Day Tickets

Day tickets are available for the Yarrow Farm and County School beats only. Tickets are limited to one a day unless a husband and wife, parent and son or daughter or two friends want to fish together. This means that you will not have to share the beats with another day ticket purchaser although you may be joined at some stage by a member. The Committee reserves the right to restrict the number of tickets sold at its discretion.

You can use the calendar, below, to check availability and make a booking. Tickets can only be booked and paid for in advance and online.The cost is £40 per angler per day.

Please note that you cannot pay on the river bank.

Our Day Ticket season opens on 1 May and closes on 29 October, both days inclusive. Day tickets go on sale from 1 January.

” . . . what a beautiful stretch of river and the brown trout I caught was in sublime condition. Your river is far more tranquil, better kept, and more bountiful than the stretch of the Itchen I often fish!” NP, day ticket on 8 June 2021

 

The Yarrow Farm Beat has an interesting mix of water with deep pools and faster-flowing water with a gravel bottom. Wading is not essential although lengths of the Beat can be waded with care. The County School Beat is less immediately attractive as it is relatively slow-flowing and quite straight. Wading is not recommended except for the area immediately downstream of County School bridge itself.

 

When you book a ticket, you will receive an email with your ticket, Fishery rules, the code number for the padlock on the signing-in box, a map of the Fishery showing the two beats, car parking areas and the main access point.

Day tickets costs £40 and allow you to take one stock fish only and catch and release as many as you wish.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Untagged Stock Fish

For some years now the farmed trout that are stocked into the river have been identified with a coloured tag. Because of equipment failure in the most recent stocking, it was necessary to get the trout into the river as quickly as possible, so all the fish were stocked without the usual tag.

Recording your catch

Most anglers will recognise the signs of a farm-reared trout. There is often fin damage and initially the fish are not as pristine as the indigenous trout. The introduced fish also have a bronze/yellow colouration that distinguishes them from the more silvery wild fish. Size is another factor and any trout under 12 inches can be safely considered a wild fish.

The Committee is anxious that our catch return records are as accurate as possible. We ask that you make a judgment as to whether your trout is a wild or stocked fish and record your catch accordingly – making the usual distinction between a wild and a stocked fish. There will be some over-wintered, tagged stock fish caught. An over-wintered fish may have a YELLOW or BLUE tag or just possibly a GREEN tag. The tags are by the nearside of the dorsal fin. All wild un-tagged fish must be measured before they are returned to the river. Their lengths must be recorded on the catch return card. Please complete a separate card for each beat that you fish or intended to fish. Please bring a tape measure with you so that you can measure the length of wildfish caught. Fishing is from dawn to dusk.

On arrival at the Fishery please go the the signing-in box and complete Part 1 of a catch return card for the beat or beats that you will be fishing. Part 2 of each card must be completed before leaving the Fishery.

 

River access

We are fortunate in that we are not restricted to walking up and down the riverbanks between the river and the fence, where there is a fence. This means that when walking downstream to the bottom of a beat to start fishing, or to return to re-fish a stretch of river, you can walk along the meadow well away from the water. Keeping well back from the river will mean that you will not frighten fish and if there is someone else fishing you will not spook all the fish that he or she is hoping to fish for. As well as being bad manners, there is nothing more frustrating than working your way quietly upstream to try for a fish that you may have seen rising earlier, than to see someone marching down the bank in full sight of fish in the river and scaring ‘your’ fish.

No wading is allowed on the County School Beat.

Please note: The river Wensum is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and we are committed to protecting the local wildlife, which means we cannot allow day ticket holders to bring dogs onto the beats, so please, no dogs. Thank you.

 

You can download mobile phone-friendly travel directions here:  Day Ticket Travel Directions  These directions will tell you how to find the Signing-in Boxes, the Yarrow Farm and County School beats and the parking area at the former County School station.

You can download the map showing the day ticket beats, location of the new signing-in box and where to park etc:

Download Day Ticket Map

In case of a problem with a booking or to confirm a booking has been made, contact Richard Nelson rvnelson@freedom255.com or 07970-759635.

To use the booking calendar, just select an available date, fill in the form and click ‘book now’. The date will be held pending confirmation and you will receive instructions for payment shortly.

At the committee’s discretion, refunds will be made if, for whatever reason, BMTF considers the river to be unfishable on the day you have booked. Alternatively, your booking can be transferred to a suitable day, usually in the next season’s calendar.