Dace Fishing with the Trudex III Centrepin

Recently I decided to fish the River Stour down in Dorset. If I’m honest, my target was a nice big Winter roach, but what I actually experienced was some quite incredible dace fishing! We were coming towards the end of the year and I’d just taken receipt of the most magnificent piece of fishing tackle – the JW Young & Sons Trudex Centrepin! This was the perfect opportunity to indulge myself in some winter trotting with my new gear and I could not wait!

The centrepin was going to be the star of the show. It was our first trip out together and I was looking forward to enjoying this quite significant upgrade from the pin I was using previously. The handmade centrepins from JW Young & Sons are widely regarded as the benchmark of quality when it comes to pins and I wasn’t disappointed.

The Trudex III is a nice size for this style of fishing – 4.5″ x 0.54″. I own bigger centrepins, but this was the perfect size for roving around the river fishing for silvers. Other features include a very cool, classic looking silver spool and mechanically it felt very solid, including its sturdy and simple on/off click drag. My 4lb Glide Mono poured off the spool beautifully through the wire adjustable lineguard.

As I said before, my aim was to catch a specimen roach. I started to trot my Fineliner float down through a few swims, whilst trickling in some red maggots. The bites, unfortunately, were not forthcoming. However, I moved into one peg where I noticed fish hitting my maggots on the drop! They weren’t roach but I didn’t care – I wanted to catch them! I shallowed up the float and immediately started to catch some quality Dace!

The Trudex centrepin performed exceptionally. I’ve mention before that you just forget about the tackle when you’re using these pins. That’s because they do their task perfectly. You’re not trying to force line off the spool or sort out tangles, it’s just smoothly going about it’s business while you focus on your fishing!

The Dace kept coming. This was turning into a very enjoyable little session. Each winter I do this and it’s become quite magical to me. Such simple fishing and reminiscent of my childhood. This is something I’ll do every winter for as long as I’m able to.

I urge you try try this style of fishing. The Trudex III centrepin will cost you around £260, which is at the more affordable end of the JW Young & Sons centrepin range. Of course, you can spend less on a pin, but in my experience you’ll end up disappointed. You’ll wish that you’d reached for a higher level of quality and the Trudex III definitely provides that in spades!

If you enjoyed this article and want to find out more my centrepin fishing then read my article on centrepin fishing for chub and barbel. 

Thanks for reading and good luck with your fishing!