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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
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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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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
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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).
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Hardy Shadow 8ft, 4wt
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£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
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