The Wensum has its own section

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Tengisgol
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The Wensum has its own section

Post by Tengisgol »

I know there are a fair few TFF members that fish the Wensum from time to time so Mark has kindly agreed to create its own section on the Forum. I thought I would share a few ramblings and photos on what is one of my favourite rivers. The Wensum valley can be utterly stunning; this was taken one nightfall as I sat hoping for a bite.

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Those of you that have followed the Norfolk writers will be aware that the drainage engineers had their way with the dredger in many places going back a few decades. The river has however gradually found its way back in places.

Image

Upstream toward Fakenham there are both coarse fish and trout but for me the river has always really started at Bintree. There were great catches of big roach here in years gone by. Here is the mill in winter and summer. It is a beautiful place.

Image

Image

What every Wensum angler really wants to see are roach, roach and more roach. These are the Wensum's significant indigenous coarse fish and have been caught to within ounces of four pounds. I have seen massive Wensum roach roll at dusk (there are still some there) and it is an awe-inspiring site. Maybe it is the river, or something about the genetics, but Wensum roach can have very large bodies for the size of the head and mouth.

Image

Image

The wildlife is wonderful and I regularly see barn owls. I managed to have my camera in hand for this one:

Image

There are other fish too and the Wensum has always grown small pockets of massive bream, this is my biggest so far from the main river:

Image

But I've also been lucky to fish a few of the mill pools and this one came from Lenwade (made famous through lots of anglers visiting in the fifties/sixties and later placed firmly on the map by John Wilson):

Image

The chub can grow very large and I think it could even threaten the record following the spread of crayfish:

Image

Barbel and chub are both introduced fish to the Wensum. Whilst the former have reached near record size, in excess of twenty pounds, the river doesn't seem to be capable of maintaining a long term population. The massive fish of recent years have now been decimated by otters. There have always been otters on the Wensum and I can't help but feel that there is good reason why the main species that have lived beside them aren't barbel.

The Wensum has much to offer for the thoughtful fisherman and, as much as I will sit on a desolate bend at dark hoping for a monster, its pools of dace and roach in gin clear water are its real joy in my opinion:

Image

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I hope you enjoyed that!
Where the willows meet the water...

https://sites.google.com/site/tengisgol/

Stuart Whiting

Re: The Wensum has its own section - thanks Mark

Post by Stuart Whiting »

What a loverly write up Phil, the wensum is a very special place for me, although I haven't fished there for many years the memories of those huge roach still haunt me, frighteningly massive :drool:

Hopefully I'll be able to return some day :Beg:

BTW loverly pic of the roach, gotta be a 2 surly

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Tengisgol
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Re: The Wensum has its own section - thanks Mark

Post by Tengisgol »

STUART WHITING wrote:What a loverly write up Phil, the wensum is a very special place for me, although I haven't fished there for many years the memories of those huge roach still haunt me, frighteningly massive :drool:

Hopefully I'll be able to return some day :Beg:

BTW loverly pic of the roach, gotta be a 2 surly
Thanks Stuart - interesting that you know the river, whereabouts and what are your memories? Not quite a two but getting close!
Where the willows meet the water...

https://sites.google.com/site/tengisgol/

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Bob Brookes
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Re: The Wensum has its own section - thanks Mark

Post by Bob Brookes »

That looks beautiful Phil, like one of the small rivers I was brought up on. I cannot wait to fish it with you sometime soon. :Thumb:
"You do not cease to fish because you get old, you get old because you cease to fish"

Stuart Whiting

Re: The Wensum has its own section - thanks Mark

Post by Stuart Whiting »

Tengisgol wrote:
STUART WHITING wrote:What a loverly write up Phil, the wensum is a very special place for me, although I haven't fished there for many years the memories of those huge roach still haunt me, frighteningly massive :drool:

Hopefully I'll be able to return some day :Beg:

BTW loverly pic of the roach, gotta be a 2 surly
Thanks Stuart - interesting that you know the river, whereabouts and what are your memories? Not quite a two but getting close!
Hi there Phil, it's now probably been the best part of 25 years or so since I least went to the wensum valley but from memory I can vaigly remember fishing between Lenwade, Lyng and Elsing,

I think the best roach I had from the wensum was around 1lb 12oz respectively but did see a lot bigger :Wink:

Would really love to go back there one day :Thumb:

Image

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Lime&Flint
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Re: The Wensum has its own section - thanks Mark

Post by Lime&Flint »

Tengisgol wrote: Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:36 pm I know there are a fair few TFF members that fish the Wensum from time to time so Mark has kindly agreed to create its own section on the Forum. I thought I would share a few ramblings and photos on what is one of my favourite rivers. The Wensum valley can be utterly stunning; this was taken one nightfall as I sat hoping for a bite.

Those of you that have followed the Norfolk writers will be aware that the drainage engineers had their way with the dredger in many places going back a few decades. The river has however gradually found its way back in places.

Upstream toward Fakenham there are both coarse fish and trout but for me the river has always really started at Bintree. There were great catches of big roach here in years gone by. Here is the mill in winter and summer. It is a beautiful place.

What every Wensum angler really wants to see are roach, roach and more roach. These are the Wensum's significant indigenous coarse fish and have been caught to within ounces of four pounds. I have seen massive Wensum roach roll at dusk (there are still some there) and it is an awe-inspiring site. Maybe it is the river, or something about the genetics, but Wensum roach can have very large bodies for the size of the head and mouth.

The wildlife is wonderful and I regularly see barn owls. I managed to have my camera in hand for this one:


There are other fish too and the Wensum has always grown small pockets of massive bream, this is my biggest so far from the main river:

But I've also been lucky to fish a few of the mill pools and this one came from Lenwade (made famous through lots of anglers visiting in the fifties/sixties and later placed firmly on the map by John Wilson):

The chub can grow very large and I think it could even threaten the record following the spread of crayfish:

Barbel and chub are both introduced fish to the Wensum. Whilst the former have reached near record size, in excess of twenty pounds, the river doesn't seem to be capable of maintaining a long term population. The massive fish of recent years have now been decimated by otters. There have always been otters on the Wensum and I can't help but feel that there is good reason why the main species that have lived beside them aren't barbel.

The Wensum has much to offer for the thoughtful fisherman and, as much as I will sit on a desolate bend at dark hoping for a monster, its pools of dace and roach in gin clear water are its real joy in my opinion:


I hope you enjoyed that!
Just working my way through the site and really enjoyed your write up. My local stretch is Fakenham, if you know where to go there are still some real surprises, some truly high average size fish. My dad would drop me off on a Saturday morning at the Mill, what an incredible place that was in the early 90s. I shudder now at my complacency of catching dace to well over a pound, I thought they were chub due to the size, such was my lack of knowledge back then. I can't quite put across how big one particular dace was, it was as long as my tackle box (on old rovers biscuit tin) and had a real belly. I remember catching the same fish more than once and always being able to recognise it such was its mass. I know this all sounds far fetched and fish look bigger when you are a child but honestly this was one of a kind.
There are still really big dace to be caught and the roach fishing can also be very rewarding. I've been told where a two pounder lives but who knows if I'll be blessed enough to meet it?

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