Ask Any Angler to name a river in Norfolk, the answer will nearly always be the River Wensum.

This famous river which incidentally gets its name from the old English word “Wundsum” meaning “winding”, originates somewhere between the villages of Colkirk and Whissensett in the North western corner of the county.

Heading past Rayneham Hall, it loops first west then northwards towards Fakenham before turning back south through Pensthorpe nature reserve. From here it travels through Great Ryburgh and Sennoew park before passing North Elmham, Wortham and the fishing lakes at Billingford. The Wensum then heads East but not before going over the miniaturesque waterfalls at Swanton Morley.

Carrying on eastwards it journeys through the collection of lakes, created by the digging of materials for Norfolk’s many airbases during WWII, between the tiny village of Mill Street and the picturesque Mill at Lenwade.

The river then runs south past a dinosaur park (no, really!) into Attlebridge before meandering through the villages and mills of Ringland, Tavenham, Costessey, Drayton and Hellsdon. Winding indeed!

The Wensum is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The days of Monster Roach and hard fighting Barbel may be gone but the river still holds good stocks of Bream, Rudd, Tench, trout, some excellent perch, pike and even some good-sized carp. As well as plenty of wildlife above the water.

 Even though it is a bigger river, is considered a tributary of the river Yare which it joins at Whittlingham Broad, just outside Norwich.

And The river Wensum in Norwich is where we start our journey exploring the counties many miles of free fishing.

As with the start of all fishing adventures on new venues, our first port of call was the tackle shop, in this case, Angling Direct of Norwich.

The purpose of our visit was not only to pick up bait and admire the rows and rows of Rods, floats, bivvies and ground bait, but to get information. The introduction of the internet has made things somewhat easier over the last few years when it comes to finding good fishing sites. However, as we all know, the intel found on screen can sometimes be a little vague, out of date or worse still simply hearsay.

Somethings will never change and the amount of excellent knowledge accessible to any angler walking through the doors of their local tackle shop will be one of them.

The guys at Angling Direct could not have been more helpful. Phil, Keith and Callum who were working in the shop that day all came over to offer their help, maps and advice on fishing the Wensum. Then armed with details of various hotspots, some new cage feeders and some sausage rolls from our favourite bakery. We went home to prepare for a visit the next morning.

The section we chose for this session was Hellesdon road, just to the west of the city.

This meandering mile long stretch that runs from the A140 up to the railway bridge south of Hellesdon, backs on to a housing estate but still has a nice country feel about it unlike some of the more build up stretches to the east. There are plenty of open spaces to cast a line yet plenty of overhanging trees and vegetation providing cover for both fish and the stalking angler.

On our recce a couple of weeks after heavy rains the water level was of a good depth (but not flooded) and a very slight chocolate colour with a nice gentle flow making it ideal for the ledgering or trotting enthusiast. For those who prefer to cast a fly when in season, there is opportunity to have a go for the many trout that we’ve been told inhabit the river.

One of the main issues of free locations and being slightly out of town facilities are a little thin on the ground and that was no exception here.

Unfortunately there are no platforms for wheelchair users. However, the route between the carpark is clear and reasonably flat and goes right to the waters edge. The carpark itself is free and has plenty of room for several cars. There are no public toilets for a few miles and the angler who likes to break his session with some hot pub grub and a swift half will also be disappointed. However, there is a cheap German supermarket within walking distance for those last-minute supplies.

Arriving at first light in the pouring rain the water level was well up and rising and a dark muddy colour.

It was also traveling through at a fair rate of knots. This session was not going to be easy

We intended to take a roving approach. Spending a short time in each likely looking spot before leapfrogging up to the next. In order to get the most out of each swim and learn the most out of this stretch of river We planned to use one rod trotting a stick-float downstream and a second rod ledgering any likely looking slack water in the hope of tempting a winter chub.

As when fishing any river, we started fishing at a swim furthest away from the carpark. This allowed us to pre-bait any possible swims on route. Today nothing fancier than a couple of handfuls of mashed bread which would hopefully have fish waiting for us when we returned.

It was still raining hard by the time we reached the pegs furthest away. As with many smaller rivers the harder it rained the faster the river flowed.

This made near on impossible to fish. Anything placed into the water being swept away far out of reach of any fish that inhabited our swim long before the chance of any bite.

This happened at the first three swims we visited. So, we decided to head upstream where the river was wider, in the hope that the pace was a little friendlier.

This was not without its own complications. In the time we had been at the first three spots the river had flooded over the footpath and a detour up to the main road was needed to bypass the watery obstruction.

spot number four. A wider (about 40 feet) slower section with overhanging trees on the far bank causing some very inviting slack water.

A cast to the far bank with feeder rod using the current to guide the hook bait into place. It wasn’t long before the tip bent round as a hungry chub took the cheese-paste and headed towards the nearest snags. Try as I might, after brief fight the chub managed to creep it’s way back into the tree roots and used them to slip the size 8 hook.

Another cast to the same area had no effect, clearly the previous fish was the only one there or else had spooked any others that were. So, we moved again.

Its’s worth noting that by this this point we had abandoned the stick float. The water was so coloured that we didn’t feel that it was really going to work. On another day later in the year when the water has a little less colour, I could think nothing better than watching the orange tip of an avon chubber or the new breed of specialist stick floats gently bob its way downstream hoping to entice whatever swims below with the maggots that are suspended below it.

The next two swims didn’t offer much either. There was the occasional tap tap of the smaller fish on the bread flake which a better angler may well have converted into a fish on the bank.

However, not today.

By midday it was raining even harder and even our waterproofs had cried enough. We reluctantly decided to call it a day.

So that was our session on the Wensum. Disappointing to finish on a blank but I think too much was against us today.

Would we go there again? Yes, even in persisting rain it is a delightful spot and there were defiantly some fish there, judging by the way I was pulled back into the snags possibly some nice ones too. So, it’s well worth further investigation.

Before heading home to a hot bath and warm sausage roll, we called in at a very flooded Hellesdon Mill further upstream where rumours of river carp makes this spot an interesting possibility for a future session.

But that, as they say, is another story…