Mottisfont Abbey

The words ‘Mottisfont Abbey’ are guaranteed to quicken the pulse of fly fishers from Colorado to the Kola Peninsula, from Normandy to New Zealand. The Mottisfont water, like it’s neighbour the renowned Houghton Club, is situated on the ‘Middle Test’ – that is the river below Stockbridge and above the confluence with the Dun – probably the most exclusive six miles of trout water anywhere in the world.

But it is not just the location that makes this so special; the waters of the River Test and the River Dun on the Mottisfont Abbey Estate are managed by the National Trust. The guiding philosophy is a simple one – what is best for the native flora and fauna in and around the river also provides the best chalkstream fishing for the discerning fly fisher. The thick bankside vegetation is ideal for stalking, but also provides vital habitat for the invertebrates that sustain the large and growing populations of wild trout. Woody debris and ranunculus beds in the river serve both as habitat for nymphs and stations for the fish that feed on them. Reed growth at the margins of wider sections of the beats narrows the channel, speeds the flow and reduces silt, so providing the clean gravel which all wild salmonids – trout, salmon and grayling – need for spawning. More habitat, more food, more wild fish – it is a virtuous circle, and fly-fishers are not the only predators to benefit: herons are common, otters have returned, and there are kingfishers on every beat.

It was after all, the beats of the River Test at Mottisfont to which FM Halford, the grand old man of the dry fly, devoted the last 10 years of his life; the place he lovingly described and photographed in Modern Development of the Dry Fly and in The Dry Fly Man’s Handbook. The Oakley Stream, the Rectory Stream and the Main River became places of pilgrimage for Halford’s friends, and for members of the Fly-Fishers Club from as far away as Western Canada. Halford’s headquarters, the legendary Oakley Hut - a listed building in its own right - is (except for the modern convenience of electricity) exactly as Halford left it in 1913.

The four beats at Mottisfont provide very different fishing experiences:

The Main River is wide and stately towards the lower end and narrower, shallower and faster at the top; fishing is all right bank, as you look downstream. On a hot day search out the big fish in the undercut of the bank, almost under your feet, or in the deep pools off Cuckoo Clump. The picturesque thatched fishing hut at the halfway point is made from yew trees grown on the Estate.

The Oakley Stream is the most open of the three Test beats. Halford made this stunningly beautiful water his own, and his famous Oakley thatched hut greets every angler on arrival. Past the hut the gradient of the river steepens appreciably providing shallows, riffles and a spectacular display of ranunculus opposite the Oakley Oak, at 1,250 years old, Hampshire’s most ancient oak tree.

The Rectory Stream is the prettiest and most varied of the beats, from the medium-paced open gravel beds at the top; the quiet (and very productive) S-bend at Bishop’s Seat; then faster and faster over the shallows and through the famous chicane – the fastest flow on any chalkstream – to the lies of the big fish in Wallace’s Ditch and Chub Pool, and finally, a beautiful wooded section at the bottom of the beat, just above the confluence with the Dun.

The Dun at Mottisfont The River Dun is a main tributary of the River Test and the two rivers meet just below the boundary of the Rectory beat. The Dun Beat at Mottisfont (which is the longest beat on the Mottisfont Abbey Estate) is managed on exactly the same holistic, conservation-driven principles as its three famous siblings on the Test. Wild trout and grayling are abundant here, and the Mayfly hatch is as heavy as anywhere on the Test itself. At the top of the beat, the river twists and turns in a mazy run through open water-meadows, with fast riffles over clean gravel alternating with deep, alder-shaded pools which hold the larger fish. The allegro of the upstream section is succeeded by the andante of the long glide through the ancient woodland of Bitterne Grove, and terminates with a spectacular crescendo in a turbulent weir pool.

Prices

Mottisfont Abbey - River Test beats

Mottisfont Abbey - River Dun beats

Min. booking 2 Rods until August 1. Prices include VAT charged at 17.5%.

Fishing Breaks is proud to be the sole agent for the very limited number of day tickets and corporate days that are made available each season by Mottisfont Fly Fishing Club.

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