Christchurch Angling Club

Christchurch Angling Club controls a large spread of the lower Hampshire Avon, the Dorset Stour and the middle Frome, and it is one of the few clubs of its size in the south where membership is genuinely open. There is no waiting list and no proposer. You join online, your membership runs 365 days from that date, and salmon and sea trout fishing on the waters where the club holds migratory rights is included rather than sold as an extra.

The fly fishing that matters most here is on the Frome. Tincleton and Waddock Farm are prime middle-Frome chalk stream, strictly game fishing only from 1 April to 14 October with traditional tackle and methods, and between them they hold some of the best wild brown trout and grayling water on the river. Tincleton is 1000 metres of main river and 950 metres of carrier, bookable as a whole fishery for up to two rods a day. Waddock is 1500 metres of main river and 300 metres of the North Stream, where the Upper beat is bookable and the Lower beat and North Stream are left open so members can drop in without booking. From 15 October to 14 March both switch to specimen grayling, float fished only.

On the Avon and the Stour the club lists seven fisheries as game water. Winkton, on the lower Avon above the Royalty, is the salmon fishing, with sea trout through the summer and two large weir pools on the upper stretch. Ringwood, Ibsley Stream and Little Canford on the Stour all hold wild brown trout and grayling alongside a strong coarse head, and are open to fly fishing in season. Away from the rivers, White Sheet Trout Fishery near Wimborne is three stocked lakes, one of them catch and release, with a clubhouse, boats and fly casting tuition laid on for members each year. No dogs on any river section.