River Annan: Hoddom Estates

The River Annan at Hoddom offers arguably world class fly fishing opportunities catering for 15 rods on two and a half miles of easily accessible double bank fishing- welcome to left hand casters alike. The cost of day tickets range from a mere £6- £20 for Trout and Grayling dependent upon the time of year. The river is relatively easy wading underfoot with large flat rocks carved from hundreds of years of spate, but tread gingerly as there are deep pools; obscure in depth. Unfathomable. I recommend felt sole wading boots to lock a sure foothold on the algae riddled rocks. The Annan is famous for producing large runs of sea trout and in steady water, prolific runs of silver tourists. It goes not unheard of; Trout have been known to take water fowl chicks from the surface, growing to gargantuan proportions. Come prepared for battle!

The Annan is a practicing catch and release fishery, all fish are returned, thus providing excellent ongoing sport for the local and visiting angler. I strongly recommend a rod with enough back bone to move leviathan sized Trout and Grayling. A smaller rod- of 9ft 5 weight will suffice for lighter, delicate upstream purist dry fly work. The gaudy, heavy depth charger nymphs can be cast by a 10ft 5/6 weight rod. I would only dare to use a four weight! I was using a 9ft’6 6 weight, mid to tip action rod and still occasionally had the difficulty combating the raw power of the stout Annan fish - for some, I could not touch the line as it was ripping through my fingers. I swear I lost a 4 pound grayling! All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. If you want to check the water level and hit the nail on the head, search Farson’s river cameras and click on Scotland, followed by clicking on the Annan at Hoddom. If I told someone to look on the Hoddom camera they would have seen me waving. It was my first trip with my local tackle shop, Total Fishing Lanarkshire. Scott Rutherford (shop owner) had organised the evening trip to the Annan and, boy, was I happy he did.

Standing on Hoddom Bridge, rubbing shoulders with experienced anglers, we locked our concentration on small salmon parr darting and chasing each other over the flat rocks. We occasionally saw large grayling holding in the current as they turned, glinting in the sun as they nymphed, grubbing over the rich nymph covered rocks.

If you are visiting Hoddom beat, undoubtedly, the optimum time to fish the Annan at Hoddom is from late evening into dusk. The most prolific of hatches in the summer months will tend to peak at roughly 8-9:30pm, perfect when catching the sought after evening rise. It was late evening, at around 9:45pm, but Euan and I could not help ourselves, and had to wait it out a little longer, entranced, as we intently watched the boils and swirls as the wary fish sipped in the ascending nymphs and pupae. We often say "leave it another three or four rises" as if we ever abide to that rule. Then all hell broke loose - the air was filled with evening duns dancing in the dark, sedge and the odd spent mayfly floating down like an abandoned raft with only the occasional bat of its sodden wings, drawing more unwanted attention to itself. Easy pickings.

A whole host of other critters filled the clammy, humid evening air, the place was alive! Beforehand, in the earlier stages around one o’clock, there were lots of Grannom sedge, large olive uprights, also evidence of two inch long stone fly cases- washed up littering the banks. However, it was a very bright day and only a few brave fish dared to ascend to the surface where they became exposed, easily visible through the Polaroids. In such conditions, It is easy sport under the cover of overhanging trees providing much needed shade for the fish and their delicate eyes

. I caught all of my Grayling in a window of 25 minutes on small weighted caddis and hares lug variants sized 14 on a cast consisting of nine foot of varivas tapered leader with 5 foot of Greys 5lb tippet- point fly (weighted caddis size 14) 3 feet away from dropper (hares lug size 14). The take of the first fish was poetic. I cast square across the current and let the line swing round with two upstream mends to slow the flies and let them sink deeper. The line slowly pulled away and I was into a big fish. The fish, turned across the current, twisting and turning and using its sail-like dorsal to maximum advantage, ever straining my rod as it bent double. I landed it after a dogged and tenacious battle. It was netted and then quickly unhooked, I admired its beauty and elegance as its scales shimmered in the intense sunlight. The vivid purples and light lilacs along the dorsal were stunning. Wild.

Later that evening, before we moved to the tried and tested productive golf course stretch for a ‘last’ cast, adjacent to the grand house shadowing the water- we relocated the short distance upstream to the rocky flats where there was a mass flurry of flies, darting and bouncing along the surface. A free for all. It was here that the last of the light was spangling through the trees, twinkling and then setting ever so slowly, bursting with warm colours. After fishing the rise with many nosing the fly, missing a good few, we moved further down to where I had had 6 gorgeous ladies, the best being a two and a half pounder. On the way, I spotted what I thought to be a sea-trout bow waving and navigating its way upstream in ankle deep water. It was heart stopping. Its fins were cutting the surface and its powerful spade tail was powering itself through the fast shallows much like a sockeye salmon running the river. When we arrived at the famed pool, we had just caught the tail end of the hatch and I managed to winkle out a small trout after struggling to get through the shoals of Grayling. Not that I was complaining. We both missed two fish; it was challenging to make out the silhouette of a rise form let alone the fish delicately sipping in our fly. We wandered along the beaten path following the river down to Hoddom Bridge. The moonlight kissed the water and the last of the action-packed day was dwindling and slowing pace- But had it?

At Hoddom Bridge we met up with a handful of the guys. We were told to be at the bridge for 10:00pm. We later found out that Scott and a few anglers 3 miles downstream were reaping the benefits of a hatch at 10:00 so we watched an angler under the bridge for thirty minutes. I noticed that Scott had left a rod he brought from the shop propped against the bridge. I had long packed up but I couldn’t resist - there was a spare rod, and fish rising! What the heck. I quickly changed the air-knotted tippet and put on a sparsely tied CDC emerger. I was so spent after fishing 11:00am through to midnight, fishing hard, that I was casting a fly from Hoddom Bridge. A 25ft plus bridge! We took turns of casting and missed several fish due to the long belly of line. I thought what the heck, let’s put a rainbow trout popper on and have a laugh. It wasn’t a laugh at all. After 4 casts of double hauling off of the bridge roly-pollying the line and stripping the line at neck break speed a huge sea-trout launched itself at the fly, clean off the water, and I near enough had a heart attack. Everybody went quiet as they witnessed it. It was a sea-trout of a life time. Unless it was a salmon? A great day was had, I left with a smile and memories that would stay with me for a long time.

By Joshua Maitland ~ Copy right 2016~