERS & COMPETITIONS

28 Good old black & green

80 Reader offer

33 Wharfe factor

Craig Barr falls back on a tried and trusted simple approach at Toft Newton Reservoir

Russ Symons ties a Midas Dry Fly

Six successful patterns and how to fish them

70 Flymasters

Peter Gathercole judges your Irish-style wet Mayfly patterns and sets a new challenge

Save £154 on a Greys GR30 rod outfit – the perfect starter kit

COVER STORY Fred Bainbridge enjoys a bumper day of Yorkshire brownies and grayling

TACKLE

84 Reader competition

BE INSPIRED

COVER STORY Robbie Winram reviews the latest gear including a Shakespeare travel rod and Orvis waders

COVER STORY

9 lucky readers can each win a Greys QRS cassette reel, each worth £109.99

89 Subscription offer

Subscribe to Trout Fisherman magazine this month and receive a Stillwater DX fly reel worth £39.99

38 Making memories

COVER STORY Introduce a friend to fly-fishing and watch them get hooked on this great sport

FOCUS ON...

44 Time for mayflies COVER STORY

Get ready for the trout’s time of plenty

WHERE TO FISH 47 UK waters

Four top stillwaters to visit this month

50 Spotlight on...

Late spring hotspots for boat and bank at Elinor Trout Fishery, Northamptonshire COVER STORY

PRINT AND DIGITAL EDITIONS AVAILABLE www.greatmagazines.co.uk/ troutfisherman

ADVICE

52 Advice squad

TF’s experts answer your questions on dry fly tactics, foam rig winders, fishing in coloured water and more...

56 How to...

Catch in a flat calm. Paul Procter has the answers

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY www.troutfisherman.co.uk

troutfishermanmag TroutFishMag troutfisherman troutfishmag

75 New gear

82 Fly-tying products

Tying flies with dubbing on a spool, squirrel hair and a new translucent Fritz

OPINION & NEWS 85 News

News round-up from Scotland

86 Letters

Trout Fisherman readers have their say

88 Cockwill

Peter meets up with old friends and makes new ones at the London Fly Fishing Fair

90 Troutmasters

This month’s badge winners and latest catch pictures

95 Match news

Iain Barr reports on his World Bank Masters event

98 Wading in

Jeff Prest gets to grips with a reader’s grumbles and explains where the magazine is headed

troutfisherman troutfisherman troutfisherman-online @troutfisherman

THIS MONTH’S WINNER Brown from the middle Severn.

Sent in by Vincent Sparrow

HOW TO ENTER

Shot of the

MONTH

If you have a fly-fishing 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 Sharpe’s 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: Nick Hart

6 TROUT FISHERMAN | APRIL 25 - MAY 22

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

TACTICS Spring

rese tips to help rvoir catch more you trout

Wowed by WIMBLEBALL Nick Hart and England’s Matt Kingdon sample a rejuvenated Wimbleball reservoir during early season...

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 7

TACTICS RESERVOIRS Words: Gareth Jones Pictures: Peter Gathercole

Gareth prepares to net a lively rainbow at his local Llandegfedd Reservoir.

12 TROUT FISHERMAN | APRIL 25 - MAY 22

www.troutďŹ sherman.co.uk

The Double BOOBY Gareth Jones uses two buoyant flies to catch well at his local Llandegfedd Reservoir

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 13

TACTICS SMALL WATERS Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest

18 TROUT FISHERMAN | APRIL 25 - MAY 22

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

Storm amid the calm Getting fish to come out and play in a millpond isn’t easy but one Buckinghamshire fishery makes the challenge worthwhile…

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 19

TACTICS CONCRETE BOWLS Pictures: Peter Gathercole Words: Craig Barr

Good old black & green

Craig Barr falls back on a tried and trusted simple approach to find the fish during an early season session at Toft Newton Reservoir...

28 TROUT FISHERMAN | APRIL 25 - MAY 22

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 29

TACTICS RIVERS Words & pictures: Jeffrey Prest Fred Bainbridge’s quest to find unpressured water was rewarded by the fish of the day.

Wharfe FACTOR

If you’re starting to pencil in dates for the new season, keep a summer’s day clear for Yorkshire’s River Wharfe. It could be the one you remember most come October...

