Annan Adventure

This weekend the good lads and lasses that look after the River Annan were holding a somewhat extended Grayling weekend. Usually it’s the Saturday OR the Sunday but I think with the poor conditions so far this winter they were able to make it a double header this weekend and so it was both days. I have to make a judgement call on what I might be able to fish and decided to plump for the Saturday so I had Sunday to recover and was fortunate in my timing that I have been pretty good this week with the aches and pains so felt up for it.

John wrestling with big grayling before negative thoughts intruded….

It’s always an early start so was out early and with John in the motor we were at Lockerbie just a few minutes after 8. We discussed where we would like to fish, I was keen to try Annandale Estates water as it was an area I had been inclined to try in the past but never seemed to get round to. We were both in agreement not to go to Hoddom, John fishes it a lot in summer, and I did it once before and its quite a high footfall beat, I like to get away from the crowds.

Brydekirk was an option too as we had a good day there last year but as I say it’s not new water to us. In the event we got the top section of Annandale Estates water, the Woodend beat. It was a nippy minus 4 as we tackled up at the parking spot we had been directed to. I was pointing out to John a pack of Large Thingummy Bobbers I had bought before the aborted Nith outing in December. I got them as the water was high and had the day been on I thought maybe a couple of heavy bugs under a bobber might have allowed me to cover more water than I would have been able to otherwise. We took a couple each as an option as an emergency get out should we encounter a need.

The river was in stunning condition considering the recent weather

John models the stylish angler collection

Here we see John modelling the Winter 2016 Stylish Angler Collection and looking very comfortable in it indeed

On the river bank though the water was at a pretty nice height, but utterly sparkling gin clear. I was still tying on a couple of bugs then taking a few photographs as John started at some slower deeper water at the end of a fairly fast run. I had only returned to pick up my rod for the first time when John shouted he was into his first fish! It was a BIG grayling. He told me all was well until the fleeting thought passed through his head about how long the fight was taking and how soft the mouths of Grayling are….. when it came off. I think he was slightly disappointed. Well it seemed that way after he stopped crying as the cold was freezing his tear ducts!

However a few casts later he was in again on the same spot. This time landing a decent sized grayling. A few more minutes and he had another on a bug fished under a bobber over the very deep water just beneath his position- there was a steep shelf in the bottom that went to who knows how deep- well over head height! John said I wasn’t to mention he caught it under the bobber in case the SNFFL guys seen it…… 🙂

A lovely big Grayling caught by John, early on

For my part I fished the faster water that came down the side of a gravel island that split the river. I fancied the quieter water on the far side but the water while not monstrously deep- maybe waist height was pushing fast and you could feel your feet being pushed off the bottom a foot or two from the bank. This water was though ideal grayling water, though maybe better in the Autumn rather now in the colder months.

Johns second fish, I think he thought we were in for a hatful after such a good start

I ended up tying on a very heavy caddis pattern and finally was hitting the bottom. In fact I was occasionally getting snagged up but that’s a sort of good sign that you are getting down. Towards the bottom end of the run I detected the water slackened off as the channel broadened and decided to have a go at crossing over. I made it to the island and there was a nice deep slower spot on the far side that I thought might be a banker for a fish but then noticed there was some colour here in the water and as I worked up I realised it was from a badly eroded section of bank that was depositing gobs of red soil into the water every now and then. Having done all this section and John having moved further down his section. I went and had a go where he had started. Never had a touch and I too decided to try the bobber with a couple of bugs but ended up with a tangle in my line that the water froze to and made impossible to untangle so I had to retire to the bank to sort out leaders and flies. After a spell John returned having fished quite far down the glide below us but nothing to show for it either. After a bit of a break, a cup of tea and a rest of the feet we decided to split up. He was going to fish downstream and me upstream, if either of us found fish we would call. The snow started to fall too though we were both commenting that we were warm as toast in our winter gear.

This Roe deer found itself separated from its pal in the next field but somehow found a way through.

I walked until I came to a corner in the river by a fishing hut thats been undermined by the recent high waters and decided to fish another extremely fishy looking pool called I believe Orchard Pool. The water was deeper and coming from very fast to much slower but had the weirdest under current I have experienced, and if you fished your bugs through the pool they rolled along beautifully to the end of your reach then suddenly swung round and came right round under your feet! I ended up with flies caught in the gravel guards of my waders! Once released I fished a good 50-60 yard down the far side of the river where the water was a nice depth and pace and I again would have bet on a fish, but nothing showed itself. The snow was now heavy and I stopped for another break and to sort out one of my rods. John and I spoke on the phone and he was well down the bottom of the section and had been able to cross over and fish the far bank too. Nada.

The Hut at the Orchard pool has been undermined by the recent high waters

I decided to try the last section upstream round the bend as the snow got heavier- I must have looked a bit like a snowman at times as it lay on my lifevest and cold weather Simms hat. The glides further up were a fair bit thinner and worse for me, had high undercut banks that I didn’t feel able to negotiate ( at least not so I could get back up later!) and I run the bugs under a bobber through the deeper looking lies. By now the snow was heavy and my feet were killing me and I had a fair walk back to the car to make so with the light fading called it a day. So not great on the fish front for me, but I don’t put that down to either lack of effort or flies, just they weren’t here. John fished a fair bit water below the start point and said he fished it pretty hard, and never had a touch, so looks like the good start early one was good fortune to land at the right place with a wee pod of fish early on. But thoroughly enjoyable day out and worth the swollen toes in the evening!