The Baltic Flyfishing Society had their annual day out on Wednesday 19 August. After a summer of drought and heatwaves, it was a treat to be on the River Test, the most important of all the worlds chalk streams.

The river was low and in spite of a good rainfall in the night, the sun was out again with enough force to make it challenging at times but on the whole, conditions were better than for many weeks and the team all hooked up, with some notable successes.

Back at our usual venue Marsh Court, with around three miles of main river and carriers to choose from, everyone agreed that the river was bursting with fish in good condition and whilst not rising steadily, they were nonetheless taking surface flies throughout the day.

The Baltic’s Jolyon Wright proved to be a prolific captor, whilst Ben Stanley, recently retired from ED & F Man kept the best of his catch, leaving with a handsome pair of brown trout. Henry MacLellan also gets an honourable mention for a fine pair of Grayling, the lady of the river and only tempted to the bank by the best of anglers.

Thanks as ever go to Ben Few Brown, former FFA clearer and now proprietor of The Country Agent, for hosting us on his usual Wednesday at Marsh Court, offering eight rods the chance to fish in  a heavenly setting with lunch on the river provided by The Greyhound on the Test and generously sponsored by the Baltic Exchange.

The Baltic Flyfishing Society is connected with The Lloyds Flyfishing Society (LFS), through their kind inclusion of Baltic Members amongst those able to join LFS from associated organizations. If you are interested in joining please contact Duncan Dunn of SSY.

Like the BBC’s “Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing”, many of our members are reaching retirement age but it is important to note that the society extends a warm welcome to would be anglers regardless of age or gender. If you’d like to try fishing with a fly, do get in touch.

Find out more about the Baltic Exchange's Flyfishing Society.