Barford St Martin Fishery

A three rod stretch of the Nadder running upstream on the true right bank from the bridge over the A30 at Barford St Martin, just west of Wilton. Park at the local pub and walk down. It is a premium wild fishery with good numbers of trout and grayling, and dace and chub are taken on the fly too. A few fish of around a pound and a half come out each year but most are a pound or less.

The beat alternates deep slow bends with shallow gravelly runs. The deep water holds the better fish and is best approached in the late evening and through the summer. Early in the season most fish are in the weed in the shallower areas. Large dark olives hatch in the middle of the day early on, there is a good grannom hatch on warm April days, a healthy mayfly population, and yellow may duns appear in numbers.

Summer evenings give the best of it, and the last hour before dark is almost always the best of those. The top third allows wading, where the banks are steep and lined with trees; take care of one or two deep spots and the undercut roots sticking out from the bank. The rest is open meadow on the edge of the village with easy casting and level banks, which makes it a safe fishery for older members. Bigger stocked fish occasionally drop in from fisheries further up the river.