The Testing River Test & the possibility of being a fishmonger!

Last Saturday we were the fortunate guests of Locksley Ryan to fish on his lovely beat on the Test. He has a rod on the Broadlands beat near Romsey.

Amy and I were spending the weekend with Peter and Elisabeth McLeod in Whitchurch, so for us, this was a wonderful Hampshire fest. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, but we were in such a fabulous mood, that little could have brought us down.

Peter and I started the day spending a very entertaining hour or so with Alastair Robjent in his superb tackle shop in Stockbridge. Robjent's truly is one of those wonderful tackle shops one dreams of having down the road: a generous selection of tackle, books, clothing and the most enormous selection of flies I have seen for a while. It was the first time I had met Alastair in person, but hope feel sure it will not be the last. By the way, thanks for the wonderful selection of flies you recommended. They did very well thank you.

We then motored down to Romsey and met Amy, Elisabeth and baby Thomas in time to share a lavish picnic with Locksley (who had taken a break from hauling trout out of the river).

Sadly there was no sign of a rise, and even Robjent's Daddy couldn't lure the fish up from the depths. However the nymphs did their work and Amy caught two lovely brownies, as did Peter. I failed to catch anything, but of course, I was so busy making sure everyone else was catching I barely fished. Look, that's true, ok??

We arrived back at the McLeod's, fairly shattered, but ready for a tall drink and the absolute BBQ fest he laid on.

Sunday morning, Pete and I walked down in order to drool at the Fulling Mill beat which is near his house. My goodness, I can honestly say that no fly fisherman can fail to go weak at the knees before this water. Gin clear, with perfectly kept weed beds, this stretch is straight out of the Fly Fisherman's Book of Beats he Dreams of Every Night. Not to mention, the absurd number of fish we saw, both Trout and Grayling: and big too! Incidentally, this beat can be booked through Fishing Breaks.

The Fulling Mill beat on the Test

We ended our walk on the bridge by the mill house (one of the most stunning properties I have seen for a while) and bumped into a pair of charming couples out for a walk. They had brought some pitta bread to feed to the ducks and trout.
We began chatting and one of the most priceless conversation with Pete McLeod went like this:

Wife No 1: "You guys seem to know a bit about fish!"
P. McLeod: "A bit, I suppose, we are in the business."
Wife No 2: "Oh, are you fishmongers?"

At this point, we literally doubled over.

After parting company with the couples, we wandered back for to start a second bbq, unable to take our eyes off the river, heaving with fish. We certainly were a happy couple of fishmongers!