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H Avon/ D Stour condition?

K

Kevin Copping

Senior Member & Supporter
Hi all. Is there anyone living in the Ringwood/ Christchurch area that could give me some idea of current conditions of these rivers. Three of us are due to make our annual pilgrimage from Kent next week. We have lots of local flooding here and don’t want to make a wasted journey given the cost of fuel. We can already see that the Frome is very unlikely. Our accommodation needs to be cancelled by Saturday for a refund. I should say that we had intended to fish for Roach and Chub, Grayling on the Frome.
Thanks. Kev
 
Hi Kev. I read your post with interest. I don't live in the area but have been in a similar situation many times! What me and my mates tend to do is just "go for it". The only time we draw a line is if it's so wet the rivers are in flood and you can't see the river bank. Too dangerous. If rivers are high we fish the slack water but always safety first.
Some years ago the Wye levels were almost over the bank, but we found safe areas to fish and surprisingly caught barbel and chub. One of my mates caught 7 small barbel literally under his rod tip!
To me and my mates it's also about having a few days away together and chatting and laughing. We go self catering and there is always a good supply of beer, so if the river is unfishable we stay indoors, have a beer and reminisce!
Hope you manage to get away and wet a line!
 
Hi Paul. Totally agree about time away with mates having a laugh 😂, it’s happened many times as a result of inclement weather. Being “old gits” we have no time restraints but do have financial restraints. As we have very little experience of these rivers, thought it may be prudent to reschedule if conditions are going to be unsafe/ extremely challenging. Hopefully a local or two may tell us that everything is fine in Hampshire and Dorset 🤞. Your input is appreciated though Paul.
 
Latest Avon Diary entry should give you a good idea of the Avon levels in the Ibsley area. Stour is high and still rising with plenty of water yet to come down from the upper reaches. Based on the Throop level of 0.93m, the river will be overtopping in places but would still be fishable. However, it is likely to come up more and will be carrying a lot of dead weed etc so that could be a bit tricky.

Hope that helps.


Dave
 
All local rivers down here are on the way up. Stour below Wimborne is around bank high, coloured and pacey, beginning to break over the bank into the flood plain in places. More water still to come down from the Blanford area.

Here's a couple of EA River level links:
Stour at New Weir top of Beat2 on Throop: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/3303?direction=u
Stour at Hammoon above Blandford: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/3306

Avon is rising more slowly than the Stour.
Avon at Knapp Mill Royalty: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/3320
Avon at East Mills Fordingbridge: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/3314
 
Bright, dry and sunny today! Forecast for the next few days is similar so once the extra water has come down things will improve quite quickly. Not a lot of rain forecast for next week so should be good after the 3rd good flush through of recent weeks!

Edit: Right now the Stour above Blandford (Sturminster Newton and Hammoon) seems to be levelling off but is up around 3m and flooding the fields. That is a lot of water to come down to the lower river (Wimborne and below). It will probably start to hit the lower river in 24hrs/48hrs and hopefully then start to level off and begin to drop. For the lower tidal there are some high tide peaks of around 1.8m predicted for early next week which will have an effect as they hit the oncoming flood water.
 
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Thank you Dave, and Neil that is a whole load of invaluable information👍. Looks as though I need to cross everything that I have two of !!🤞Thanks guys.
 
Kevin Copping said:
Thank you Dave, and Neil that is a whole load of invaluable information👍. Looks as though I need to cross everything that I have two of !!🤞Thanks guys.
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No problem, Kevin. Hope that all goes well and that you manage to get a few good fish from our wonderful local rivers. As Neil said, the HA rises (and falls) more slowly than the Stour, which is more akin to a spate river.


Dave
 
Kevin Copping said:
Thank you Dave, and Neil that is a whole load of invaluable information👍. Looks as though I need to cross everything that I have two of !!🤞Thanks guys.
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Hi Kevin, I was on the Avon today and it was OK. Carrying some colour and up a bit but as others have said, it will drop quickly and with no rain forecast for the next few days it will be back to normal within a couple of days
 
Richard Bruton said:
Hi Kevin, I was on the Avon today and it was OK. Carrying some colour and up a bit but as others have said, it will drop quickly and with no rain forecast for the next few days it will be back to normal within a couple of days
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Thanks to Richard and everyone who responded to my cry for help. Your words of advice are very much appreciated. Our trip will go ahead and I hope 🤞to have something to report.
 
Kevin Copping said:
Thanks to Richard and everyone who responded to my cry for help. Your words of advice are very much appreciated. Our trip will go ahead and I hope 🤞to have something to report.
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On the Avon again today. Dropped about 4" during the day.

No rain forecast tomorrow, Sunday or Tuesday.

Key thing about the Avon Kevin is it takes a lot of rain to have a really detrimental effect.

