Fly Fishing Agent
Orvis
3 beats to book · guiding on 3 beats.
What Orvis offers
Tuition & guiding
Access & membership
Packages & stays
Extras
Orvis is a fly fishing retailer with its UK base in Andover and a shop on Stockbridge High Street, a few minutes from the Test. It also lets three chalk stream beats by the day: Kimbridge 'Ginger Beer' and Timsbury T5 on the Test, and Abbots Worthy on the Itchen. You can take a single rod or book the whole beat.
Kimbridge is about a third of a mile with shallows to fish over and a pool at the top, and takes four rods a day. Individual rods start at £195 in the trout season, or £640 for the beat. Timsbury T5 is just under half a mile of main river plus 370 yards of carrier, which is catch and release. It has a good mayfly and heavy sedge hatches later in the summer, and no wading. Rods from £135, or £476 for the beat. Abbots Worthy is the hardest of the three, a third of a mile on the Itchen that stays clear all year, which makes both the casting and the stalking harder. Rods from £120, or £265 for exclusive use with up to three. Grayling days are cheaper, £79 at Kimbridge and £55 at Abbots Worthy. A guide can be added to an exclusive booking.
The teaching side runs alongside it. The introductory Learn to Fly Fish session in the shop is free, stillwater and improver days are £135 and £150, there are river schools on the Test, and one to one tuition with an Orvis guide starts at £475. Bespoke and corporate days are arranged on the same beats, or on the coast for saltwater, with tackle and rod licences supplied if you need them. Syndicate rods are offered by enquiry.
The waters Orvis sells
3 watersBeats you can book through Orvis
River Test
Ginger Beer
Sitting on the middle River Test at Kimbridge, Hampshire — between the towns of Romsey and Stockbridge — Ginger Beer is a third of a mile of single-bank chalk stream fishing on one of England's most historically significant rivers. The beat opens with a deep hatch pool at its head before becoming significantly shallower downstream, and away from that upper pool the river bed is clearly visible, along with the fish holding above it. The Test's high alkalinity and clarity, combined with rich aquatic insect and shrimp life, sustain a flourishing ecosystem that keeps fish in condition and feeding throughout the season. The beat holds brown trout, rainbow trout, and grayling, all heavily stocked, making it well suited to anglers new to chalk stream fishing. Fishing for trout is restricted to dry fly or nymph, presented upstream only. April sees hatches of Large Dark Olive, Grannom Caddis, and Hawthorn, with the mayfly running from mid-May through to early June. June brings Blue-Winged Olive and Medium Olives, while the grayling season extends the fishing well into autumn and winter. The season runs 2 April to 13 December, with day rod prices of £250 in the main season, £300 during the mayfly window, and £95 for grayling-only days. Up to four rods can book the beat exclusively. All fishing is catch and release. A thatched fishing hut with a well-tended lawn sits right on the water, with toilet facilities on site. A 9-ft, 4- or 5-weight rod covers most situations; carry a selection of upstream nymphs alongside your dry fly box for brighter days when fish are reluctant to rise to the surface.
River Itchen
Abbots Worthy
Sitting on the upper River Itchen just three miles north of Winchester, the Abbots Worthy beat offers around a third of a mile of single and double-bank chalk stream fly fishing on one of Hampshire's most historically significant stretches of water. John Keats walked these very water meadows in 1819, and the Itchen's clear flows and harvest-season landscapes are said to have inspired his ode *To Autumn*. The river here carries a main channel alongside a mill stream, with a chalk bottom, good ranunculus weed beds, and clear water that makes sight fishing the primary approach. Fishing is predominantly from the right bank looking upstream, though parts of the beat can be fished from both banks, and wading is possible in places. The beat holds grayling to over 3 lbs alongside a lightly supplemented wild brown trout population — above Easton, the upper Itchen is managed primarily for wild trout, and this beat reflects that ethos. Most of the River Itchen is managed as an SSSI, and catch and release is encouraged to preserve native brown trout. Fly life is good throughout the season, with reliable hatches of Iron Blue and Large Dark Olive in good numbers, and even the occasional Turkey Brown. May brings the first mayfly of the year, while mayfly hatches on the Itchen are generally lighter than on the Test — olives, sedge, and BWO carry the season through to autumn. The grayling fishing runs to 14 December, priced at £55 per rod. The beat suits one to three rods and is well set up for a day's independent fishing, with a fishing hut on site for lunch breaks and shelter, a feature of many chalk stream beats in this valley. Car parking is available on site. Access is straightforward via the A33, M3, and A34, and Winchester is reachable by train from London Waterloo — making this a practical day-trip destination from the capital as well as a natural base for exploring the wider Itchen valley.
River Test
Timsbury 5
Timsbury 5 sits on the middle and lower Test, between the towns of Romsey and Stockbridge in Hampshire. The beat covers just over half a mile of single-bank main river chalk stream, with a medium flow speed and a mix of shallow and very deep sections that give anglers a genuine variety of water to read and work through in a day. Set a few kilometres below the Kimbridge beat, the river here is noticeably wider and significantly deeper in places, with fish holding in heavy weed that obscures the bottom in the deeper runs. The primary quarry is brown trout, stocked with fish carefully selected locally from River Test stock. The fishery stocks both rainbow and brown trout, with rainbows averaging around 3 lb, and the long-term average sits at three fish caught per rod per day. In the latter part of the season salmon regularly roll in the deeper pools, and there is always a chance of sea trout. The season runs from 30 April to 29 September, with fly-only rules throughout: upstream dry fly and nymph are the methods. The beat carries a good mayfly population, and large numbers of caddis flies hatch through late summer, making it worth carrying sedge patterns from July onwards alongside your standard olive and mayfly imitations. Up to five rods share the water, rated as explorer level and suited to anglers still building their chalk stream experience. Banks are regularly mown and strimmed, and weed cutting takes place through summer, keeping casting lanes open. A fishing hut is on the beat. Day-rod pricing runs at £245 in the main season and £180 in the late season.
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