The Piscatorial Society

We fish and look after more than 20 miles of water among the chalk streams of Hampshire and Wiltshire in Southern England. One of the world’s oldest fishing clubs, we focus on trout and grayling on the Itchen, Anton, Upper Test, Avon and Wylye. While much of our river fishing is catch and release for wild fish, we have some productive stocked beats and two lakes stocked with rainbows. Our rivers offer a mix of wading and bank fishing, and we use traditional methods, casting barbless flies upstream to observed feeding fish. From October to December we switch to grayling fishing, when upstream nymphing is permitted, while our lakes are open all year round. All our fishing is in beautiful but sensitive environments – either Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation or both – and our Wylye fishing is also in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In these tightly regulated places, the specialist experience and skills we have built up over many years, combined with the latest strategies and techniques, keep us at the leading edge of fisheries and riparian habitat management. Our aim is always to protect and improve chalk stream ecology, whilst working closely with our waterlords to increase the value of their fishing assets. Chalk stream conservation is at the heart of what we do, as our long-term research and rewilding programmes demonstrate.