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Chalkstream Fly Fishing in Dorset

Fishing Breaks offers the widest selection of the very best chalk stream brown trout, salmon and sea trout fly and nymph fishing in the county of Dorset.

Our rivers | Your guide | Places to stay | Fishing advice and flies | Maps

Thomas Hardy made Dorset his own where the rivers of the county interweave through the pages of his Wessex novels, with Tess of the D’Urbervilles buried on the banks of the River Frome.

The rivers Frome and Allen are remarkable success stories in the preservation of our chalkstreams. A small group of locals, some of whom went on to found the Wild Trout Trust,  were at the forefront of the drive to protect and improve these rivers more than two decades ago, so that we are now at the point where all the Wessex streams have healthy, self-sustaining wild trout populations.

Dorset is a great county to fish and visit, with its amazing Jurassic Coast, mighty Iron Age castles, chocolate box villages like Shaftesbury and the boastful Cerne Abbas Giant.


Our rivers

 

River Allen Deans Court

Free rising fish fast on the take.

 
 

River Allen Hemsworth Huts

Wake. Fish. Sleep. The perfect combination in idyllic surroundings.

 
 

River Allen Wimborne St Giles

Truly the most peaceful fishing you’ll ever find.

 
 

River Frome Ilsington

A true wild trout paradise and home to the new British grayling record

 
  

River Frome Wrackleford

The best managed fishing on the whole of the Frome.

 


Your fishing guide - John Ball

Ian Gillies

John Ball was bought up, and has spent the majority of his life, on the south coast of England.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1973 a decision that changed his life for the better in many ways, not least in that his fellow submariners introduced him to competition fly fishing on shore leave. On retiring in 1996 John began to organise numerous river and reservoir competitions along with social events becoming the secretary of the Southern Federation Fishing Association and then gained his England cap when competing at international level for his country.

Living as his does close to the county border of Dorset and Hampshire John is equally at home on the manicured River Test or the wild streams of Wessex.

You can read more about John on the Fishing Guides page.


Fishing advice and flies

The trout season runs from April to September with the opening weeks dominated by the grannom hatch. The mayfly hatches from late May into June, followed by glorious summer action with olives, sedges, ants and daddy long legs. To buy flies click here. .

Top Dorset flies:

April
Grannom  (16)

 

May
French Partridge (10)

 

June
Black Gnat (16)
GRHE (16-18)

July
Elk Hair Caddis (14)
PTN (16-18)

 

August
Light Hendrikson (16-18)

 

September
Pale Water Spinner (16)

Recommended trout outfit: 7.5ft rod, with 3-4wt floating line. Tippet to 2lb/6x.
Waders generally advised.


Places of interest

Jurassic Coast

Thomas Hardy

Homes of Thomas Hardy

Pig on the Beach

The Pig Hotel

View the full Fishing Breaks accommodation guide

Maps

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Fishing Breaks
The Mill
Heathman Street
Nether Wallop
Hampshire SO20 8EW

info@fishingbreaks.co.uk
www.fishingbreaks.co.uk

01264 781988
Overseas +44 1264 781 988