Fly Fishing in Hampshire

Hampshire carries more chalk stream fly fishing than any other county in England, and most of it sits within a few miles of the Test and the Itchen. Between them the two rivers account for the bulk of the fishing here, but Hampshire's chalk stream system runs wider than most visitors realise: nine rivers and 81 beats currently listed on FishingBeats, from famous water on the lower Test to a scatter of smaller becks and tributaries most anglers have never heard of.

The Test rises near Ashe, north of Overton, and runs roughly 40 miles south to Southampton Water, changing character as it goes. The upper river is narrow and overgrown in places; by the time it reaches Stockbridge and Romsey it has broadened into the wide, weeded water most people picture when they think "chalk stream". It's generally credited as the river where modern dry fly fishing was worked out, in the late nineteenth century, and that tradition still shapes how much of it is fished and priced today. Day tickets exist, but the well-known beats book up early and are not cheap.

The Itchen rises around New Alresford and flows through Winchester before joining the Test in Southampton Water. It's smaller and, in the view of a lot of anglers, the more interesting of the two: closer to its wild-trout roots, with a history tangled up in the old dry-fly-versus-nymph argument between Frederic Halford and G.E.M. Skues, who did much of his fishing, and a fair amount of his arguing, on Itchen water. Both rivers hold wild brown trout and grayling, and both reward careful, upstream fishing over blind casting.

The rest of the county's chalk streams are Test and Itchen tributaries, and each has its own character. The Anton runs through Andover and fishes as an intimate, overgrown Test feeder, with trout that see relatively little pressure compared with the main river. The Dever is one of the most highly regarded of the Test's side streams: clear water, heavy ranunculus growth, and good fly life. The Dun is smaller again, and quieter for it. Wallop Brook is smaller again still, a narrow carrier off the Test system better known locally than nationally, worth a look when the bigger beats are booked. On the Itchen side, the Alre flows through Alresford before joining the main river, and Candover Brook drains in further downstream, both narrow, clear becks that suit anglers who want a change from the bigger water. The River Meon, further west and its own separate system rather than a Test or Itchen tributary, adds another dimension: a smaller chalk stream running down to the Solent, less written about than its famous neighbours but worth booking if you can find a beat.

Trout season on Hampshire's chalk streams runs from the start of April to the end of October, with the grannom hatch in mid-April and mayfly typically from late May into June. Grayling fishing picks up from October and continues into the new year on rivers where it's permitted. Rules vary a lot from beat to beat: some are dry-fly-only, some allow nymph, some are stocked and some are entirely wild, so it's worth reading the individual listing rather than assuming. Given the choice on offer, most anglers coming to Hampshire for the first time do well to fish a well-known Test or Itchen beat once, then explore the smaller tributaries, where the fishing is quieter and, often, cheaper.