RIVER WANDLE/SOUTH LONDON
RIVER WANDLE/SOUTH LONDON/SURREY/SOUTHEAST
The River Wandle has centuries of history as a favourite place for freshwater fishing, as a chalk stream with fast flowing waters. Local hero Horatio Nelson, who reportedly fished the Wandle before his death at Trafalgar. The river is a famous mixed fishery since the 1980s, with 10lb barbel, 5lb chub, and 2lb roach as well as carp, dace, and perch originally stocked by William Morris. The reintroduced trout are now reaching maturity at 3lbs or more. Ranging from narrow and deep to wide and shallow, the Wandle’s heavily-modified course suits a wide variety of tackle, but most local fly-fishers rely on rods from 7 to 9ft, rated for a 2 to 5 weight line.
I’m quoting the Wandle Piscators here: “between 1868 and 1881, Frederic Halford learned the art of dry fly fishing for finicky clear-water trout from the Wandle Valley locals – before taking the Carshalton Dodge away with him to the Test, Itchen and all points west.
In the end, the Wandle tradition of dry fly fishing became a global technique and sporting code. So it’s especially ironic that, by the 1960s, the river where it all began had been engulfed by the urban sprawl of South London, and was officially classified as a sewer.”