Rockbourne Trout Fishery

Rockbourne Trout Fishery sits near Fordingbridge in Hampshire, on the edge of the village of Rockbourne. Six spring fed lakes, Pine, Oak, Spring, Bridge, Alder and Long Acre, are spread across about fifty five acres of woodland and pasture, with Sweatfords Water, a tributary of the Hampshire Avon, running through the valley.

Each lake has its own character. Pine is the deepest, with a hole to twenty feet and a strong buzzer hatch. Alder has a fifteen foot hole by the lodge. Bridge is the smallest, good for stalking under the trees. Long Acre is often gin clear and is reckoned the best dry fly water here, while Oak and Spring are reed lined and sheltered.

The lakes are stocked with rainbow, brown, blue, tiger, sandy, golden and pinky trout, and Arctic char, from two and a half pounds up to twenty, fishery record nineteen pounds. Day tickets are sold by the fish, from one fish at £40 up to four fish at £80, catch and kill across all six lakes, though Oak, Pine and Spring now allow catch and release once you have taken your limit, from December to March. Season tickets run six or twelve months for ten or twenty fish.

A lodge by the water serves breakfast, lunch and drinks, with a wood burning stove in the snug. Tuition, corporate days and private groups can all be booked, and the fishery is open seven days a week all year except Christmas Day.