The Little Syndicate

The Little Syndicate is built mainly around the River Frome, though its beats spread across four rivers in Dorset. It is capped at 25 rods for the season, and the water is intimate rather than expansive: small beats of tight, technical fishing rather than long open runs. All the fish are wild and every one goes back.

On the Frome the syndicate holds Lower Wraxall Brook, a mile of water near the top of the catchment, and the Watery Beat, just under half a mile on a carrier below West Stafford. On the River Piddle it fishes Ilsington Park near Puddletown, and on the River Cerne a beat at Charminster that splits into two distinct halves. Beyond those four it also fishes the half-mile Dairy House Carrier, the north carrier of the Home Beat at West Stafford.

The Watery Beat is the exception to the syndicate’s own rule: it is sold as a day ticket as well as to rods on the season, from £30 for the full trout season. Everything else is for members.