Jon Beer explains how an owner’s vision and the Wild Trout Trust’s expertise is transforming one of the surviving Chilterns chalkstreams
IT BEGAN WITH a phone call from Nick. He would be away from home for a week, working in Chesham – but he had Tuesday free. Did I know of any trout fishing around Chesham?
I had a think. Chesham is an ancient market town at the heart of the rolling chalk hills of the Chilterns. To look at me now, festooned with Black Pennells, Endrick Spiders and Golden Olive Bumbles, you would hardly take me for a child of the chalk but I spent my first 20 years within half a dozen miles of Chesham. We drew wickets on the playground wall with lumps of chalk picked up from the ground and we paddled in the clear waters of the little stream at the bottom of the hill. And later, I caught the 301 to school from the bus garage at Two Waters, the eponymous spot where the little River Bulbourne met the little River Gade. Later still, I watched my friend Paul take a chunky brown trout on a spinner from the waters of the Gade in Gadebridge Park.
Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Trout & Salmon.
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Denne historien er fra March 2017-utgaven av Trout & Salmon.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Mr Goldhead And The Grayling
Lawrence Catlow fishes the rapidly recovering River Irfon in Powys.
Moody Beasts
Stan Headley searches for the elusive sea-trout of Loch Ailsh in the northwest Highlands.
Alone On The River
Cliff Hatton encounters a mighty Wye salmon.
Hop To It
Richard Donkin has a no-nonsense approach to tackle and amphibians.
River Blackwater
THE BLACKWATER rises in the boglands of County Kerry, and although the peaty tinge it carries gives rise to its name it also flows through limestone and that helps it to support a diverse range of fly-life which provides plenty of sustenance for salmon parr and trout. The river is one of Ireland’s most productive salmon fisheries, along with the River Moy.
Hampshire Avon
THERE CAN be few places in fishing more famous than the Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon, even Mr Crabtree has fished its illustrious waters. Two seasons ago an enormous salmon of 40lb was caught in the spring at the Royalty and big salmon are regularly caught in the early months of the season.
A Strange Kind Of Magic
Charles van straubenzee introduces a salmon fly that combines the most unlikely colours and materials to deadly effect.
A Deep-Water Experiment
Stan Headley hatches a plan to catch three species of fish in one day at Loch Calder in Caithness.
Rutland's Old Warriors
James Beeson enjoys supercharged surface sport with Rutland Water’s fry-feeders.
Plucked From The Jaws
Looking for affordable back-end sport? Andrew Flitcroft recommends the challenging Chollerton beat on the North Tyne.
