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1997 National Sea Trout Festival, Annan :

The River Annan in South West Scotland was the venue for this Festival, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom.

The aims were :-

(a) To promote the River Annan as a venue for fishing.

(b) To promote the sea trout, which is often overshadowed by the salmon.

The Festival centred around the National Sea Trout Conference, at which the government Fisheries Minister, Lord Sewell, gave a keynote address. To mark the conference, a series of events were organised over the week of the Festival. The outdoors events included a fishing challenge on six different beats of the River Annan and a casting demonstration. An art exhibition and a series of cooking demonstrations were also held, with local and nationally-famous chefs John Burton-Race and Adrian Jones.

A grant of £ 4,000 Pounds Sterling from Groundbase went towards the costs of marketing and staging the Festival. The events were well-attended, receiving good coverage in the press, on radio and on television.

The two pictures below illustrate the two sides of the National Sea Trout Festival. To see larger images please click the mouse cursor on the image or its title. Please use the 'Back' button of your browser to return to this page :-

Craig Irving, Angler	Rod Duncan, Chef

Craig Irving is seen fishing the River Annan at sunset. He lives in Brydekirk, not far from Annan. Rod Duncan is a chef at the Warmanbie Hotel in Annan, and demonstrated his skills with the freshly-caught sea trout.