One great benefit of testing a rod during the relevant season is that you can actually fish with it and find out how it handles on the river bank and what it is like to play fish with. Out of season the tester is limited to casting either on grass or a river but does not have the opportunity to catch fish in running water, unless there are some grayling to be found.

Terry Lawton reviews this new range of rods from Snowbee.

Here are the results of my recent testing of this 10 weight rod from Beulah which I took on my trip to the USA where it got a good workout on the local heavyweights!

Continuing our occasional series covering the world of classic coarse fishing which many of us fly fishers love also, Bill Rushmer who writes regularly for Anglers Mail takes a close up look at this new offering from the Hardy coarse range.

The Specimen Avon is the re-encarnation of an old favourite of classic coarse fishers from days gone by. Could this be a new classic?

Fish&Fly's own bass-man Justin Anwyl bravely took it upon himself to test out these top class reels from US manufacturer Van Staal on his trip to the Eastern USA this year whilst chasing striped bass, false albacore and other musclebound predators.

The reels certainly got a good work out but were they up to the task? Find out inside.........

Monomaster is a new device that clips onto your bag or jacket to collect up waste fishing line instantly and quickly to keep it out of the way, and more importantly out of the environment.

I recommend every angler should have at least one of these handy little devices for tidying up their own and any other line they find when out fishing - Ed!

Simon Young takes a look at a fly rod manufacturer you may not have come across before - L&L Rods from France. Tested around the world by their designers, we took their 4 piece 9 foot 5 weight and put it through its paces.

Looking for a top-class new reel with an excellent drag? UK Saltwater Flies now have Hatch Reels available from the USA. Taking spool design tips from some of the worlds favourite sports cars, the looks and performance will turn heads.

When a manufacturer with the pedigree of Hardy's releases any new product we at Fish&Fly are always keen to investigate. In this instance, even if the product is for the coarse fishing market we believe that this will still be of interest to enough of our readers to justify publishing our findings, especially as the growing trend in "classic coarse" fishing has many crossover fans with fly fishing.

Several of the Fish&Fly staff also enjoy their coarse fishing and we are sure many of you do to. We do not plan for this to become a frequent event, but we have got several products in the range which we will be reviewing over the next week or two for your (and our) interest.