River Annan

[macsalmo]

Had a day on the annan at newbie on friday. Lady luck stayed away this time although I managed a nice well mended kelt of about 8lb (probably about 12lb when he came in) It was in really good condition and put up an amazing fight (I didn't know kelts could be so lively) so I did get the string pulled but not with what I hoped for
Didn't see any fish other than a nice sea trout jump out.
Sammy the **%%""!! seal had been up again and gone through all the main holding pools just before we arrived, its a joke that this thing has a celebrity status whilst eating these few and far between spring fish and kelts

Macsalmo

[elwyman]

Had a day on Cleughead yesterday - for £10 I had the whole beat to myself!

Saw 2 salmon move in a pool, and caught a 6" smolt for my trouble.

I have fished the beat in autumn on much higher water, so this was the first time I have seen the river bottom in a few places. I was surprised to see how dodgy the wading is on the bottom half of the beat - sandstone bedrock with a vertical drop off in places, very close to the bank. Surprised I've not had a soaking before!

[macsalmo]

Ive not fished cleughead Elwyman although I will be booking a day or two in the autumn.
The fish sometimes run straight through newbie and tend to hold up first in cleughead. I have seen good runs come through newbie on a tide with the river being low, go through the cauld and decent no. caught at cleughead.
It looks good fly water from what pics Ive seen.

[macd]

I see poor sammy has been struck down by lead poisoning. shame.....

macsalmo said:

Had a day on the annan at newbie on friday. Lady luck stayed away this time although I managed a nice well mended kelt of about 8lb (probably about 12lb when he came in) It was in really good condition and put up an amazing fight (I didn't know kelts could be so lively) so I did get the string pulled but not with what I hoped for
Didn't see any fish other than a nice sea trout jump out.
Sammy the **%%""!! seal had been up again and gone through all the main holding pools just before we arrived, its a joke that this thing has a celebrity status whilst eating these few and far between spring fish and kelts

Macsalmo

[macsalmo]

I think somebody was target shooting and had a really bad miss

[underwood]

anyone been on the Annan recently? Any luck?

[macsalmo]

Hi Underwood, I usually fish the Annan down at newbie, Ive not been up there for a little while but there has been a good rise last week with fish now moving through out the system (see the fish Scotland website).

Do you fish the Annan often?

ATB

Macsalmo

[hans]

Fished the Annan last this week, Dryfeholm and Hoddon beats. I blanked, but my mate had 2: a good 10 pounder at Dryfeholm and a 6 pounder at Hoddom.
I had one on for approx, 5 mins, without ever seeing the fish, and without being in controll; must have been a good fish.
Conditions were fair, bit into the banks.
Cheers, Hans.

[hardygem]

Hi anyone out there been on the Annan this week?. I,m fishing Hoddom on saturday so any info on what,when and where etc would be really good .I,ve got myself a new 15ft Guideline LPXE this week I've had the 12.1/2ft for a while and really love(maybe ishould change my name ;D ) it so ican't wait to get out and try 15ft . Hopefully i can get a good bend in it on it's first outing.
Cheers hardygem

[salmonscotty16lb]

rooster and jock fished brocklerigg yet??
annan not been kind to me this year 2 fish!!
1 September 1 October
fishing running through middle annan and my poor mans beat not stopping them
time to get wallet out ?
water back down to base level from reports today and red fish about but rain forecast so water will go up!!
PS i guarantee this sat will fish its socks off!!! I'm working and always does when I'm on the tools
good luck

[jock]

Hi salmonscotty16lb,

Just returned this evening from 4 days on Brocklerigg it was my first and last visit. Fish Annan are being economical with the truth about this beat. Only 4 rods a day, well that is assuming none of the syndicate rods turn up. We had booked all 4 rods so you can imagine our surprise when we turned up to see 2 rods fishing the beat.

It turns out they were syndicate rods. Now the beat is only big enough for 4. Some of the interesting things they told us were:

1. They can fish any method at any time, but the 4 day rods can only fly fish, unless the spinning mark is reached. This is a pole which must be set at around 4' mark Certainly it was 2' above the level we were fishing at.

2. When the beat is fishing ( around 1' higher than when we were there apparently) the top pool is usually unfishable due to the appearance on the opposite bank of many spinners, up to 17 we were told. Because fishing was poor we only had the odd one to contend with. However the bottom pool had 3 regular spinners and 1 fly fisher every day when we were there. I specifically asked before I booked about the opposite bank and was told that they were not sure but thought it was in private hands and little fished..... oh really !!!

Two of the other pools are unfishable to the fly. If you are prepared to strip flies across the weir pool then you can fly fish it, but it is really spinning water. The top of the mill pool is too fast and furious to fly fish.

