Avington Trout Fishery

Avington Trout Fishery sits on the River Itchen at Avington, between Winchester and New Alresford in Hampshire, just beyond Park Farm on the lane signed to Avington House from Itchen Abbas. Three spring-fed lakes, created in the late 1960s by Sam Holland out of a single silted-up lake, cover around nine acres between beds of sedge, flowering rush and yellow iris, with alder, willow and oak giving shade to fish and angler alike. A half-mile, double-bank stretch of carrier, cut from the main Itchen during that same work, runs alongside the lakes and still holds wild brown trout and grayling.

Lake One and Lake Two are stocked daily with triploid rainbow trout and, from late spring, brown trout, fished catch and keep by the number of fish: two for £100 up to four for £130, every ticket also covering catch and release fishing on Lake Three. Lake Three is the catch-and-release water on its own, £75 a day, restocked regularly with smaller trout including the occasional tiger trout. The carrier is strictly catch and release, dry fly or nymph only, no wading, £70 for the day.

A recently renovated cafe and tackle shop sits beside the lakes, tackle hire and tuition can both be arranged, and self-catering lodges on the wider Avington Estate overlook the water. The fishery is open all year, 8am to 4pm, later through the summer.