Hollam Beat

To reach the DAA Hollam beat leave Dulverton following B3222 for about one and a half miles to T junction with A396.This junction is just after you cross the Little Exe over a stone bridge. At the junction with the A396 turn left towards Minehead. The river is now on your left. After about a mile you will see a gap in the stone wall with a fingerpost to a footbridge over the river. This is an entrance to the beat, which is both upstream and downstream of the bridge. It marks the approximate halfway point of the beat however, from the 2016 season there will be changed and improved parking arrangements for Hollam beat with off road parking for the first time.  Going north on the A396  from the bottom of the beat pass Barlynch Farm. Ignore the first gateway which runs to the ford after the Farm but the second is the new parking area suitable for 2 vehicles. There is a DAA sign on the gate.

At 2km in length Hollam is the longest of the DAA beats and with its variety of pools, riffles and glides it provides some challenging but rewarding fishing. Fishing is from the right-hand bank (looking downstream).You should allow a full day to explore it fully from bottom to top. However, you may choose to visit the dogleg pool at the bottom of the beat and fish back up to the footbridge (or vice versa). The dogleg pool looks very fishy and often holds rising fish. Further upstream is a ford and there are a couple of good pools between this and the remains of a weir. The glide above the weir often rewards the dry fly fisherman.

If you turn right over the footbridge and choose to fish upstream, you are first presented with a straight stretch of broken water below the road. This stretch can produce the odd fish to dry fly or nymph. However, above this the river bends to the left and changes in character. Fishing upstream or walking up and fishing back down again, there are a number of pools which produce fish and reward those who enjoy exploring.