River Annan

[betanut]

Have organised myself (at last!) 2 days on different beats with an American chum fishing on the Annan in early November - anyone got special tips/flies for the Annan they'd care to share?
All practical advice greatly appreciated ;D

[hardygem]

Hiya betanut ,
What beats are you on ? I am fishing Hoddom in november. My usual set up for there at this time would include Snowbee 2d sink tip line and either size 8 dressed doubles or 1'' brass bottle tubes ,or coneheads depending on water height . I carry a fast sinking poly with me and find that this covers all situations .I almost always fish shrimp patterns in yellow and orange they seem to work for me tightlines

[williegunn]

hardygem said:

Hiya betanut ,
What beats are you on ? I am fishing Hoddom in november. My usual set up for there at this time would include Snowbee 2d sink tip line and either size 8 dressed doubles or 1'' brass bottle tubes ,or coneheads depending on water height . I carry a fast sinking poly with me and find that this covers all situations .I almost always fish shrimp patterns in yellow and orange they seem to work for me tightlines

Do you manage to get
a) a snobee sinktip to sink?
b) a snobee line to turn over a polyleader.
c) a snobee line to turn over a brass bottle tube.

without cutting back the last 10ft.

[Fruin]

We can't all justify the cost of Carron Lines

Anyway, it's hard to spey cast when you've traded your right arm and the shirt off your back for a fly line.

[tynetraveller]

I fish with Carron lines for 90% of my fishing and they are absolutely fantastic, but if the floater has one flaw it doesn't like poly tips and it hates larger bottle tubes, so I still pull out the windcutter or the airflo multi-tip if I am fishing a sink-tip, which isn't very often. As for their cost, casting one makes you feel like a better caster than you really are- And most of us will pay £35 extra for that feeling!

They are in fact so good that you may be able to chuck one further than your snowbee, even with one arm, one leg and no shirt

[betanut]

Cheers hardygem

hardygem said:

What beats are you on ? I am fishing Hoddom in november.

Missed out on 2 days at Hoddom by an hour but fishing at Brocklerigg and on Castle Milk/Royal Four Towns instead

hardygem said:

My usual set up for there at this time would include Snowbee 2d sink tip line and either size 8 dressed doubles or 1'' brass bottle tubes ,or coneheads depending on water height . I carry a fast sinking poly with me and find that this covers all situations .I almost always fish shrimp patterns in yellow and orange they seem to work for me tightlines

Good - my usual suspects will serve me well, don't have the sink tip snowbee but all the rest ;D

Interesting stuff there Willie Gun about the Snowbee lines, I like them but on my last outing I noticed that my 2D floater was not that keen on chucking out heavy flies or the polyleader I had on the end as I recalled from my last outing, taking off a few feet had crossed my mind as a fix but i hate the idea of chopping a nearly new fly line. I can't warrant buying the Carron though (as I'm rarely fishing anything much wider than the Don at its biggest) but if anyone has one that would suit my 14ft #9/10 rod I'd be delighted to give it a test to see what all the fuss is about

[betanut]

Graham,
Cheers for that, I'll maybe give the Airflo a go (I do not believe I just said that) as their polyleaders have been favourites of mine for some time. I have had very bad experiences with their lines and rods in the past but I'm always willing to give something a second chance on a recommendation.
The Snowbee did me proud last year but (whilst it's more than possible my casting has deteriorated a tad through lack of use this year) I'm sure it performed better with the polyleaders attached than how it did the other day on the Deveron where, other than a suicidal brownie, I blanked by the way too much sun
Maybe my rose tinted specs are getting in the way again
I'm off to eBay to hunt down a cheap Airflo Delta Spey ;D

[hans]

Hi,
just back from 2 days at the Annan, fished Hoddom and Dryfeholm. We saw that the river can rise and fall very fast, so be certain to bring several setups, floaters, sinktips and even sinking lines.
The river was well into the banks, bit over the spinningmark at Hoddom. Still fishable with the fly though.
Shrimpflies will probably do the job just fine....
Have a good time anyway.
Cheers, Hans.

[hardygem]

Hi willie gunn, The short answer to all three of your questions is yes i do seem to manage ,the snowbee sink tip claims only to have a sink rate between 1.14 and 1.86 inches per second therefore i wouldn't be expecting it to cut through the water in the same way as a fast sinking poly leader for example. I find that it is also capable of turning over any poly leader and the 1'' brass bottle tubes (or both at the same time ) however sometimes i'm not !!. I mean that i dont claim to be an expert caster far from it and i'm pretty sure that when at times the flie,tube or poly fail to turn over properly it has more to do with me than the line.Maybe other lines are better suited to these tasks i don't really know not having had the priveledge of trying many others but on the whole i'm pretty happy with the performance of my snowbees,and theres not a lot long casting needed on the Annan.

[salmonscotty16lb]

hi there hans how was your fishing?
hope u cought fish long way for a blank

[hans]

That's salmonfishing I guess.
I had a few good pulls, had one on for about 5 minutes, without seeing it. Not for a moment I have been in controll, the fish did what it wanted. Then, suddenly it was gone, leaving me with a simple sh*t....
My buddy had 2, a 10 pounder at Dryfeholm, a 6 pounder at Hoddom.
Conditions were great, a wee bit high and coloured, but still, saw a few fish leaping... most slightly coloured.
Still, had a great time anyway....
Cheers, Hans.

[salmonscotty16lb]

yes thats fishing.
had my fingers crossed for you but im sure next time you will secure one.
what did you think of the river? hospitality ect?

[salmonscotty16lb]

yes thats fishing.
had my fingers crossed for you but im sure next time you will secure one.
what did you think of the river? hospitality ect?