Wessex Fly Fishing Trout Lakes

Wessex Fly Fishing Trout Lakes sits in the lush water meadows beside the River Piddle: 5 small, clear stillwaters run for stocked rainbow trout rather than the wild fishing found on the river itself. Meadow Lake is the largest at two and a half acres, School Pool and The Oxbow are half an acre apiece, and The Bowl and Church Pool are the two smallest, a quarter of an acre each. One ticket covers the whole fishery.

The water is usually beautifully clear, which turns most days here into genuine stalking, picking out and casting to individual fish rather than covering water blind, though early in the season one or two of the pools can carry some colour. Rainbow Trout are stocked regularly from 1¾ lb up to well over 4 lb, averaging around 2½ lb, with the odd considerably larger fish put in as well. Fly life can be exceptional, with hatches of buzzers, pond olives, sedges and damsel flies, and the popular stillwater patterns, buzzers, goldhead nymphs, damsel nymphs and small lures among them, all take fish. The fishery has been featured in the game fishing press over the years and has built a reputation for good sport in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

Two ticket options are on offer: £30 to take the first fish you catch and release three more, or £40 to take the first two and release three more. Catch and release is straightforward: barbless hooks, or barbs pinched down with long-nosed pliers, fish played as quickly as possible, handled as little as possible, and hands wetted in the net mesh before you touch a fish. Barbed hooks may be used for the first one or two fish you intend to take, then it's barbless for the rest of the session. The lakes open at 08:30 and are booked online at lakebookings.com.