Latest from the Annan May 10th
Following a long wait for our first salmon of the season, mainly due to conditions and rod effort, fish are now being reported from the lower river beats despite the continued low fishing effort.
David Robinson opened his account for the year with an 8lb salmon caught on fly from Alf’s Hole on Newbie Beat, there was an 8lb salmon reported from Hoddom on fly and Norman Deakin, while fishing Newbie Beat, landed two fish in two days with his first fish being a 12lb salmon caught on a Willie Gun Snaelda from the Island Pool and his second fish an 8lb salmon, also from the Island Pool. On the same day Steven McGregor also landed a 10lb salmon on fly from Pats Bridge on Newbie.
Following a small lift in water on Monday night and as the river cleared for Wednesday, Ben Wagner caught an 8lb salmon from Newbie Beat on a size 6 Cascade and despite good conditions with reports of fish being caught and seen running through, Ben was the only salmon angler on the river that day. On Thursday, Cleuchhead ghillie Gary Kennedy caught the first fish of their beat at 9lb on fly from the Dam.
So, as it stands there are salmon being caught when anglers are fishing with fish also seen running in off the tide and through the lower river beats but there are very few salmon anglers venturing out right now and although the lower river levels are dropping quick, this only benefits beats such as Cleuchhead and Newbie which often do well during low flows as fish are held up in the pools and streamy runs before progressing further upstream.
The recent good weather and settled river heights have benefitted the trout anglers with some good hatches reported, in particular grannom, however, the winds have been very changeable and when the wind swings from the east, this has greatly affected the hatches and the fishing so if you're looking to fish for trout on the Annan, go for the days with a south or west wind if possible as this makes a huge difference to both the quality of hatches and numbers of rising fish.
When conditions are good the bigger fish are making an appearance with fish up to 4lb plus reported recently as well as plenty of the typical trout around 2lb or less.
After the weekend which is expected to very warm due to high pressure there is a spell of thunder and heavy rain forecast which will hopefully give the river enough water for another freshen up which will help both the salmon and brown trout fishing, especially if the winds settle from the southwest.
Still early for sea tout fishing although salmon anglers have been reporting sea trout since the season opened. Another two or three weeks and we should be seeing the typical warm conditions for nighttime sea trout fishing on the river and from then on into June and July, provided the river is low enough, its sea trout time!!!
Tight lines.
Regards
Michael Fearns
07710331079
We would like to thank the beats, angling clubs and owners who have contributed to this report by providing their time and information as this report would not be possible without your help and support. If you would like to share any interesting stories or pictures from your time fishing on the River Annan for the purposes of this report, please feel free to contact us here.
