Fly Fishing on the River Wylye

A chalk stream tributary of the Hampshire Avon, River Wylye rises at White Sheet Bottom near the Deverills in Wiltshire and runs for 27 miles north through the Deverill villages towards Warminster, then south-east through Norton Bavant, Sutton Veny, Wylye and Great Wishford, before meeting the River Nadder at Wilton. The river flows through chalk and over green sand, winding past small farms, private estates and medieval stone-arched bridges, with mature broadleaf trees and coppiced willows lining the banks in places, before passing through the private grounds of Wilton House. The river has wonderful twists and turns, deep pools leading into swift gravel runs, and with each step the character changes.

The fishing on River Wylye centres on . Stocking is virtually non-existent along most of the river, which allows wild trout and grayling to thrive. Early season on the river is a special time: brown trout enjoy a smorgasbord of large dark olives, grannom and small olives, with daytime hatches generally sufficient to get fish rising. The mayfly hatch is not to be underestimated, with the river settling into slower flows and larger weed beds in May; well-sheltered banks mean the hatch runs steadily from mid-May to mid-June with little impact from unsettled weather. Dry fly and upstream nymph are the standard methods, and beats that permit wading allow anglers to cast carefully to rising fish while bankside vegetation grows up to support fly life and a healthy ecosystem. Fishing is not limited to the trout season, with healthy grayling populations extending sport through the winter.

The Wylye Chalk Stream Project is the first landscape-scale collaboration of its kind focused on enhancing a large stretch of chalk stream in Wiltshire, led by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and delivered in partnership with the Wylye Valley