Guided Fishing Trips For Wild Brown Trout & Grayling
on The River Annan & The River Tweed in SW Scotland

The Rivers Annan and The Tweed offer some truly amazing wild brown trout and grayling fishing. We are based in Annan which is about 20 minutes from the end of the M6, just passed the border between Scotland and England. We are approximately 90 minutes drive from Edinburgh or Glasgow travelling from the north and can even be reached from South London in just over 4 ½ hours. We offer guided fishing breaks for Brown Trout & Grayling on the River Annan & the River Tweed.

Fly life on both the Annan & the Tweed is plentiful, coupled with large shoals of minnows in the summer means there is ample food to enable the Brown Trout & Grayling to grow. The average brown trout is 2lbs. Brown trout over 4lbs are not rare and brown trout above 5lbs are caught by our clients every year.

The wild brown trout are free rising and will readily take a dry fly. For this reason we practice a catch and release policy to ensure a good healthy population of natural wild brownies for future years to come.

We can accommodate single anglers or small groups of usually between two to four fisherman. We provide all of the tackle you will require including rods, reels, lines and waders and we always have an ample stock of quality hand tied flies. All you have to do is arrive here and we will give you the fishing experience you will remember for all the right reasons. Fly casting tuition is one of our specialities and we can offer tuition from complete beginner to advanced casting tequniques or we can diagnose and correct bad casting habits. Use our guides to the full, that's what we are here for.

We have secured the use of the Dryfholm beat, which is a private middle river beat. This fishery has a mixture of quiet sedate pools and faster flowing glides. The wading is easy over gravel with a couple of deep holes which we will show you. All the walking is across flat pasture land and access to the water is very easy. If you have problems walking then this is the best beat. There is also access to the fishing hut situated in the middle of the beat. This is private syndicate water which has been lightly fished in previous years and is not available to the general public. As well as having secured access to most of the river Annan we also have access to the Rivers Tweed, Nith, Cree, Bladnoch, Esk and Eden.

Wild Brown Trout Fishing

Early season we will see large hatches of March Browns and Dark Olives which provide spectacular rises and offer some incredible dry fly fishing. The hatches are ususally short lived due to the low temperature. A breeze will often put the fish down and we will resort to the nymph to fish deep.

May and June can be wonderful. Dry fly fishing at its best. This is the peak time for the insects on the river and the trout gorge themselves ready for harder times. The false March Brown and olives will hatch almost every day and the Mayfly will be evident. The yellow May Dun will be obvious on the water and evenings can be spectacular when the spinners return to the water. Like the southern chalk streams sedges will put in an appearance. They hatch in their thousands and the trout love them.

A large deer head creation (sculpin) fished deep can produce surprising results in high summer when the fish lock on to minnows. Towards the backend of the season the trout will switch diet to dark olives which are larger than their earlier cousins.

One of the great joys of river fishing in Scotland is the diversity of wildlife that you might encounter including Roe Deer, Otters, Kingfishers and the majestic Heron. Buzzards are a very common sight soaring high on the thermals and Red Squirrels are very much thriving in this part of Scotland.

Grayling Fishing

There is no closed season for Grayling as there is for Salmon and Trout, therefore you can fish for Grayling at any time of the year although December through to March is probably the best time. Grayling fishing on the Annan has long been regarded as some of the best sport fishing in the UK. Even in December Grayling are free rising and the Klinkhammer scores well as do olives and midges. A small (22) black gnat has worked very well in the past. Sizes tend to be smaller representing the size of the natural insect life in the colder months. Even on the coldest of days the fish will rise.

During the winter months the Grayling will shoal and locating them may require a bit of searching but the walking can keep the winter chill air at bay and gives you a bit of time to take in the amazing surroundings.

Streamy water just off the main flow is always worth a cast, as are quiet back eddies. The faster water at the tail of the pools can also produce some excellent results. Once found it is not unusual to land a dozen in a day. Great fun and superb sport on light tackle.

Larger Grayling tend not to be as free rising as their smaller cousins. When fishing for the larger specimens we use heavily weighted nymphs or North Country spiders. Let us teach you the art of “high sticking”, “Czech nymphing” or “New Zealand” dry fly. This is very challenging fishing which requires good reflexes, patience and a sense of humour. It is truly exhilarating sport fishing. Let us teach you how to cast five feet of fly line and ten feet of leader with two heavy flies attached.

We also offer the opportunity to long trot for grayling using Avon style rods and centre pin reels. This is a truly magical method of fishing for grayling if the fly is being ignored as sometime happens. We will supply all of the bait required including maggots, sweet corn, bread etc rods and reels.

We will always operate a Catch & Release policy for Grayling. They are not good eating and there's absolutely no good reason to harm these beautiful fish. There is however every reason to release them unharmed back into the river to ensure we have outstanding sports fishing for hopefully generations to come.

Your fishing year need not stop in October until next year, join us on a guided fishing trip for Grayling in the middle of winter. If you haven't tried Grayling fishing before then you are really missing out on a truly wonderful sports fishing experience.

Gift Vouchers

Gift Vouchers are available for all of our guided fishing trips to give as something tangible on the day. We can leave the dates open to allow the lucky recipient to choose when they want to come and join us for a 1 day fishing trip or a 3 or 6 day fishing break. We also offer gift vouchers for fly fishing tuition (salmon or trout fishing) and Spey & roll casting lessons from beginner to advanced levels.

How To Book

To receive further details or a detailed quote for our guided fishing breaks and fly fishing tuition or to make a booking please e-mail us. If you include a telephone number we will always be happy to give you a call at your convenience. To e-mail us please click on the link below.