Springs on the Stourhead estate, Wiltshire to Christchurch Harbour, joining the Hampshire Avon · 61 miles
Fly Fishing on the River Dorset Stour
2 beats on the Dorset Stour sell access by the day.
Where the Dorset Stour runs
The river's course with every beat and fishery we list on it. Tap a marker for a quick read on price.
Fishing Beats on the Dorset Stour
2 beats availableBrowse day tickets, syndicate rods, and permit fishing on the Dorset Stour. Each beat listing includes pricing, species, and booking details.
Little Canford
A lightly fished stretch of the Dorset Stour and one of the club’s listed game fisheries. It suits an agile, roving approach. Some of it is awkward to fish, but the rewards are worth the effort, and a path along the bank makes getting about easy. Brown trout, grayling and sea trout are present, and in summer the fish can be found and tempted out of the shallow gravel runs beneath the ranunculus even when the weed is heaviest. Through autumn and winter a lot more of the stretch opens up as the weed dies back. It is a beautiful piece of river with deep holes set among the shallow runs, giving a wide choice of water. It also holds a good head of chub averaging 3 to 5lb with specimens over 6lb reported, along with large barbel and specimen roach, perch and pike.
Middle Stour
Middle Stour is a curiosity more than a headline beat: a stretch of the in that lets not as a day ticket but as a free House Permit session for guests staying at its accommodation. The exact stretch isn't published anywhere; it's arranged directly with the fishery once you've booked to stay. The Dorset Stour isn't a chalk stream, and makes no claim that it is. It's a different kind of day from the Frome and Piddle beats the same keeper lets: rougher, wilder, and far less certain. The draw is a handful of genuinely wild brown trout, most of which have probably never seen a fly, with a real if slim chance of something big. There's also a bonus chance of a decent chub during the mayfly, or a pike on the fly during a winter visit, so the beat's full quarry runs to Chub, Pike, Brown Trout. Go in expecting hard work rather than easy sport. Brown trout fishing runs from 1 April to 15 October, dawn until an hour after sunset. Any fly method suited to your quarry is allowed, hooks must be barbless, and every fish goes back. Bring a knotless landing net and a valid EA rod licence.
About the River Dorset Stour
River Dorset Stour at a glance
- Length
- 61 miles
- Source
- Springs on the Stourhead estate, Wiltshire
- Mouth
- Christchurch Harbour, joining the Hampshire Avon
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Website
- Visit website
Fish species
Anglers on the Dorset Stour can target brown trout and grayling. Brown trout dominate most chalk stream beats; grayling, sea trout, and salmon appear on certain rivers and seasons.
The Dorset Stour rises from springs on the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire and runs 61 miles south and east through Gillingham, Sturminster Newton, Blandford Forum and Wimborne before joining the Hampshire Avon in Christchurch Harbour. It is the largest river in Dorset and drains most of the county, gathering the Cale, the Lydden and the Divelish as it crosses the Blackmore Vale, then the Tarrant, the Allen and the Moors River on the way down.
It is not a chalk stream, and it is worth being clear about that before you drive down. The Stour rises on greensand and spends most of its length in a clay catchment, so it colours after heavy rain in a way the Test and the Itchen never do. The exception is the middle river. Between Blandford Forum and Wimborne it crosses the chalk of the Dorset Downs, and by late spring that reach runs clear and steady enough that anglers who fish both describe it as behaving like a chalk stream. That is also where the Brown Trout, Grayling are. Above Blandford it is a roach, dace and pike river, and below Wimborne it becomes serious barbel and chub water, with the stretch at Throop holding a national reputation for big fish.
Fishing here works differently from the chalk streams to the east. No agent sells day rods by the beat on the Stour. The water is held by angling clubs and associations, most of them fishing it for coarse species, so the way in is a club day ticket or an annual membership rather than a booked rod. We list 2 stretches on the river. Anyone who wants fly water in this catchment should look at the River Allen, which joins the Stour at Deans Court below Wimborne and is the one genuine chalk stream among its tributaries.
FAQ
Dorset Stour FAQs
Common questions about fishing the Dorset Stour, from day tickets and seasons to what to expect on the bank.
