Dawn Rituals on the Itchen
Breach Farm on the River Itchen: glides 8–12 m wide, depths 0.6–1.2 m
Arrive two hours before dawn and the chalk stream breathes. The beat at Breach Farm—a wide glide south of Winchester—asks for light boots, a patient cast and a proper dry fly: Pheasant Tail or Blue Dun in sizes 14–18. Gear is exact: a 3.5 m rod with a 4 wt line, 0.12–0.14 mm tippet and a 12–14 lb leader. Trout here average 25–38 cm, inclined to rise when the ephemerae hatch.
Breakfast is ritual as much as fuel. Scrambled eggs and toast arrive on a portable tray before first light. Tea is brewed strong—15 g leaves per litre—boiled in a 1.2L pot and poured into enamel mugs while lines are rigged.
Stalking and presentation
Stalk shallow riffles of 0.5–0.8 m and the shadow under overhanging willows. Work the two-rod beats methodically, quartering the glide with long, delicate presentations. A 1.5 m net and a 30 cm trough sit ready for quick handling and release.
June to September is prime. Cast soft, watch the surface, and let a well-tied Blue Dun ride the current like a live insect. Steam from the pot rises as a brown trout flashes beneath a willow at first light.