See each day's largest fish and individual beat catches on our Latest Catches page which is updated each time a ghillie uses our automatic telephone reporting system.

Monday 25th March Sadly Barbara Hardie, who has put so much work into these reports in the last few years, died last weekend. She will be much missed by all and hard to replace and we offer our condolences to her family.

Last week

(Last updated: Wednesday 22nd May)

Barndonnoch estate water saw its first fish taken on May 4th weighing in at 15lbs and a second on May 17th, a smaller fish of 10lbs, both taken on a "flying C".

Dalswinton topped this by taking a hefty fish of 18lbs in the second week and Alex Saville, the Burgh water chairman, caught a 10lb salmon on the Millgreen stretch of his beat.

Graeme Lightbody fishing the MNAA water on Sat 11th May landed a beautifully fresh 2.75lbs sea trout and there were reports of quite a number of fish being seen especially at Closeburn Castle where three fish were hooked but only one landed. Colin Robson was fishing with light tackle for sea trout when he hooked a salmon that eventually escaped. He returned to the water with his fifteen footer and again hooked a fish, this time landing it. A fresh fish of 10lbs.

Trout and grayling are rising freely taking emerging and surface flys producing excellent sport.
After another big rise in water on Sunday the river is now steady and in prefect condition.

Report by Ed Baxter

Catches reported to NDSFB between 7th May and 13th May:

Rosehill: 1.3lb Sea Trout
Dalswinton: 18lb Salmon
Dumfries Burgh: 10lb Salmon (Millgreen stretch of Burgh Beat)
Mid Nithsdale: 2.5ln Seatrout (Cranpool)
Information collated by Buccleuch Estates Ltd

*Catch details are reported in good faith.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 18th May)
SALMON & GRILSE: None reported
SEA TROUT: None reported
TROUT: None reported

Recent photographs
Been fishing this week? Send us your best photos, suitably captioned and dated for inclusion above to info@fishnith.co.uk

Season review

From the start of the new season it has been the longest dry spell, and certainly the coldest,for many a year with the river, as you can imagine,dropping away to a trickle.

A few fresh salmon and a number of sea trout were spotted under St Michael's Bridge in Dumfries in the second week of March and after a slight "snow melt" rise in water they had gone, only to be spotted up stream by the bailiffs whilst checking mink traps a week later.

A couple of salmon were seen at Cowhill and sea trout as far up as Thornhill.

A few hardy anglers have been out in the glorious, but bitterly cold weather, on the lower river the first fish of the year was landed, a fresh springer of 8lbs.

The rains came on Wednesday April 10th, but the river did not start to rise until Friday 12th and continued until its peak at midday on the Sunday achieving 9ft on the Drumlanrig gauge.

Another batch fell the following week and the river again rose to a similar height on the 18th but falling back quickly giving the angler an opportunity to spend some time on the river with a good chance of a fish.

Report by Ed Baxter

There have been a number of Sea Trout seen when the river was low in the Burgh water. There are reports of a Sea Trout being hooked and lost on Dalswinton and an 8lbspring salmon having been captured on the Burgh water recently.

Report by Jim Henderson, NDSFB

Information collated by Buccleuch Estates Limited