Photographs of the Border Esk

Below is a map of the Border Esk, showing links to photographs of many of the fishing pools on the river from above Langholm to the junction with the River Liddle below Canonbie, part of the Esk and Liddle Fishery. Best known for its sea trout, the Border Esk also has a decent run of salmon in the second half of the season. The Esk and Liddle Fisheries beats include some of the best fly fishing water on the middle Esk and the middle and lower Liddle. At one time the Esk and Liddle fishery beats might produce around 5000 sea trout in a season, many of them taken on the night fly during the short summer nights of June and July, with the added bonus, towards the end of the season, of up to 500 salmon. For reasons that are not clear, catches of sea trout on the Border Esk, like those of other Solway rivers, have declined in recent seasons, with the Buccleuch Estate beats now producing somewhere between 500 and 1000 sea trout per season and around 200 salmon. Given the right conditions, though, June and July can still provide some excellent night fishing. See Border Esk & Liddle Fishing for more information.

Border Esk Map

click on a camera to view photograph

Photographic map of the Border Esk

The maps on this website have been reproduced with the permission of Collins Bartholomew.

Please note that these maps may date back several decades. Much of the human detail will have changed but the character of the rivers and lochs, and the trout and salmon in them, will be much the same as they have always been.

In addition to the information provided here, I would recommend that anyone planning a fishing or walking trip in Scotland should equip themselves with a compass and the appropriate Ordnance Survey map. The most useful of the O.S. maps for the fisherman is the Landranger series, scale 1:50,000. For each of the lochs and rivers listed here, I have given the relevant O.S. Map number. See Ordnance Survey Maps