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Beat 1 starts at the bottom end of the Muscliffe free stretch and includes the part of the river that was redirected away from Throop Mill after the floods of the early 1980s. Expect overhanging willows, clear gravel shallows and deep holes that hold a few surprises.

Although not as meandering as the water below its lower boundary at New Weir, its long deep glides and gravel shallows provide first class chub and roach fishing, especially at the top end.

Look for the deeper swims if big bream are your quarry. There are a number of likely areas that are rarely fished because of the long walk to reach them, but the effort is worth it.

This part of the fishery can be weedy through the summer and finding a float swim is not easy. Feeder or straight lead fished between the weed will catch most species, but use big baits because minnows can be a problem.

Beat 2 starts below New Weir and winds down over two weirs and through tree-lined banks to the A338 bypass at Blackwater Bridge. It is a feature-filled adventure, with fast wide shallow glides at the end of deep weir pools, islands of reed mace and bulrush, and deep channels.

These features hold some of the biggest chub in the country, with 7lb plus fish spread along its length and the odd 8lb specimen. Barbel to 16lb and bream to 7lb also patrol the swims and through the summer will happily feed on boilie and pellet baits.

Some of the deep-water swims hold large shoals of roach with specimens over 2lb. These readily fall to a much-ignored tactic, float-fished hemp and tares, which usually accounts for a better stamp of fish.

Anglers fishing boilies and pellets should also be aware of the growing number of large carp now patrolling the river. Fish in excess of 20lb are taken regularly through the summer and early autumn.

At the top end of Beat 3 the water is fairly deep and home to a number of chub around the 8lb mark. Through the summer there is a lot of eel grass, which again makes float fishing difficult, but if you can find a long trot the sport can be hectic, especially towards evening.

As the river winds towards Christchurch it flows over two more boulder weirs, becoming tidal below the second barrier. Between the weirs the main species are bream, in big shoals with fish to over 4lb, plus dace, roach, chub and some big carp.

Below the bottom weir, bream, roach, dace and skimmer bream provide the main sport, with bags of over 30lb possible through the later autumn months and the weeks leading up to the end of the season.

As this part of the river is tidal it pays to understand the feeding patterns of the fish. The top of the tide and the initial run off are the best times to catch, but be aware that there are double high tides on the Stour.

Stick or waggler fished bread, maggot or caster will account for most species along this stretch. If the water has colour, do not neglect feeding groundbait with a few free offerings. Maggot feeder works for chub, bream and barbel. Sweetcorn works well through the summer for bream, as does bread with mashed bread or groundbait in the feeder. Barbel also like meat, paste and boilies fished hard on the bottom.

The final part of this fishery is Throop Mill pool. It has a limited number of swims but offers good carp, tench and bream fishing through the summer.