Dorchester Fishing Club

Dorchester Fishing Club traces its roots to 1845, when the Dorchester Angling Club first took rods on the River Frome. The present club was established on 6 April 1877, with water leased from the Duchy of Cornwall and Captain Arthur Mansel as its first Honorary Secretary. In 1879, G.S. Marryat joined and began experimenting with artificial nymphs on this stretch of the River Frome. The club built its own fish-rearing tank in 1888, and took on further water through the twentieth century, including a substantial bequest of double-bank fishing in 1987.

Today the club holds around 12 miles of wild fishing across the River Frome, the River Cerne and the River Piddle, together with the carriers and side streams that run alongside them, extending both above and below Dorchester in Dorset. The water holds Brown Trout, Grayling, and none of it is stocked. The trout season runs from 1 April to 14 October, with grayling and pike fishing following from 15 October to the end of February. Fishing is by single upstream dry fly or nymph, and dogs are not allowed along the bank. Membership runs by a closed waiting list.

A limited number of day tickets are sold each season, covering the club’s River Frome beats and their side streams only; the Cerne and Piddle water is for members and their guests. Tickets are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and bank holidays within the trout season, capped at 45 for the year and two per day, with none sold during the mayfly period from 16 May to 15 June. A day ticket costs £70, or £140 for three days.