Upper Beat UA AA

There ten named pools and a number of fishy pots and holes that lay between them. The beat is very pretty and runs through a mixture of woodland and pasture with large quantities of wild flowers appearing on the banks during spring and early summer.

Although this is the furthest beat from the sea on the Annan the shortness of the river means that fresh fish can be found here especially after a rise in water. The river is quite narrow here (between 10 and 20yards in the main) so even for salmon fishing single-handed rods will normally be all that is needed to cover all of the available water. Although this is association water it is very lightly fished with most of the local rods not appearing until very late in the season.

The sea trout fishing is good from June onwards although there will be fish present from April. The shallowness of the water does make the fish easily spooked so the quietest anglers will be the ones that reap the highest rewards. This beat is very good for the Annan speciality of catching sea trout on dries. Find a feeding fish and throw a largish olive pattern upstream and wait for a heart stopping fight as a sea trout which could be weigh anything from 1

to 10lb hurls itself all around the pool trying to disengage itself from you.

For salmon fishing on this beat typically there will be fish around from Mid September onwards but the fishing can be very good earlier on, on a dropping water in 2005 one angler had 4 salmon before 9:00AM during mid August and despite there being hordes of fish present did not see another angler all day! When the lower parts of the river are unfishable due to floods this beat will often remain clear and very fishable.

Early on in the season the brown trout fishing can be very good with late April and May being the peak time. Fish in excess of 4lbs are caught most years by dry fly anglers.