I hope none of my French readers take offence, but France is not commonly associated with chalkstream fishing. True, the most southerly chalkstreams are located in Normandy with the names of the Risle and Andelle made famous by 
Charles Ritz (of hotel fame) who captured the essence Gallic fly fishing in his book Fly Fisher's Life where he entertained Ernest Hemingway and our very own Frank Sawyer. The former two are pictured here at a book launch at The Ritz in 1958, though I am bound to say it looks more like a Marx brothers film scene!
But the debt we owe to the French is not as recent as that dating back as it does a 150 years to the time of the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800's and Admiral Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas GCB . He put to work the French prisoners of war on his considerable Berkshire estate at Barton Court on the banks of the River Kennet at Kintbury to create fifteen miles of river from three. I can't find a record of how many people toiled or for how long but the mighty system of carriers, side streams and the hatches that control it still exist today.
What was then a single estate is now spread across three owners, but the bulk of what Dundas created is contained within the Benham Estate which includes The Wilderness fishery which has a tightly knit syndicate where guest tickets are highly prized. I was there last week to see the keeper John Colley and not surprisingly every inch of stream laid out by the Admiral is full to brimming and beyond.
John is rightly proud of The Wilderness, the seven miles of which he has made his own. With no lack of modesty when I asked him what made the place so good he said that in a bad year the hatches are excellent to good, but most years with the variety of Iron Blues, Blue Winged Olives, Pale Wateries, Large Dark Olives and of course, Mayfly he rates as very good to excellent. That told me! But what I like about The Wilderness is that it has retained its character; there is a bit of everything - wide and deep, wide and fast, wide and shallow. Small carriers and devilishly hard side streams. There is wading if you want it or not as the case may be. It is truly a place to lose yourself in the very best sense of the phrase and for that we have to thank the French.
Syndicate vacancies on The Wilderness 
Due to retirements there are a limited number of syndicate vacancies on The Wilderness for 2014. If you would like to take a look around John Colley will be more than happy to give you a guided tour. For more details click here or email or call me on 01264 781988 to arrange a visit.
Eels: chalkstream denizens in danger
I often walk by the eel traps at Leckford; if you are familiar with them you will do, like I, a double take. Where has the hut iconic hut gone? Don't despair, it is all part of a restoration, albeit a dramatic one, by the owners John Lewis of Waitrose fame.
 |
| Leckford eel bucks January 2014 |
The eels traps have always been part of the River Test scenery and though long disused, they make perfect sense to me. However, not everyone knows what they are about and falling into conversation with first-time visitors there are all kinds on fancy theories. Naturally, some kind on salmon capture device is high on the list of possibilities, which is not so far from the truth. Otter traps get a regular outing or crayfish, which again is not so ridiculous, as the baskets bear a resemblance to traps for them. I guess some people don't realise the cages are lowered into the water to operate, which might explain why plenty of people think they are traps for kingfishers, ducks or swallows.
But the truth is that a century and a half ago the eel harvest was big, big business. In the time before refrigerated transport eels were much sought after as fresh meat, living as they do for days out of water. The so called Sprat & Winkle steam railway line that ran from Southampton to join the main London line passed along what is today the Test Way, provided an easy route to an eager and profitable market.
I say the salmon theory is not so far from the truth because eels, like
salar, are part of the great migration to and from the chalkstreams across thousands of miles of Atlantic Ocean. Eels are extraordinary; born in the Sargasso Sea a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida they drift back towards the English coastline on the North Atlantic Current, growing from half an inch to two inches. Sniffing out the freshwater rivers they head upstream in summer, haul themselves out and cross the water meadows to find a damp ditch or pond to live out the next fifteen or twenty years. I know, it seems an extraordinary length of time to live in that one spot, but that they do, putting on an inch or so of growth each year.
