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The River Annan is almost entirely a wild, brown trout
fishery. A small stocking takes place on one of the beats which we do
not fish. Annandale offers some truly outstanding wild brown trout
fishing.
Fly life on the river is plentiful, diverse and can be almost
guaranteed. The volume of fly life coupled with the abundance of
minnows in the summer means there is sufficient food for the fish to
grow. Do they grow; an average brownie is 2lbs. Fish over 4lbs are not
rare and fish above the magical 5lbs are caught every year.
Our wild brown trout are free rising and readily
take a dry fly. We maintain a good stock of flies tied by Keith who
will tie salmon flies to order.
As the bulk of the stock is wild some walking is required to locate
the fish. Competent anglers could empty stretches of the river with
ease and we therefore practice Catch and Release with no exceptions. C
& R ensures that you can return next year when the sport will be that
much harder but more rewarding.
Early season will see large hatches of March Browns which the trout
love. Fairly large dark olives will also put in an appearance and the
trout will rise freely. The hatches are short lived due to the
temperature, this is after all Scotland. A breeze will often put the
fish down and we will resort to the nymph to fish deep.
May and June can be wonderful. Dry fly fishing at its best. This is
peak activity time for the insects on the river and the trout gorge
themselves ready for harder times. The false March Brown and olives
will hatch almost every day and the Mayfly will be evident. The yellow
May Dun will be obvious on the water and evenings can be spectacular
when the spinners return to the water. Like the southern chalk streams
sedges will put in an appearance to the extent they will annoy you by
crawling all over you. They hatch in their thousands and the trout
love them.
A large deer head creation (sculpin) fished deep can produce
surprising results in high summer when the fish lock on to minnows.
Towards the backend the fish will switch diet to dark olives which are
larger than their earlier cousins. One problem with trout fishing
towards the backend is that the beats do not differentiate between
salmon/trout fishing and you may well have to purchase a permit for
salmon just to fish for trout. Bookings pre September will not
experience this problem. |
