It’s a long time ago now since I first bought a day ticket at Bintry, but it opened my eyes to a whole new world. Like so many of us, my trout fishing had been mostly confined to still waters and large reservoirs like Grafham and Ardleigh, with the occasional foray into Norfolk on the Bure or Glaven, but my experience of river trout fishing in Norfolk was limited, to say the least. So when a friend informed me that it was possible to get a reasonably priced day ticket on the Wensum, I naturally jumped at the chance.

As I recall, it was a cloudless, hot June day with a few hatches coming off here and there but otherwise it bore all the hallmarks of a long, tough day. Fortunately there is plenty of shade on this stretch of the river, so it was possible to find quite a few rising fish, but getting a fly to them was quite another matter for a left-hander!

The answer was wading. This stretch of the river is easy to wade and providing you are careful not to disturb the water, certainly easier than fishing from the bank. To cut a long story short, a selection of dry GRHEs and a delightful afternoon’s fishing produced a magnificent trout of around two pounds, several smaller, wild fish and a chub of around 4lbs and confirmed my belief that dry fly fishing on a chalk stream in summer is about as good as it gets in angling.

The rest, as they say, is history. After several great days out on the Yarrow beat I was firmly hooked and when someone suggested I put my name on the waiting list there was no hesitation. It’s a long drive for me from home to Bintry, but worth it every time, even in the dog days of August when the fishing is at its toughest.

Amazingly, the wait for membership was quite short and the whole fishery suddenly became accessible, proving conclusively that it’s worth every penny of the annual fee.