an evening on the Dorset Stour

[fishfish 17]

Think of a famed river and a come to mind , amongst them the Dorset stour.

The River Stour is a 60.5 mile long river which flows through Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England, and drains into the English Channel. It is sometimes called the Dorset Stour to distinguish it from rivers of the same name. The source of the river is at Stourhead, in Wiltshire, where it forms a series of artificial lakes which are part of the Stourhead estate owned by the National Trust. It flows south into Dorset through the Blackmore Vale and the towns of Gillingham and Sturminster Newton, where it is joined by the River Lydden. At Blandford Forum the river breaks through the chalk ridge of the Dorset Downs, and from there flows south east into the heathlands of south east Dorset. At Wimborne Minster it is joined by the River Allen, and at its estuary at Christchurch it is joined by the River Avon before it flows into the English Channel.

Amongst its accolades is that amongst the course fishing fraternity it is famed for its record breaking fish , notably the barbel and river pike.Infact only the Great Ouse rivals its ability to produce such fish.

So with this in mind i visited a mill pnd on the upper reaches of the Dorset Stour in search of a barbel,its a species of fish on my wish list and i had hoped that today would be the day i managed to break my barbel duck so to speak!

well after a few hours of some fine roach and silvers finally i had a stonking run , after 5 minutes of frantic running up and down the bank i landed a fine 2.5lb Tench! not what the Stour is famed for but none the less a fine fish. And taken on a home made grayling bobber float.

Heres a few picture i took of the mill and the fish:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks for looking.

[sulurian 3]

Nice place to spend a couple of hours , the best things in life are free (except the rod licence)

[Guest Leveller]

Nice one mate I've had some fun in the vale of Blackmoor but that was before the ban never fished the stour and I too am yet to put a barbel on the bank it's silly really because I'm not far from there I'll have to try and make the time in the next few weeks before we start hunting again.

[J Darcy 5,871]

Nice river. I wished i lived near it. barbel heaven. ..jd

[AIRGUNNER 1]

Lovely pictures there FF, thanks for sharing.

[fishfish 17]

thanks for the nice comments! hey leveler if you want some company on a barbel foray give i a shout!

[comanche 3,031]

Lovely pictures .Beautiful mill and pretty tench. Friend and I fished the Stour for the first time a couple of weeks back. We ducked on the barbel too (" should've been here last week ," or ,"bit early yet" according to which local we spoke to. ) but I had a 2 n half pound perch and an 11 lb pike on perch gear -4lb line ,centre-pin ,cane rod and lob-worm! . Luck rather than fishing skill I'll be the first to admit. Lovely river and I'll whisper this ,"prefered it to the Royalty. " Not as good as the Arun though.

[Rhodey 96]

Nice Tench from a stunning setting.