Itchen at Winchester

[Chris Plumb]

New season hasn't started yet and already Plumby is starting to think about his winter fishing!!!! Does anyone know anything about the Itchen at Winchester? Which bits are council owned, which free (if any) and any info on DT's? Also info on the stretch through Winnall Moors (above Durngate), runs through a Nature Reserve - though there's plenty of evidence of fishing taking place?

Any info out there? PM me if you like!

 

 

TIA

 

 

Chris

[markward]

Chris,

 

I have fished this part of the Itchen for a few years, especially during the close season when the grayling are most obliging. The first important thing about fishing there is don't forget your rod license, they are so hot down there that l have sometimes been checked twice in a morning. The bits l fish are the stretches from the bottom end of the high street by the mill(in the parks etc) right down to near the M3 on what we describe as the canal section. There is also a stretch above Shawford which again can be fished for free and turns up grayling and the frying pan friendly trout. The general feeling held by my friends and l is that if its in the city limits and hasn't got a no fishing sign we fish it and it's free. To date this has not been challenged. If you need anymore info e-mail me at wardyma@hotmail.com

Cheers

Mark

[Chris Plumb]

Thanks Mark - you have mail...

 

 

Chris

[The Flying Tench]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum so I hope it works. I've found many contributions helpful, and I've particularly related to those from Chris Plumb as I'm also from Newbury.

 

Thanks to Markward for the info on The Itchen in Winchester. I'm amazed you can fish it free! I'll certainly have a crack for grayling, but I don't know the town at all. Any advice where to park? When you refer to the close season, Mark, do you mean the coarse or game one? i.e. would it be ok, say, to spin or maggot fish in May on the basis of catching trout? What's the balance of fish there? Is it mainly grayling, or is there a fair mix?

 

Thanks again for the info.

[The Flying Tench]

I was passing throgh Winchester yesterday en route for Broadlands Lake. I called in at the Tourist Info and they gave me a free map and told me that you could fish free at "the Weirs" and the Canal Stretch between Blackbridge and St Catherine's lock, though even they didn't know where these were!

 

I found the Weirs, and it was a nice stretch of river in a kind of park, with lots of people walking by and benches every few feet saying "sit awhile in memory of Mavis". I think I'd have felt a bit embarassed to fish there in summer, though maybe in winter when there were few people around.

 

Following limited guidance from the Tourist Info I then drove along Garner Road, about a mile to the south in search of the canal Stretch. I crossed two arms of the river that I could see. The western one was gin clear and full of fish but, understandably , private. The eastern one had a car park , but there was no flow, it smelled a bit, and I thought was gudgeon rather than grayling territory - I seem to remember that, when I was a teenager, the gudgeoan record came from a Winchester sewer! When I got back home I re-read Mark's advice, and I think I should have walked on south a bit beyond the Weirs - I only got as far as Wolvesey Castle. Maybe I misunderstood the map and didn't even see the Weirs?

 

Could Mark or anyone else who knows Winchester advise me for next time. How do you find the canal Stretch, and is it the Eastern of the two (three?) arms of the river on the map?

 

Thanks

[markward]

John,

 

If you are true to your profile l will send an edited version of a private e-mail sent to Chris.

Please contact me on the address provided.

 

Mark

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks, Mark. I e-mailed you but it was returned for some reason, so I've PM'ed you my e-mail, which I never gave initially and can't now work out how to input it!