Fishing in New Forest National Park

The New Forest sits across southern Hampshire, where the land drains through a network of small rivers, streams, and ponds before reaching the Solent.

The water here is mostly intimate in scale — shallow, clear, and slow-moving — with a mix of standing water managed by Forestry England and running water that threads through heath and woodland.

Twenty species of fish have been recorded in New Forest waterways, from eels and pike to brown trout. Hatchet Pond, on the outskirts of Beaulieu, is the most accessible stillwater in the park. At 12 acres it holds bream, carp, tench, pike, and perch.

Day, week, and season tickets are required and can be bought from local fishing shops and from the Forestry England offices at Queen's House in Lyndhurst.

The Forestry England code of conduct applies here: barbless hooks only, no keep nets, no lead weights, no surface floating baits, and fishing is permitted from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

When pike fishing, only dead marine bait is allowed. The Hampshire Avon runs along the park's western edge, a chalk river carrying barbel, roach, chub, pike, perch, tench, bream, grayling, trout, and salmon.

Christchurch Angling Club holds much of the fishing on the Avon and is the starting point for guest day and weekly permit enquiries. The chalk bedrock keeps the water clear and cold — conditions that define how and when you fish it.

Beyond the Avon, the park holds a scatter of smaller streams — Avon Water, the Lymington River, Beaulieu River, and others — draining the forest floor.

Sea fishing is available on the Solent, where mackerel and bass are the main seasonal targets, along with smooth hound, plaice, ray, flounder, and mullet from boat trips out of the coast. A rod licence is the baseline requirement throughout.

On Forestry England waters, that licence sits underneath a separate Forestry England permit — check current requirements before you go, as access arrangements on individual waters can change. The park rewards patience more than distance.