Newsletter – Wednesday 15 April 2026

Test, Itchen, Kennet

This week we have a chalkstream Vizla in the Bourne Rivulet, there is one more day at Mottisfont Abbey up for grabs, and the Mutton in Hazeley Heath joins the Guide. Welcome to the newest instalment of the Wilde Trout newsletter.

Falling apart in front of the camera.

Last week, the Wild River Media camera guru Damon Valentine, my sister Emma and I headed out into sunny Wiltshire backcountry in hopes of shooting some video content for our private fly fishing tuitions and courses.

Nestled in the rolling hills of the Wiltshire downs, Manningford is my northernmost outpost for hosting these days. It is the perfect venue for beginners, with beautiful surroundings, plenty of casting space and the prospect of some very large trout. With Damon at the helm, the aim of the day was to gather enough content to produce a short introductory video for our website, plus a healthy wedge of hi-res photos for all the usual marketing avenues.

Emma preparing to don the size 10 waders for a trundle down the River Avon!

The plan was to cover all the usual elements of a private fly fishing tuition; choosing the right equipment and tackling up, kick sampling, chalkstream entomology and fly selection, tying knots, casting and hooking and landing Emma’s first trout. It is a well-rehearsed format that gives a fun and engaging introduction to fly fishing for trout, but the stickler was still to come. Somewhere in amongst all of that, we needed a piece to camera. Me, talking straight down the lens!

Up until now, my public speaking experience has extended as far as giving a 45 minute powerpoint presentation, about river keeping on the chalkstreams, to maybe 25 ladies at the local women’s institute. Try cracking a joke in that little arena! Talk about a tough crowd! Note to self: must work on the water vole material. So, when I embarked on the podcast journey 5 weeks ago it felt like rather a jerk out of my comfort zone but having recorded quite a few now, knocking out a 1hr 30 minute conversation in one take does seem to come quite naturally to me. Speaking into the ominous black hole of a camera lens, as it turns out, does not.

Damon totting up the hours this is going to take in post production!

I am in danger of falling on my own sword here, but I must confess it really was quite a torturous ordeal; accidentally repeating myself, constantly mixing my words and hyper-conscious of my umms and urghs. What could have taken just 30 seconds, dragged on for half an hour as I tried to articulate things in the right way, all the while smiling happily into the camera. Damon, who was tirelessly patient, tells me he can stitch it all together in post production. Well one thing is for certain, I didn’t make it easy for him! Nonetheless we got it done in the end and I am eagerly awaiting our first edit.

We’re out again next week, this time filming a piece on a massive, wild and unadulterated beat of the River Kennet in Berkshire. Wish me luck!

Talking of Manningford, two weeks back I was guiding another guest on a private fly fishing tuition. We were quietly practising on the grass beside the lakes when I was approached by a young man who politely asked if I would give him some casting instruction later in the day. Of course I agreed and at lunchtime when the morning session had finished, I trundled off to find him.

I was most impressed when I turned a corner to find him completely alone, hooked into his fourth trout of the day on the catch and release lake. I scurried round to help him with the net and we spent the next few hours together refining his casting technique. It wasn’t long before he had plucked up the courage to tackle the main lake, where the big trout are! With the nod from Stuart, the fishery manager, we went in search of larger fish.

Dawn chorus at Manningford.

I was rather expecting that with all the excitement, he would forget everything we had just covered on the small lake, as is good and normal practise for all of us, but I was delighted to see that this young chap was learning very quickly! It wasn’t long before our little diawl bach had piqued the interest of an enormous 7lb brown trout, a fish that when I was his age, I could only have dreamt of catching. Despite a fierce battle with light line, this young man did a tremendous job of landing his leviathan at the first time of asking. I did wonder if my knots were going to be strong enough as I tried to bundle it into my tiny hand-held Hardy net. What a way to close a fun afternoon in tricky conditions.

Keen to make the most of his Easter holidays, we scheduled a second session at Manningford on Tuesday this week. This time we were gunning straight for the main lake. He had well and truly caught the bug! It was much windier this afternoon which made the casting tricker but, utterly determined, he stuck at it and soon we had him casting a shooting line longer than many of the regulars. Building on all we learnt last week, I wanted to teach a little watercraft so instead of sticking in one peg we decided to try and get around the pond a bit. The wind was blowing from the south west and it it didn’t take long to find a good number of fish at the far end of the lake. Much to my surprise, we quickly caught a small wild brown trout, which was not at all what I was expecting but a welcome catch as the weather worsened.

Moving just off the wind into some calmer water, I picked out the very same diawl bach that had fooled that monster 7lb brown trout a week earlier. We both agreed it might bring us some good luck. Sure enough, within only a few considered casts and a gentle retrieve, he hooked his second fish of the afternoon, a large rainbow trout. It put up an almighty battle in the marginal weeds, but with a bit of teamwork we managed to coax it into my brand new net, courtesy of my friends at Orvis in Stockbridge. That rounded off a wet and windy afternoon perfectly and here we are already planning our next trip!

This terrific Rainbow was a just reward for all our efforts!

Find out more about our private fly fishing tuitions and courses on our website by clicking the big green button below, or give us a call on +44 1264 554884 to chat through some options.

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Dreaming of a burbling chalkstream brimming with frenzied brown trout slurping in the gunsmoke of an electric fly hatch? Your next adventure starts here!