Hope you have a great session.
 
Hi all. A couple of weeks ago I enquired about the condition of the Hants/Dorset rivers ahead of an upcoming trip with friends. I was very grateful for the amount of reports and advice that I received. My apologies for being a bit tardy with feed back of the trip. Unfortunately more rain before travelling on Tues 22nd meant that the main rivers were not going to be conducive to trotting. A late morning start (after a three hour drive) on a mill stream that we’d not fished before, saw us having to resort to feeder fishing for a few bits. Wednesday saw me wake with a migraine and spend most of the day in bed. My pals did find trottable water on another stream and had some nice roach and dace but not of any real size. Feeling better on Thursday, I joined them back on the stream. We enjoyed more and a better stamp of fish, but had to count ourselves lucky to get a swim each, certainly no opportunity to rove or even move. Friday saw us arrive in time for “opening time” to find the car park and street parking full to bursting. The number of occupants of these vehicles exceeded the number of swims on the venue. The word was (unsubstantiated) that a nice fish caught the previous day had found it’s way onto FB (aka Fishery Broadcast) hence the sudden interest. The return to Kent was earlier than anticipated but we had a great few days and enjoyed the craic. We witnessed some top angling and felt we learned a lot. We will undoubtedly return, but hopefully long after Billy Smart and his mates have got bored( younger members may need to Google🤪).
Thanks again for all the help from this terrific community👏👍.
 
Kevin Copping said:
Hi all. A couple of weeks ago I enquired about the condition of the Hants/Dorset rivers ahead of an upcoming trip with friends. I was very grateful for the amount of reports and advice that I received. My apologies for being a bit tardy with feed back of the trip. Unfortunately more rain before travelling on Tues 22nd meant that the main rivers were not going to be conducive to trotting. A late morning start (after a three hour drive) on a mill stream that we’d not fished before, saw us having to resort to feeder fishing for a few bits. Wednesday saw me wake with a migraine and spend most of the day in bed. My pals did find trottable water on another stream and had some nice roach and dace but not of any real size. Feeling better on Thursday, I joined them back on the stream. We enjoyed more and a better stamp of fish, but had to count ourselves lucky to get a swim each, certainly no opportunity to rove or even move. Friday saw us arrive in time for “opening time” to find the car park and street parking full to bursting. The number of occupants of these vehicles exceeded the number of swims on the venue. The word was (unsubstantiated) that a nice fish caught the previous day had found it’s way onto FB (aka Fishery Broadcast) hence the sudden interest. The return to Kent was earlier than anticipated but we had a great few days and enjoyed the craic. We witnessed some top angling and felt we learned a lot. We will undoubtedly return, but hopefully long after Billy Smart and his mates have got bored( younger members may need to Google🤪).
Thanks again for all the help from this terrific community👏👍.
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Hi Kevin. Sorry to hear about the river conditions and the "circus" and the added problem of a migraine (nasty things) but you did manage to wet a line AND have a craic with mates, always a great tonic!
As I said in my previous post, the annual "barbel week" with my mates goes ahead come what may. Luckily we've only had a few trips (in 42 years) when enormous trees and dead sheep (honestly) are floating down a flooded Wye!
Hoping your next trip coincides with better conditions for you and your mates 😀
 
Kevin Copping said:
Hi all. A couple of weeks ago I enquired about the condition of the Hants/Dorset rivers ahead of an upcoming trip with friends. I was very grateful for the amount of reports and advice that I received. My apologies for being a bit tardy with feed back of the trip. Unfortunately more rain before travelling on Tues 22nd meant that the main rivers were not going to be conducive to trotting. A late morning start (after a three hour drive) on a mill stream that we’d not fished before, saw us having to resort to feeder fishing for a few bits. Wednesday saw me wake with a migraine and spend most of the day in bed. My pals did find trottable water on another stream and had some nice roach and dace but not of any real size. Feeling better on Thursday, I joined them back on the stream. We enjoyed more and a better stamp of fish, but had to count ourselves lucky to get a swim each, certainly no opportunity to rove or even move. Friday saw us arrive in time for “opening time” to find the car park and street parking full to bursting. The number of occupants of these vehicles exceeded the number of swims on the venue. The word was (unsubstantiated) that a nice fish caught the previous day had found it’s way onto FB (aka Fishery Broadcast) hence the sudden interest. The return to Kent was earlier than anticipated but we had a great few days and enjoyed the craic. We witnessed some top angling and felt we learned a lot. We will undoubtedly return, but hopefully long after Billy Smart and his mates have got bored( younger members may need to Google🤪).
Thanks again for all the help from this terrific community👏👍.
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Afraid to say the Billy and his mates are very unlikely to leave 2 certain stretches of the Avon :rolleyes:
Nice write up :)
 
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