River guide
Dorset Stour in Dorset
7 checked stretches so far — day tickets, club waters and guest tickets, each checked against the club's own pages.
The lowdown
The Dorset Stour through this part of Dorset is a varied middle-reach river, with the association describing more than 10 miles of river fishing across its waters. Expect a mix of deeper reaches, pools, shallower runs and changing features around bridges and mills.
This stretch around Sowley, Fiddleford and Trail Bridge shows that variety nicely. There’s deep water for bigger perch, pike and bream, winter roach around the shoals, and shallower downstream swims where mobile chub tactics come into their own.
Close season reminder
Coarse fishing on English rivers is closed from 15 March to 15 June inclusive. That's the law for coarse fish on rivers — it's not a club rule, and game-fishing seasons work differently.
GOV.UK — Freshwater rod fishing rules: when and where you can fishStretches
7 of 7 checked stretches. No rankings — we don't know which is "best" on your day, and neither does anyone else.
Sowley, Fiddleford Pool and Trail Bridge downstream to Wesper Brook
Dorset Stour · Day ticket
A cracking middle-Stour stretch running from Sowley through Fiddleford Mill Pool, past Trail Bridge and down to Wesper Brook. Proper varied water too — deep pool fishing, winter roach shoals and mobile chub work lower down.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Pressham Wood
Dorset Stour · Day ticket or members
Pressham Wood is a cracking 350-metre Dorset Stour stretch near Durweston, run by Blandford & District Angling Club. It’s deep, sheltered and fishes from the true right bank only, with the water running down to the weir.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Hammoon Stretch
Dorset Stour · Day ticket
Hammoon is a quiet, lightly fished stretch on the middle Dorset Stour, just west of Hammoon. It’s a long run of generally shallow, streamy swims, with chub the main draw and plenty of room for exploratory coarse fishing.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Throop Beat 2 — New Weir to Blackwater Bridge
Dorset Stour · Day ticket
Throop Beat 2 runs from New Weir to Blackwater Bridge on the Dorset Stour, with day tickets available to non-members. A proper mixed coarse stretch, with trout and salmon fishing available in season on a separate game-fishing ticket.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Colber Stretch – Sturminster Newton
Dorset Stour · Day ticket
A quiet, moderately deep Dorset Stour stretch around Colber Bridge, northwest of Sturminster Newton. Both banks are fishable, with slower water, reeds and a properly deep old railway-bridge hole where perch gather as winter rolls on.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Bridge Meadow
Dorset Stour · Day ticket or members
Bridge Meadow is a cracking little 400-metre stretch of the Dorset Stour, running downstream to Durweston Bridge. It’s single-bank fishing on the true right bank, with a medium pace, 4–6ft of water and a decent mix of coarse fish.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Shillingstone (Haywards Bridge)
Dorset Stour · Members only
Shillingstone at Haywards Bridge is a cracking bit of Dorset Stour, with around 1,100 yards of society water running downstream for three fields to a footbridge. It’s north-bank fishing only, mixing deep, slow water with shallow reed sections and some lovely natural stalking swims.
Checked 6 Oct 2026
Pins mark the access postcode each club gives, not the bank itself. Exact boundary map: see rights holder.
Access & tickets
Day ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
Association River Stour venues; buy before fishing online or from listed outlets.
£10 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Sowley, Fiddleford Pool and Trail Bridge downstream to Wesper Brook
Weekly ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
Association River Stour venues; buy before fishing online or from listed outlets.
£20 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Sowley, Fiddleford Pool and Trail Bridge downstream to Wesper Brook
Adult membership
Blandford & District Angling Club
Blandford & District Angling Club membership via the online Clubmate system.
£50 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Pressham Wood
Senior membership
Blandford & District Angling Club
Blandford & District Angling Club membership via the online Clubmate system.
£40 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Pressham Wood
Day ticket
Blandford & District Angling Club
Available through the club’s online Clubmate system.
£8 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Pressham Wood
Day ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
SHAA River Stour venues. Must be purchased before fishing; available online or from listed local outlets. Cash required at outlets.
£10 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Hammoon Stretch
Weekly ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
Available for SHAA River Stour venues.
£20 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Hammoon Stretch
Standard day ticket
Ringwood & District Anglers Association
Covers Throop Beats 1, 2 and 3 and the Lower Stour. Maximum two rods.
£14 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Throop Beat 2 — New Weir to Blackwater Bridge
Concession day ticket
Ringwood & District Anglers Association
For juniors, senior citizens and disabled anglers. Maximum two rods.
