CHALKSTREAM FISHING – 5 BEATS TO VISIT THIS SUMMER
Words: Patrick
, It’s a unique skill. It requires casting perfection – your leader must land like gossamer on the water’s surface – and fly presentation has to be impeccable. One mistake and it’s game over. It requires stealth, on hands and knees if necessary. And an encyclopaedic knowledge of palaeopteras is a plus for when match the hatch tactics are the riddle of the river.
But, without getting too bogged down in the nitty-gritty of this artistry, a day spent on a chalkstream is a day truly well spent – gin clear waters, and an abundance of the most enticing flora and fauna in every which direction. And that moment a wily trout flicks its tail and rises towards your dry fly: unbeatable. You can’t fathom the buzz until witnessing it first hand. Here are five of the best places at which to take the delicate plunge this summer…
WHERWELL PRIORY – RIVER TEST, HAMPSHIRE, Get that feel for owning your own private country estate with the grand house and the stunning river running through it.
WIMBORNE ST GILES – RIVER ALLEN, DORSET, Unspoilt and unchanging, this gem of a Wessex river is the epitome of wild trout fishing where the only disturbance is a ruminating cow staring over the fence.
MOTTISFONT ABBEY – RIVER TEST, HAMPSHIRE, Fish the historic Oakley beat: the home of fly fishing. Casting a fly on this beat is the equivalent to getting a game on Wimbledon’s centre court.
MULBERRY WHIN – DRIFFIELD BECK, YORKSHIRE, The most northerly chalkstream on the planet and every bit as good as its southern counterparts, often described at the ‘Itchen of the North’.
NETHER WALLOP MILL – STOCKBRIDGE, HAMPSHIRE, On the banks of the burbling Wallop Brook with a trout lake stacked with fish, this is a fantastic place to learn how to fly fish.
Contact Simon Cooper at www.fishingbreaks.co.uk
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