This Test Provides an Answer for Fly-Fishermen

“You’ve got time for one more cast before that bloody swan swims through here and puts down the fish,” my fishing guide, Peter, whispered.

The urgency I felt was not novel; I’ve had wading cattle pose the same threat to trout streams, but swans were something new.

Fortunately, the English trout seemed to know that big white birds paddling overhead are less dangerous than a human with a long, thin fishing rod lurking on the bank. So they soon swam back into position to feed on underwater insects.

I could barely believe that I really was fishing on the Test River. It was as much a pilgrimage as a fishing trip. The Test, along with companion streams of southern England, are the birthplace of fly-fishing among English-speaking peoples.

I cast upstream again to a fish and my fly drifted, ignored. The gentle current took the line downstream. As I retrieved it to make another cast, the fly dragged through a spot where I had noticed a fish earlier.

Trout Shook Free

Surprisingly, the downstream fish grabbed the fly. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said to Peter and then felt relieved when the trout shook free.

History hangs over the Test Valley, bringing with it a fishing code that says you only pursue a trout you have spotted in advance, like calling a pocket when playing pool.

The Test and its equally famous neighbor, the Itchen, lie in parallel valleys 60 miles southwest of London, between the cathedral towns of Winchester and Salisbury.

The Test is a chalk stream. And chalk streams . . . well, as an English fisherman named John Walker Hills wrote 65 years ago: “Chalk streams are regarded by their admirers with an affection which is as unreasoning as true love ever should be, and of all such streams the Test commands their deepest devotion.”

Meadowland Springs

Chalk streams are found where underground limestone formations absorb rainfall then dispense it pure and steadily from meadowland springs.

The water flowing past me had rained on the Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge perhaps a year earlier. Chalk streams have a relatively uniform flow and temperature throughout the year.

Mineral content in the water produces a huge amount of vegetation, which in turn produces hoards of underwater insects that are nourishing to fish.

Chalk streams also produce large, healthy trout that are hard to fool because they are well fed and can see keenly in the clear water.

Access to English streams has historically been limited to adjacent landowners or exclusive clubs with rights to “beats,” which are short stretches of water. Today, a growing number of beats can be reserved for a day at a time.

The season runs from April through September. The most popular months are May and June, when dense hatches of aquatic insects send trout on feeding sprees.

‘Duffer’s Fortnight’

The two-week period bridging May and June has long been called a “Duffer’s Fortnight,” because trout feed so recklessly that even the clumsiest beginner can be successful. Beats for a Duffer’s Fortnight are reserved more than a year in advance.

Through Frontiers, a Pennsylvania travel firm specializing in fly-fishing trips, and Orvis, a Vermont-based tackle company, I secured a beat, called Timsbury 5, for eight hours of fishing and the services of guide Peter Biscoe.

Biscoe, a retired refrigeration engineer, met me in Stockbridge and we took his car to the beat. The first order of business was to brew tea over a bottled-gas stove in a small hut by the river.

We walked downstream under a gray sky and standing mist that made the morning look cooler than it was and soon sighted fish swirling in the water as they fed.

As I prepared to cast with one of Biscoe’s rods, I felt a kind of stage fright--not from his presence but from the fish. And perhaps from the river itself.

Also, I thought of the previous night’s advice from Graham Atkins, manager of the Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge, where I was staying.

Cast Carefully

“There will be fish caught,” he said. “Stay low and cast carefully. It’s a question of whether you see them first or they see you.”

This was a precursor to Biscoe’s understated warning as we approached the water: “John, you’ll find these fish a bit chary.”

I tried convincing myself that these were simply big trout in accommodating water. They didn’t know they were in the Test.

After the accidentally-hooked downstream fish shook loose, I got into a groove and began casting my sinking fly generally where and how I wanted.

At a point where I had seen a fish splash moments earlier, I saw a shadowy movement and a barely visible bulge at the surface. I instantly raised the rod, and was connected to a powerful rainbow of two pounds.

The plan was to keep one fish for the hotel’s chef to prepare that evening. This was it.

The Houghton Club

Eating one’s first fish from the Test in the Grosvenor dining room is historically appropriate. The hotel is the meeting place of the Houghton Club, one of the most exclusive fishing clubs in the world.

Its 23 members own access to 15 miles of the Test. Experiences there have been recorded in a club log since 1822. The log contains sketches by one of the club’s more famous members, 19th-Century artist William Turner.

Turner was an avid angler, and one of his fishing rods is displayed among the dozens of his paintings in a new wing of the Tate Gallery in London.