£10 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Throop Beat 2 — New Weir to Blackwater Bridge
Seven-day ticket
Ringwood & District Anglers Association
Available for fishing covered by the day-ticket arrangement.
£80 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Throop Beat 2 — New Weir to Blackwater Bridge
Day ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
River Stour venues. Must be purchased online before fishing; not issued on the bank.
£10 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Colber Stretch – Sturminster Newton
Weekly ticket
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
River Stour venues. Must be purchased online before fishing; not issued on the bank.
£20 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Colber Stretch – Sturminster Newton
Adult BDAC day ticket
Blandford & District Angling Club
Obtain through the club’s online Clubmate process.
£8 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Bridge Meadow
Junior BDAC day ticket
Blandford & District Angling Club
Obtain through the club’s online Clubmate process.
£3.50 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Bridge Meadow
Annual membership
Blandford & District Angling Club
Adult, senior and junior memberships are available through the club’s online Clubmate process.
Adult £50; Senior £40; Junior £15 (as listed 06/10/2026)
Covers: Bridge Meadow
Society membership
Dorchester & District Angling Society
Required for this member water. Dorchester & District Angling Society runs the stretch.
Covers: Shillingstone (Haywards Bridge)
Guest ticket
Dorchester & District Angling Society
The society’s wider ticket information describes guest-ticket arrangements.
Covers: Shillingstone (Haywards Bridge)
Species
We only tag a stretch with a fish when the club names it. Some clubs name fish across all their water rather than stretch by stretch — those are flagged on the card.
| Stretch | Carp | Tench | Bream | Roach | Pike | Perch | Barbel | Rudd | Chub | Eel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sowley, Fiddleford Pool and Trail Bridge downstream to Wesper Brook | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||
| Pressham Wood | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||||
| Hammoon Stretch | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||
| Throop Beat 2 — New Weir to Blackwater Bridge | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | ●* | |
| Colber Stretch – Sturminster Newton | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | |||
| Bridge Meadow | ● | ● | ● | ● | ||||||
| Shillingstone (Haywards Bridge) | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
● named by the club for this stretch · ●* named across the club's waters · blank = not named (not "absent").
Rules — who runs what
Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association
Day tickets can be bought online through the Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association website or from listed outlets. Outlet purchases require cash, and tickets must be sorted before you start fishing.
Club pageBlandford & District Angling Club
Day tickets and memberships are obtained through Blandford & District Angling Club’s online Clubmate system. Listed prices are adult membership £50, senior membership £40, junior membership £15, day ticket £8 and junior day ticket £3.50.
Club pageRingwood & District Anglers Association
Arrange membership or ask about guest tickets through Ringwood & District Anglers Association, and make sure you have the required club key. Public day tickets aren’t advertised here; the club’s ordinary day-ticket offering is restricted to Throop and Lower Stour.
Club pageDorchester & District Angling Society
This is society-member water run by Dorchester & District Angling Society. The society’s wider ticket information describes exchange-book and guest-ticket arrangements, but no day-ticket price is listed for this stretch.
Club pageFished the river recently?
Pick the stretch you fished and add a 20-second update there — one stretch at a time keeps it useful.
Each stretch page lists its own key rules. You'll need an Environment Agency rod licence on all of them.
River levels
Measured readings straight from the Environment Agency. These are the nearest gauges we've matched — not readings from the stretches themselves.
Measured — Environment Agency
Poole Harbour gauge
Nearest EA gauge we've matched — it isn't on this stretch, so levels on your peg will differ.
Loading latest reading…
We don't publish an "ideal level" — nobody can promise one. Flood water is dangerous: if it's up and coloured, stay well back from the edge. Open River Ready
Tips & reports
Our take (editorial, not club advice): on any decent-sized river, a lead that holds bottom without dragging is half the battle — go up in weight before you go up in bait. A bit of extra colour after rain often brings barbel and bream closer in, but a fast-rising, debris-filled river is dangerous; if in doubt, don't. Weather tools built for still lakes don't translate neatly to rivers, so we haven't bolted a lake-style weather score on here.
No angler reports on these stretches yet — we'll only show real ones once our moderated river reports are live.
Where this comes from · checked 6 Oct 2026
- GOV.UK — Freshwater rod fishing rules: when and where you can fish
- Sturminster and Hinton Angling Association — home (s-haa.co.uk)
- Blandford & District Angling Club — home (blandfordangling.co.uk)
- Ringwood & District Anglers Association — lower severals avon castle (ringwoodfishing.co.uk)
- Dorchester & District Angling Society — 1 (d-das.com)
Rules, prices and ticket availability change — the rights holder's own page always wins.