Tuition and guiding are provided by Steve Dowling.

Please contact him directly via www.learntoflyfish.co.uk or phone 07970798165 to arrange tuition and guiding.

There is a long tradition of tuition and guiding at Wessex Chalk Streams.
Richard Slocock set up the Wessex Fly Fishing School based at Lawrences Farm in 1981 and offered guiding and fly fishing courses for nearly 20 years, introducing countless anglers to the joys of fly fishing, many of whom remain friends and fish the Wessex Chalk Streams’ river beats and lakes to this day.

In the late 1990’s Richard started to take a step back from full time tuition to focus on acquiring and letting more fishing. Thereafter tuition and guiding were provided firstly by Roderic Hall, one of Richard’s first pupils, and then from 2004 from Tony King.

Tony taught and guided numerous anglers over the years in a relaxed style with an in depth understanding of fly fishing and casting. He understood the heartbeat of the local streams, the fly hatches and water conditions and was therefore a very popular guide and coach. Sadly during 2022 Tony was diagnosed with cancer and died in November the same year. He was a great fiend to Wessex Chalk Streams and we miss him.

Ian was a good friend and colleague of Tony King and they had worked together for several years. He is an Angling Trust Licenced Angling lead coach and a full member of the Game Angling Instructors Association. He has an in-depth knowledge of our lakes and all our river beats, having fished, guided and coached on them for many years.

Sadly, Ian has decided to retire from guiding and coaching and so Steve Dowling, an associate of Ian, has agree to take over.

Steve has fished our waters for many years and has been a member of the Wessex Chalk Streams Syndicate for a long time.