Trout fishermen on the Test still observe rules that evolved in his day--flies only, and fish only upstream for specific fish.

Major Controversy

At the turn of the century, the consensus was that the fly also must be floating. Then, a London lawyer, G.E.M. Skues, challenged “dry fly only” in both practice and print. This put him in open conflict with Frederic Halford, whose book on chalk stream dry fly-fishing was the bible of the time. For years, the controversy was a major one among English fly-fishermen.

Skues ended up resigning from the fishing club he had belonged to for 56 years rather than cave in to the membership’s demand that he renounce his heresy.

Today, anglers in most clubs, and certainly visiting Americans, can fish guilt-free either dry or wet--as long as they cast the fly upstream to a visible fish.

A sunken fly is more difficult to catch fish with than one that floats, but it often will attract trout when a floating fly won’t.

I caught and released several more trout, all hefty and including one we estimated at four pounds.

A day in chalk stream country also can pass quickly for a fishing widow (or widower, as more women rediscover a sport whose founders include Dame Juliana Berners, author of a book of instructions for fly-fishers in the 1400s).

Izaak Walton

Winchester and Salisbury offer more than great cathedrals. The flourishing economy of the south of England has made them significant retail centers, with some upscale shopping opportunities.

Izaak Walton, sport fishing’s philosophical giant, is buried in the “Fisherman’s Chapel” in Winchester Cathedral. The chapel is lighted by a stained-glass window installed 80 years ago through contributions from British and American fishermen.

Its panels include scenes of the saints connected with fish or fishing and of Walton and his friend John Cotton, who wrote part of the “Compleat Angler.”

Downstream on the Test at Romsey is Broadlands, the mid-Georgian country home of Lord Mountbatten. Open to the public, the 6,000-acre estate also has a fishing lodge that can be booked by four to eight people for a one-week minimum. The lodge offers daily guided fishing to beats on the Itchen and Test.

Lady Diana

Prince Charles and Lady Diana honeymooned at Broadlands, and it was reported that the major part of the Prince’s day was spent with a rod on the Test--a sense of priority perfectly understandable to any serious fly-fisherman.

Worth checking at Romsey and Winchester are the year-round concerts. There are many choir performances, including an annual summer festival combining the cathedral choirs of Winchester, Salisbury and Chichester.

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The first step in fishing the Test or Itchen is to reserve a beat. Arrangements for a day’s fishing and local accommodations can be made through the Frontiers agency. Call toll-free (800) 245-1950.

A week at Broadlands’ Lee Park Lodge, double occupancy, costs about $2,975 per fisherman and $1,950 per non-fisherman, including full board, six days of fishing, guided tours for non-anglers and transportation to and from Heathrow Airport or central London.

Arrangements can be made through Frontiers, Orvis’ London store or directly with Broadlands.

While a day’s fishing on the Test through Frontiers/Orvis runs about $225 for one person, four can fish a single beat at a cost of about $135 per angler.

The Rod Box, a Winchester tackle shop that regularly deals with American anglers, can reserve Test beats daily for about $95 to $283. Be sure to check whether a guide is included.

Reserve a Beat

A shop or travel agency that can reserve a beat also will be able to tell you the fishing tackle to take and what might be rented from local shops or provided by a guide.

On the Orvis beats, equipment is furnished. I felt safer bringing two of my own reels and lines, thinking I could locate a rod to perfectly match one of them. But I quickly felt at home with the equipment Biscoe provided.

These rivers are not waded, so high boots aren’t necessary. Calf-high rubber boots are adequate for the soggy spots. They can be rented, but I took Frontiers’ advice and brought my own.

The Grosvenor Hotel on High Street has 25 rooms. A double is about $115 U.S. per night.

The Lainston House, two miles west of Winchester and seven miles from Stockbridge, offers elegant accommodations on a 63-acre estate. Double rooms run from about $170 to $225. Its restaurant is highly recommended.

There are plenty of lower-priced accommodations in the Test and Itchen valleys. The tourist information office in Winchester will help locate them.

Crawfish Thermidor

You might consider the Carbery Guest House near the bridge over the Test in Stockbridge. Bed and breakfast, with private bath, went for $32 per person last summer.

In all cases, reservations should be made at the same early date that a beat is secured.

Some of the best meals in the area are served at Styant’s, a short distance up High Street from the Grosvenor, toward the river. Crawfish thermidor with prawns at about $33 is recommended.

Across High Street is the Vine Inn restaurant, where the grilled trout is dressed with almonds and prawns at about $26.

For more information on travel to Great Britain, contact the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 450, Los Angeles 90071, (213) 628-3525.