Fly Fishing on the River Candover Brook

Rising from springs just south of Preston Candover, the Candover Brook is a 6-mile chalk stream in Hampshire that flows south through the Candover Valley before joining the Alre and Tichborne Brook just below Alresford to form the River Itchen. The brook is part of the Itchen Valley Countryside Heritage Area, recognising the distinctive features and biological richness of this area. It is a narrow, intimate water, and one of the few rivers remaining in southern England that is home to the endangered native white-clawed crayfish.

As a small upper Itchen tributary, the brook is almost exclusively wild trout water, with free-rising fish that reward careful, accurate presentation. Insect hatches, particularly the blue-winged olive and sedge, are prolific, offering reliable dry fly action through the season. Upstream dry fly is the expected method on a tight, tree-lined stream where stealth matters as much as fly choice. The Candover Brook holds .

The Environment Agency, working with the Wild Trout Trust and the Grange Estate, has restored the channel by narrowing over-wide sections using hazel faggots and local wetland vegetation, producing a faster, tighter flow well suited to brown trout spawning habitat. Large woody debris adds habitat complexity, providing diverse flow types and important cover for juvenile trout. 2 beats are currently listed on FishingBeats, offering rare day-ticket access to one of Hampshire's most ecologically significant chalk streams.