Cotswold limestone streams, mostly club water, plus Forest of Dean brooks and a small rainbow trout reservoir

Fly Fishing in Gloucestershire

The River Coln and the River Churn, plus 7 more rivers. 17 bookable beats between them, with prices, seasons and who to book through in one place.

Open the beat map Browse the beats

Four ways into Gloucestershire

Most people arrive here with one of these four questions. Pick the one that sounds like yours.

What a day costs Compare prices Month-by-month day-ticket rates across every river we hold pricing for. Stay and fish Fisheries and estates Operators taking bookings, some with rooms and equipment hire. A cheaper day Under £200 Trout-season day tickets at £200 or less.

Where to fly fish in Gloucestershire

Every beat and fishery we list in the county, plotted against the boundary. Click a river to read what that stretch is like.

Fly fishing rivers in Gloucestershire

Every river we list in Gloucestershire, busiest first.

Gloucestershire

River Coln

6 beats

Gloucestershire

River Churn

2 beats

Gloucestershire

River Dikler

2 beats

Gloucestershire

River Leach

2 beats

Gloucestershire

Bideford Brook

1 beat

Gloucestershire

Blackpool Brook

1 beat

Gloucestershire

Cannop Brook

1 beat

Gloucestershire · Oxfordshire

River Windrush

4 beats

Day ticket fly fishing in Gloucestershire

17 beats in Gloucestershire

Day tickets and permits on Gloucestershire's rivers. Each listing includes pricing, species, and booking details.

Brown Trout 16 Wild Only 15 Grayling 6 Wading Allowed 4 Ghillie Available 2 Budget 2 Rainbow Trout 1 Stillwaters 1

Bideford Brook

On enquiry 2 rods

Cannop Brook

On enquiry 2 rods

Blackpool Brook

On enquiry 2 rods

River Coln

Bull Hotel River Coln

£45 per half day

River Coln

Coln St Aldwyns

£77 per rod 1–3 rods

Witcombe Waters

Witcombe Reservoirs

£20 for 2 fish

River Churn

Churn at North Cerney

On enquiry

River Churn

Churn at Siddington

On enquiry

River Coln

Coln at Bibury Court

On enquiry

River Coln

Coln at Dudgrove

On enquiry

River Coln

Coln at Fairford Park

On enquiry

River Coln

Coln at Whelford

On enquiry

All 6 on the River Coln All 2 on the River Churn All 2 on the River Dikler All 2 on the River Leach All 1 on the Bideford Brook All 1 on the Blackpool Brook All 1 on the Cannop Brook All 1 on the River Windrush Every beat we list

Fish species in Gloucestershire

What the beats above hold, and where else in England you can fish for the same species.

Brown Trout

Grayling

Rainbow Trout

Three different kinds of operator, and most visitors want the first. A fishery or estate owns the water and sells you a day on it. A club or syndicate holds water for its members, sometimes with day tickets alongside. A guide or agent sells days on water somebody else owns, and often comes with you.

Fisheries and estate waters in Gloucestershire

Fishery operators taking bookings on Gloucestershire's rivers. Each listing covers tickets, accommodation, and equipment hire where available.

River Coln

The Bull Hotel, Fairford

from £45 per half day 1 beat

Gloucestershire’s fly fishing on FishingBeats falls into three groups, and only one of them is easy to book. The Cotswold rivers (the Coln, Churn, Leach, Windrush and the little Dikler) run over limestone. They are not chalk streams, but the Coln fishes a good deal like one: clear, fairly steady water, wild brown trout, some grayling, and mayfly in the early weeks of the season.

Most of that water belongs to Cotswold Flyfishers, which has beats on the Coln at Bibury Court, Dudgrove, Fairford Park and Whelford, the Churn at North Cerney and Siddington, the Leach at Southrop and Lechlade, and the Dikler at Abbotswood. It is members only. The club does not sell day tickets, so these are listed for completeness rather than as water you can book. A visitor’s options are narrower. The Bull Hotel at Fairford sells day tickets on its stretch of the Coln, from £45, through the hotel. The Coln St Aldwyns water is sold through Fishing Breaks, from £77.

The Forest of Dean is a different kind of fishing. Cannop Brook, Blackpool Brook and Bideford Brook are small wooded streams with wild brown trout, sold through The Fishing Passport. Beats run from half a mile to about a mile, and the Passport suggests a rod of 6 to 7ft and a 1 to 3 weight. They are fly only, and you are asked to disinfect your kit with Virkon before and after because of the crayfish. A day is around £12, and Cannop has to be booked by contacting the Passport rather than online.

For stillwater there is Witcombe Waters, three small reservoirs near Great Witcombe stocked with rainbow trout. Tickets start at £20, and fish caught must be kept.

It is a county for brook fishing and a few well-chosen days on the Coln, rather than one with a lot of open river.

Finding fly fishing near you in Gloucestershire

The map above plots Gloucestershire's beats and fisheries against the county boundary, so you can see roughly how far a stretch is rather than just its name on a list. Tap a marker for a quick read on price and species before you go further. If you're weighing this county against somewhere else, or want to see every day-ticket beat in the country at once, the full beat map covers all of them.

A day ticket is usually a half day or a full day on the water, so it's worth weighing the drive against how much fishing you'll actually get out of it. A longer trip makes more sense for a full day than for two or three hours in the afternoon.

For scale, the River Coln rises near North of Brockhampton, east of Cheltenham, and the River Churn rises near Seven Springs, south of Cheltenham. Beats sit further downstream from there, not at the source itself. The map above is the more exact guide to which stretch is closest to you.

Fly fishing lessons and tuition in Gloucestershire

FishingBeats doesn't list fly fishing schools or dedicated instructors: the agents and guides above are the ones selling day tickets and guided days on Gloucestershire's beats. Some may be willing to teach alongside a day out even where it isn't sold as a separate product, so it's worth asking rather than assuming either way. That's a different thing from starting from scratch, though: a guided day generally assumes you can already cast, where a lesson teaches the cast itself, and most UK fly fishing lessons for that begin on a stillwater rather than a river. How tuition, guided days and courses fit together is covered on the agents page. Once you can put a fly out, easy beats rated for a first visit or beats where you can arrange a ghillie are a reasonable next step, and a few beginner-friendly beats to start on is worth reading before you book.

FAQ

Gloucestershire fly fishing FAQs

The questions people ask before booking a day in Gloucestershire, answered from what we actually list.

01Is all the fly fishing in Gloucestershire private?

No. Most of the water is privately owned, but a great deal of it is let by the day. We list 3 beats in Gloucestershire you can book a day rod on without being a member of anything. Beyond that there are syndicates and clubs, which take a season ticket or a membership rather than a day ticket, and some of those run waiting lists.

02Which Gloucestershire river should I fish first?

The River Coln has the most beats to choose from, which makes it the easiest to find a day on at short notice. Booking a ghillie for a first outing is worth the money on any of them.

03Do I need a rod licence to fish in Gloucestershire?

Yes. Anyone aged 13 or over fishing for trout, grayling, salmon or coarse fish in England needs an Environment Agency rod licence, and it is separate from whatever the beat charges you. Buy it online before you go. The beat ticket gives you the right to fish that water; the licence gives you the right to fish at all.