The J W Young 13ft Trotter rod is described by the manufacturer as “an excellent all round float rod with a snappy and responsive tip action”. Over the last two months I have put the J W Young 13ft Trotter through its paces on the tidal rivers Yare, Bure and Thurne on the Norfolk Broads, read on to find out if the manufacturers description holds true.

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From www.jwyoungs.co.uk

Length: 13′ 0″
Recommended line strength: 2-4lb
Construction: Compact, three-piece construction on super slim ultra light high modulus blank
Rings: For fixed spool and centerpin reels

Ringed for centrepins and fixed spool reels.

During this two month review period I used the J W Young 13ft Trotter rod for both trotting a stick float on large tidal rivers for Roach and Skimmers and also waggler fishing on a small boat dyke for large Roach and Rudd.

After taking delivery the first thing to notice is the hard zip top case/tube that the rod comes with which is excellent, the rod is further protected by a three piece divided cloth bag, that’s the looking after the rod taken care of then.

As the manufacturers description states the blank is in deed thin, making the rod light to hold and balanced off with the right reel it’s easy to hold the rod for long stretches, something that is essential when stick float fishing.

The J W Young Trotter has a screw up reel fitting which ensures that the reel stays firmly in place and over the review period I have experienced no problems with the reel fitting slipping or being hard to screw up or down and the reel has remained firmly in place throughout.

The Trotter rod also comes with a hinged hook retainer just above the handle which I found useful when moving about stalking large Rudd with a waggler and bread flake. As the retainer is hinged it folds back out of the way and so far I have had no issue with it catching the reel line when casting etc and due to its position don’t expect it to either.

Overall the rod is good looking with a quality feel but as they say looks are not everything, so how did it fair when put to use, lets find out now.

J W Young 13ft Trotter: On the bank
As previously mentioned, over the two month review period I have used the J W Young Trotter rod extensively on the Norfolk Broads tidal rivers, one such trip was to the River Thurne where I had the opportunity to really put the rod to the test.

Arriving at Cold Harbour Farm on the River Thurne near Ludham at 07:30 I quickly set up for a few hours of trotting a stick float up river on the flood tide which was already starting to flow nicely, with what wind there was blowing down river, control of the stick would be easier than if it was blowing the same direction as the tide.

The 13ft Trotter was setup with a Shakespeare Mach 2 front drag reel carrying 4lb line to a 2lb bottom. The hook was a size 18 under a wire stemmed stick float carrying 6 No 4′s spaced out equally with a dropper shot a couple of inches above the hook. The float was set so the double maggot hook bait just tripped bottom.

Three pinches of maggots were thrown out as loose feed two rod lengths out at the start of the session quickly followed by the first under hand cast (more of a flick). The bale arm was left off to allow the tide to peel line of the reel and I used my index finger to check and control the line as the float carried on up river on its journey. This was made easy by the relatively short distance between the reel spool and the rod handle. I always hold the rod throughout the trot to ensure I’m in control of the float and so that I can quickly react to bites, the light weight blank of the rod certainly ensures this isn’t a problem for long periods at a time.

The first bite came from a 4oz roach 25 yards down the run, a quick flick of the wrist while trapping the line against the spool ensured instant connection with the fish, the rod easily picking up the line over the 25 yards and within a few seconds the fish was easily swung to hand.

A pinch of maggots was introduced before each under hand cast and over a period of 2 hours I had taken a good 5lb of silver fish between 2 and 6oz before I struck in to something more solid. A few quick nods on the tip revealed the culprit to be a Bream which made a concerted effort to swim for the inside reed bed, with some considerable side strain I was able to steer the fish out in to the deeper water and after a couple of minutes a Bream tipping the scales at just over the 3lbs lay in the landing net. The rod easily coped with the bigger fish, the power in the lower sections coming in to play when applying the side strain to steer the fish away. Tidal River Bream fight considerably harder than their lake cousins and I was pleased with how the rod had coped.

Following a couple of Skimmers up to the 1.5lb mark the swim went dead for a few minutes, just as I was thinking through what to do next to spark it back in to life the float buried and immediately carted off towards the reeds, with a healthy bend in the rod and the lower section of the rod doing its work this was no Bream. Over the next 3 minutes the fish did it’s best to dive for cover in the reeds and over hanging bushes but I was able to control the hard surges easily, even though I only had a 2lb hook length I was confident that the rod was cushioning the violent runs and the hook would hold. What was the culprit? A perch just over the 2lb mark that’s what. Those of you who have caught Perch of this size will no doubt know how much of a fight they can put up, all during a strong tidal flood as well.

This one session is all the evidence I needed to agree that the J W Young 13ft Trotter is more than at home catching silver fish time after time but has the strength in the lower sections to cope with larger unexpected fish such as the Bream and Perch caught during this session. However, how would the rod cope fishing the waggler in a weed lined boat dyke with quality Roach and Rudd as the quarry? Very well is the answer. I fished a piece of bread flake under a loaded waggler between a couple of beds of thick weed, taking a handful of Roach and Rudd to just over the 1lb mark. On the strike the rod quickly picked up the line and I was able to easily steer the fish away from the weed and through the clear channel to the waiting landing net, so it would appear the rod is equally at home fishing a waggler on a static water and not just running water.

To finish, all I can say is that the rod will remain my weapon of choice for all my future trotting sessions on Norfolk’s Tidal rivers and I look forward to putting it through it’s paces with some winter Chub fishing on the River Wensum, roll on winter.

Buy the J W Young 13ft Trotter rod new on Ebay for around £50.