As a long term member of the Wild Trout Trust, the Bintry Mill Trout Fishery was able to call upon the trust for an advisory visit from our East of England representative, Rob Mungovan.
Rob visited us in July to give us the benefit of his expertise regarding one of the club’s stretches of river, our most remote beat known as Goff’s. Members rarely fish this beat as it has always involved a long walk and as a result, not much is known about it. Those members who have taken ‘the long walk’ know that it is a beat of two halves, the upper section being mostly shallow, fast flowing (by Wensum standards) with a mostly gravel bed, ideal brown trout water one would think. The lower section is slower, deeper and weedy, but is known to contain some large trout and chub. Overall, Goff’s is a wonderfully peaceful slice of Norfolk countryside where you can spend a day in total isolation with only the red kites and deer for company and our aim is to improve the river conditions without impairing the essential character of the surrounding woods and water meadows.
The visit resulted in a number of suggestions for improving the habitat value of the river and its banks, most notably the creation of more cover for young trout and coarse fish to improve their chances of survival to adulthood, but also a number of ideas for re-designing sections of river bed to improve flow and diversity.
As part of its ongoing habitat improvement programme, the club will be concentrating on implementing the WTT recommendations as far as we are able over the coming seasons, but as always we are dependent on the energy and enthusiasm of our volunteer corps to carry out the improvements. When finished, though, it will be a superb stretch of river.
