Off to fish the test on Thursday, never fished a river before, any hints/help please especially type of leader/tippet. Thanks. Mike

Mike,

My experience is limited to the reaches from Timsbury downstream.
Hopefully, overall, we should about now start seeing decent quantities of mayfly, which have been a bit scarce and sporadic so far this month. Generally, I'd recommend emerger patterns/klinks/black-gnats as well as mayfly and duns. A leader as long as you are comfortable casting with and 3 to 4 pound point is plenty. Go longer and lighter if you feel like it.

The river is carrying a good volume of water at the moment and the banks are nice and firm for the most part.
Assuming that you will be on the main river, (rather than small carriers), I personally find a rod of around the 9ft mark is helpful as the back-side flora is now growing like the proverbial clappers.
If you are planning on fishing the small carriers, then go equipped with a short light set-up, but be aware that some of the Test carriers can be alot bigger than a good many rivers.

Hope that helps


Aidan