River Annan Small Stream Passport

Location

Summary

The River Annan is an intimate river that throughout most of its length offers fishing for salmon and sea trout of the highest calibre. Almost the entire river is coverable by anyone with moderate ability with many of the beats offering classic fly water.

Depending on the time of year the sea trout fishing at night is an esoteric pleasure that is becoming more and more popular with visitors and all beats allowing 24hr fishing to accommodate this. The salmon fishing is primarily an autumn affair with very large fish (in excess of 30lb) being caught most years.

The opportunities for fishing on the river are highly varied and the pricing structure is remarkably competitive, perhaps one fifth of that on like-for-like beats on the better-known east coast rivers.

Sunday fishing is permitted for trout and grayling ONLY.

Description

The RASSP project is a new initiative that has improved access to the Annan's tributaries.

These watercourses have been lightly fished for a few years but for the visiting angler finding the fishing and being able to access it has been difficult. The passport scheme builds upon the work that has already been carried out in parts of England in areas such as the West Country, The Wye and Usk, Cumbria, Peak District and the Tyne.

Obtaining the fishing is straightforward, all you have to do is purchase a number of vouchers from the River Annan Trust and then redeem them at your chosen fishery.

Indeed the vouchers that people use on all the passport schemes operating in the rest of the country are interchangeable so vouchers bought here could, for example, be used on the Usk and vice versa.

To use the vouchers you simply look online or in this booklet for a fishery that you would like to fish and go there with the requisite amount of vouchers. You then pop the vouchers in the box provided and slide a latch to indicate that you are present and go fishing.

If, in the unlikely event, you find that the fishery you have chosen is full there is always another fishery close by which you can visit on the same terms.

Please do ensure that when you leave the fishery you slide the latch back to indicate no one is there.

The type of fishing that is offered in these fisheries is very different to what will be found on the main river. The main difference is scale, some of the watercourse may only be 6 or 7m wide, but they all hold fish, sometimes a lot of fish. They will suit the type of angler who likes to stalk their fish.

Often the fish will be swimming a matter of feet away from you and a clumsy cast or a heavy footfall will cause them to flee for cover, light tackle and a slow and delicate approach is the order of the day.

All of these fisheries contain brown trout and although they will not always be the large lunkers that the Annan is now famous for they will be spirited little fighters. All of the fisheries will also contain salmon at certain times of the year (normally October onwards), sometimes these fish will be stale and coloured but nowhere on the Annan is that far away from the sea so there will also be bars of silver present.

Some of the fisheries even contain Grayling and Chub and it is likely that fishing for these will be very popular once the word is out.

Because it is important to make sure we do not over exploit our stocks all of these fisheries are 100% catch and release.