Salmon Fishing on the River Nairn
The River Nairn is a productive salmon and sea trout river, although the sea trout fishing is not perhaps what it once was. Spring runs have declined but a few are still caught as early as March or April. July can see excellent catches of sea trout and can also be a good salmon month, given rain, with the summer run continuing into August and September.
Something in excess of 500 salmon can be expected in a season. The sea trout fishing can be good, with fish entering the river from May onwards, although recent seasons have seen a decline in sea trout numbers. For much of its thirty five mile length, the narrow River Nairn is characterised by deep tree lined pools, excellent holding pools easily covered by a ten foot single hander.
The lower nine miles of the river are controlled by the Nairn Angling Association, for which local members now pay an annual subscription of £140 and “outwith” members (members living outwith the Nairn area) £175. The Association beats are also available to the visitor on a daily or weekly ticket. See more River Nairn Photos
River Nairn Map
Tap or click on a map below to view full size image
Note: the maps on this website are extracts from the Bartholomew “Half Inch” map series dating back to the middle of the twentieth century. There have been many changes since the maps were made, and much of the human detail, e.g. buildings and roads, will have changed over the period. It is to be hoped, however, that the unique character of our Scottish rivers, and the trout and salmon in them, will not have altered too dramatically over the years and that they may still offer the wonderful fishing prospects of days gone by. Bearing the above in mind, anyone planning a fishing or walking trip in Scotland is advised to equip themselves with a compass and the appropriate up-to-date Ordnance Survey map, the most useful for the angler probably being the Landranger series, scale 1:50,000. For Nairn, see O.S. map number 27.
For further information about the fishing on the Nairn see River Nairn Fishing
For information about the trout fishing in the area see Trout Fishing Scotland