River Annan 29th August 2020

Cleuchead River Annan - Saturday 29th August 2020
When my good friend Kevin messaged me and asked if I was interested in joining him for a day on the Annan on Cleuchead the following Saturday then there was nothing to think about.
Kevin and I had fished the Annan a few weeks earlier at Hoddom which was my first experience of the Annan and a great experience albeit we failed to connect with any silver. Kevin did as normal manage to produce some results in the form of several nice sea trout and brownies in contrast to my all too often blank session. The water at Hoddom on the day was high and coloured requiring the spinning or 'cheating stick' to come out. I have to say that spinning for salmon is not my preferred method compared to the fly, perhaps it's a confidence or comfort thing.
The day on Cleuchead got off to a frantic start as I managed to sleep in and as the driver I had a mad scramble to get out of the house whilst trying to both waken up as well as check to ensure I had not forgotten anything. I was due to pick up Malcolm, Kevin's Brother and his fishing friend Colin who were of course already waiting as I drew up to collect them. The abuse and ribbing continued all the way down the M74 with me then managing to overshoot the exit to Ecclefechan just to crown things off.
Upon finally arriving we excitedly setup and decided fishing pairs, the river was big and brown and once more the 'cheating stick' was considered order of the morning at least with fly possible after lunch.
Kevin, his Son Lewis and myself headed downstream with Kevin with him kindly and generously explaining the various pools, lies and sections of the beat as openly as always.
It was not long before the shouts of fish came as Kevin's rod bent into a good fish which after racing and leaping around the pool turned into a lovely Salmon of around 9lb. A great start and I really hoped that I was not about to be 'outfished' once again by both of the McCormicks yet again.
Feeling that the vision lure I had on was not working for me even after only twenty minutes or so I then opted for a more familiar lure in the form of an orange and gold rapala (tay rigged). On the first, or second, cast suddenly I was into a decent fish which initially seemed intent in only going downstream or airborne once more. After Kevin deftly landed the fish on the slippery bank I promptly announced it was about 10-11lb only to be brought back to reality by Kevin shouting "no it's 9lb". Indeed landing fish was tricky given the steep overgrown bank and high water conditions any option to unhook fish within the net was simply too difficult.
During the next hour to my absolute delight I managed to hook two further beautiful fish around the 7-8lb mark both strong and reasonably fresh run. In fact after landing the second fish I began to dare to think this could possibly be my lucky day and I might just might even manage to beat Kevin for the first time ever. At 2-1 this seemed a real prospect I mused and when I hooked a third fish then I was cock a hoot. For once the mobile phone traffic between Malcolm and ourselves was us calling them to report 'another' fish landed.
Just before lunch Kevin shouted as he leaned into what looked like a decent double figured fish and after a real tussle a magnificent fish of at least 20lb was in my net. Unbelievable fish and fantastic morning with five salmon between the two of us and several fish dropped. To make things even better Malcolm had called to say that he had lost two fish but Colin had landed a fish of 18lb and also dropped two fish.
After lunch and rotating beats we headed upstream towards 'Alice' and 'Jimmy's" pools feeling buoyed by such an incredible morning. Despite continuing to fish hard it seemed to us that the fish had 'gone off' with little but a few trout and a couple more dropped fish to show for the afternoon. We learned later that Malcolm had gotten his tally started finally with three salmon of 15lb, 10lb and 3lb all fresh! Colin meantime had a major adrenaline rush when hooking a massive fish of 25lb which promptly emptied his reel of line in one huge run which sadly ended by being broken off before he could react.....woah.
Whilst we were packing up I could only keep repeating the same phrase ...."what a day!". The Ghillie's had asked in the morning if we could send them some photos for their Facebook page, well we certainly can do so. 'What a Day!" Cannot wait to go back, maybe get a fly line out next time. A day to remember in the coming Winter nights....even if it was with the "cheating stick!"
A huge thanks to Kevin, Malcolm, Lewis and Colin for freely sharing their knowledge, advice and company.

[@ROSSLINDEN0]

Damn im jealous yous sure had a great days fishing there, that pool was stacked with fish. Thats why we use 6-8000 size reels plenty of line could have maybe saved him losing the fish of a lifetime there. Ross

[@thedoggedangler]

Yes he was left helpless lol 😂 we just hit it right time and height . Prefer the fly but never mind great day

[@thedoggedangler]

ROSSLINDEN0 What reels do you mean Ambassadors 6-8000 ???

[@thedoggedangler]

What reel series do you mean - ABU Ambassadors 6-8000 ? Thanks

[@ROSSLINDEN0]

@@thedoggedangler Not sure if this link will work but this is my all purpose reel for my 10-11ft rod which i use most of the time, get a tired arm putting new line on it at the beginning of each season so no chance of a fish spooling you. www.anglingdirect.co.uk/shimano-baitrunner-x-aero-ra His current reel should be fine tbh looking at the size of it, im guessing it was just wasn't filled to capacity as the fish didn't run a silly distance, another option if you don't want to use a bigger reel is use braid to get more line on the spool but personally i prefer just using 12lb maxima.

[@steviethefish8113]

Red letter day great 🎣did the fish that your friend with orange jacket on spool him before it got off ?

[@thedoggedangler]

I sure did ! He was left standing staring 😆

[@thedoggedangler]

Hi didn’t lose the line but it emptied his reel then broke him

[@steviethefish8113]

The Dogged Angler i thot that looked like some run it took🎣

[@steviethefish8113]

The Dogged Angler is that a shimano stradic 5000 you are using ?

[@thedoggedangler]

@@steviethefish8113 Yes Shinmano Staradic C5000GX

[@PapaTube-ep1nk]

Great day who is the band playing on video

[@thedoggedangler]

The band is Beluga Lagoon who I credited at end of video . They did the backing music for a BBC Scotland programme “Roaming in The Wild” which is great . You’ll find the music in ITUNES etc

[@ianwaddell3282]

That a 9cm Countdown Rapala you are using ?

[@thedoggedangler]

From memory a 7cm O&G Rapala