River Itchin Trip 2021

The club recently made its annual visit to the Lower River Itchen in mid-October, both for fly and coarse fishing.

Although a misty early start it resulted in the best weather we have experienced in the years VAC Members have travelled to this wonderful fishery in Hampshire. The river was carrying some extra water but it was in very good condition.

From the off most members, fly and coarse, were into prime Grayling to 1.8lb, Brown Trout to 3lb and Chub to 6.0lb. One coarse angler had a 6lb salmon, confirmed by the River Keeper. Although many pictures have been sent to me I have only included a selection to show the quality of the fish caught.

On the fly only section of the river a number of trout, average weight 2 to 3lb, were caught by the fly anglers. Bob Ring had nine brown trout and five grayling and Derek Cross finished the day with four brown trout and a grayling. Barry Evans caught eleven brownies and one grayling.

A typical Brown Trout caught on the fly.

These are just some of the comments from the coarse anglers:

Andy Karczmarek: I had a great day on the Itchen.

Kevin Laird: I had a good bag of grayling and several good brownies. Weather splendid, can we order same for next year please?

David Tomback: I had a really enjoyable time on an amazing river. My goal was to catch my first Grayling. As you see below I did catch one, plus six Trout.

David Tomback with his first Grayling.

Adrian Denton: A mixed bag caught and a great day out. Look forward to next year.

William Fitzgerald & Bob Liles: I must say what a day, the fishing was an absolute joy. We caught lots of grayling and trout (one being a sea trout) Bob caught a 6lb chub but to top the day off I caught a Salmon of 6lb on 2lb bottom size, 16 on a single maggot.

Lee Carn: Just want to say, what a superb day I had down on the Lower Itchen yesterday. I’ve been before but never seen so many fish, although not all willing to take a hook-bait. I ended up with about 25 Grayling up to about 1 3/4 lb and a couple of good sized trout.

Steve Osborn: Here is a photo of my largest fish, a chub weighing in at 4lb 6oz. I also caught trout and small grayling. Lost a much larger fish under a snag which went like a train!

Overall this was another excellent day on the Itchen. This annual trip is organised by the Events Committee and is always over-subscribed, but those who went are all are looking forward to putting their names down for the next trip to the Itchen.

Barry Evans

VAC Treasurer