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 33

Fly-Tying In association with Veniard

trout FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

Golden Olive BOOBY Peter Gathercole ties a muted version of this stillwater favourite

Visit our website www.veniard.com

Making MEMORIES to take It’s spring and the season’s started. Help someone else yours! up our sport and make a difference to their lives...and

38 TROUT FISHERMAN | APRIL 25 - MAY 22

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

LY-F ISHI NG can be life chan ging . Once some one has the ‘bug ’ they can go all out, buyi ng gear, book ing casti ng lesso ns and plan ning holid ays wher e there ’s a trou t lake or river near by. One can get cons umed by the spor t. But why? Wha t exac tly is it that’s so capt ivati ng?

Free with this issue is a DVD abou t mod ern stillw ater tactics and the stars of that DVD are Iain Barr and Gare th Jone s – two of the UK’s most expe rienc ed and succ essfu l f ly anglers.

So, we aske d them exac tly what it is that make s them get up at 4am to be at a lake by dawn when it’s bitte r cold .

F

www.troutfisherman.co.uk

I mean , who does that? Mad keen anglers, that’s who!

It’s our hope that – if you’r e read ing this maga zine for the first time and you’r e inter ested in havi ng a go – you’l l find this artic le (and the whole maga zine) insp iring .

And if you’r e a seas oned trou t angler alrea dy at the top of your game , then why not do the most excit ing and fulfi lling thing a f ly angler can ever do.

Take a pal fishi ng and watc h them get bitte n by the f ly-fis hing bug. They ’ll always reme mber who got them involved – you’l l be perm anen tly etch ed into their pers onal angl ing histo ry.

Our spor t’s futu re depe nds on us.

BE INSPIRE D

Have fun s h a friend hoowing w to fly f ish

APRIL 25 - MAY 22 | TROUT FISHERMAN 39

GREAT STARTER KIT!

GREYS ROD OUTFIT FOR £129.99 GR30 rod & lots more...

SPECIAL READER OFFER

SAVE £154

THIS month’s great offer from Glasgow Angling Centre is a complete fly-fishing fl outfit based around the Greys GR30 fly rod.

This 9ft 6in 7wt four-piece rod delivers a user-friendly user-friendl performance and with its forgiving action allows anglers of all casting abilities to achieve achie high line speeds with ease. Features include: ● Classy metallic olive blank ● Titanium finish reel seat ● Top quality snake intermediates ● Supplied with a protective protectiv rod tube.

The offer also includes a Stillwater C90 cassette reel, a large arbor, arbor lightweight model with a powerful drag that comes with a superlight plastic plas spool, and two spare. Plus you also get a Stillwater floating fly line, a large pocket pock fly box and 50 popular flies, two spools of Greylon tippet material, a 50 metre spool of 30lb backing, a pack each of braided loops and tapered leaders, and a set of nippers. nipper The normal RRP of this outfit is £284.90, but it is available to Trout rout Fisherman readers for less than half price at £129.99!

Stillwater C90-cassette reel.

The userfriendly Greys GR30 fly rod.

(* Plus £6.99 p&p, offer available while stocks last).

Floating fly line and 50 metre spool of 30lb backing.

Large pocket fly box and 50 popular fly patterns.

HOW TO ORDER

Quote ‘Trout Fisherman offer’ and code 00131TF when you place your order.

Two spools of Greylon copolymer tippet.

Braided leader loops and 9ft knotless tapered leaders.

Stillwater nipper line-cutter with hook eye cleaner.

Tel: 0141 212 8880 Fax: 0141 331 6340 Email: sales@fishingmegastore.com Website: http://gac.fishing/00131TF/ Or by Post: Glasgow Angling Centre Ltd, Unit 1, The Point, 29 Saracen St, Glasgow G22 5HT

WIN WORTH £1000

OF GREYS QRS REELS 9 readers will each receive a QRS reel: THIS month we’ve teamed up with Pure Fishing to offer nine lucky readers the chance to own a quality Greys QRS (Quad Rating System) reel size 5/6/7/8 worth £109.99. Our tackle tester Robbie Winram says: “You get a lot of reel (and spools) for the price and the spool locking system is bullet-proof once in place. I like the smaller size of reel making it more compact and a good balance on the rod.”

That’s a prize package of £109.99 for each winner!

For more information visit www.greysfishing.co.uk

HOW TO ENTER All you have to do to enter this competition is answer this simple question: Q What does QRS stand for?

Send your answer to us on a postcard - see details below.

Send your answer on a postcard, along with your name, address and contact telephone number to: Trout Fisherman Greys competition, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough PE2 6EA. Entries must reach us by Friday, May 25, 2018.

Terms & conditions: Winners will be drawn at random from all correct entries received by 5pm on May 25, 2018. The Editor’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

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