If as were were told by the syndicate rods, the perfect height is around the 3' mark then I would imagine the water is pretty dangerous to wade and apart from the top and bottom pools which you can be fish from the bank you really have to wade the others because the bank is tree lined.

Apart from the Weir and top of the Mill Pool the water is all the same and therefore pretty boring. I fished in the company of three friends and we were unanimous in saying we would not fish it again. Fishing the beat with 3 other unknown anglers, a band of spinners on a fair chunk of the opposite bank, throw in a couple of syndicate rods on your side merrily worming away while you can only fly fish....the only thing I can think that is worse than this is ........WORK!

Regarding the fishing, Pat, a part time Ghillie on the Earn, got one on the Monday, I got one and lost one on the Tuesday, nothing on Wednesday and Pat got a pull on Thursday. The fish landed were sea liced. The beat was not holding fish as we hardly saw any. My experience of others beats on the Annan is that you at least see the Tartan tourists if they are there.

Any members with days on this beat I hope you get water around 3' at Brydekirk, and in the event of the spinners being out in force, I hope you are first class waders, own a lifejacket or at least known the Ghillie's phone number.... he had to rope someone out the water last week!!!!!


It is St. Mungo's for me. Unless Frank has an irresistible offer to fish the Deveron next October.

Good luck to all that fish this beat,

Jock

[tyneandrew]

Yet another horror story from fishannan - crap.

If you want to spin combat style - go to the Annan.

[salmonscotty16lb]

thanks jock it was on my list for next year but not now!! fish annan is a bit of a joke fished the 4 towns recently with my old uncle and another guy me up near the better watter at top uncle in middle area and other guy down bottom (whole beat coved?) never heard of any fish caught from us or other anglers on water get home and fish annan reported 4??
now this is a crowded beat with rod rest fishers most years but this year there is not even 25% of the usual suspects out??
trying 2 get fishers on the bank i think??

[Tyne Angler]

Jock

Had a similar experience last season on St Mungo's. Myself and Hadrian booked the beat with the impression it was a 4 rod only beat (as it was then advertised) only to find a team of syndicate rods on the water.

Would think twice about booking via fishannan again which is a shame as I had used the fishscotland website to book fishing on the Spey earlier that season and the whole process was first class.

[jock]

Hi Tyne Angler,

St. Mungo's has around 24 season ticket holders, most come from far away, I think only 2 are local. Over the years I have fished that I have never had a problem, there has always been plenty of water and I have never came across more than 2 season ticket holders. It is a far bigger piece of water and you don't have any problem with the 4 rods on Kirkwood on the opposite bank. The bottom of the beat is usually under fished although you could have problems on the Stag pool with spinners on the opposite bank.

Brocklerigg on the other hand is far smaller. Even if no syndicate rods are there ( I understand there are 4) the problem will lie with the opposite bank on the top and bottom pools. My advice is stay clear. Today I noticed on FishAnnan that the water is at perfect height. I hope that the rods fishing are not faced with a line of spinners on the far bank. According to the syndicate rods we were talking to they can be a big problem.
Typical of salmon fishing, the water stated to rise just as we were packing up last night....there is always next year.

[carrowmore]

Jock,
The bloke who had to be fished out was another guest in the hotel we stayed in. We had 2 days on Hoddom and 2 at Cleughead/Mount Annan last week. The river became high and dirty on our first day and we were forced to spin/worm for a couple of days. I had a small fresh grilse on a devon but that was it for our party. Hoddom didn't fish well , only the very odd fish showing. Most guys in the hotel blanked ( a few were at Newbie ). The higher beats at Applegarth/Annandales had a few fish with the high water so I wish we'd switched to the upper river after the deluge , you live and learn.

[salmonking]

royal four towns is a fly fishing joke,ok if yr a spinner or wormer,fish annan states some decent fly water,what a load of p###,there is none,
money grabbin ########.

[betanut]

Oh dear - and there was me looking forward to fishing on the Annan next month, oddly enough on 2 of the beats mentioned

Wish I'd known this all before - very demoralising. On the upside, maybe there'll be a fish for my colonial chum

Must find my spinning rod..... where's the damn worms ;D

[salmonscotty16lb]

don't get the spade out its rubbish worm water 2 ;D
unfortunately not much fly water but from bridge down to lairds point if its quiet chance of a fish on fly are ok? not good holding water in a spate but if the river has dropped after one ie 1-2 days fish will still move through and stop.
my advice is upper river annandale estates looks good bet its fished consistent on every rise more so with the high temp for this time of year don't no if you can change your plans tho?

[betanut]

Sadly no - plans are now fixed and I can't afford to change them Guess we will have to make the best of it