The Wensum has its own section
Posted: 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!
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!