Aardvark McLeod

Aardvark McLeod is a fly fishing travel company arranging tailor made trips in the UK and overseas. The UK side of the business centres on the southern chalk streams, with days on the Test at Broadlands, the Wherwell Estate and Testcombe, the Kennet at Barton Court, the Nadder at Compton Chamberlayne, and on the Itchen, Avon, Frome, Dever, Lambourn and Anton. Two waters are let exclusively through them. Testcombe sits on the upper Test and has a Grade II listed fishing hut on a long island in the middle of the stretch. The other is a wild stretch of the Wylye running through the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Langford Lakes, where no stocking takes place and the trout and grayling are all wild fish. Compton Chamberlayne is listed at £245 to £335 per rod for the trout season.

Days can be guided or unguided, with tuition and casting masterclasses for beginners upwards, corporate days for groups of two to twenty, and exclusive lake days. Guiding, tackle hire, transfers and accommodation are arranged on request. Grayling fishing runs from 1 November to 28 February, and there are guided salmon and pike days through the winter. Beyond the chalk streams the company books salmon on the Eden in Cumbria and the Tyne in Northumberland, sea trout on the Teifi and Towy in west Wales, and the Arundell Arms water in Devon, alongside a large overseas programme covering Iceland, Norway, Argentina, Chile, the Bahamas, the Seychelles, Mongolia, Alaska and New Zealand. The company holds ATOL licence 12507. Contact them on 01980 847389.