February Springer From The River Don

My good pal Charlie Robertson got his season up and running on Saturday with this cracking springer of around 8lb from the River Don. It was still carrying sea lice and was taken on a Black and Yellow tube fly. The spooky thing is that when I spoke to Charlie earlier that afternoon he said it was very quiet but he was away to have a cast and get himself an 8lb sea licer. When my phone rang not long after and it was Charlie saying that he'd just landed an 8lb sea liced fish, I couldn't believe it!

Charlie's cracking 8lber from the River Don on Saturday.

February springers on the Don are rare creatures and to predict catching one is even more of an achievement! Great to hear of fish coming off the Don though as that's three in the last week or so and all around the 8lb mark and all sea liced. Fingers crossed they keep on coming and that more anglers venture out to try and land one as there aren't many rods putting in the effort at the moment. 

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 27th February 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 27th February 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now about to enter March with improving conditions for fishing in colder weather and settling water levels plus catches are improving. Expectation is high on the river for 2016 after successful springs in 2015, 2014 and 2013 and hopefully settled weather will continue with an improving run in February to give everyone a chance of landing a spring �Bar of Silver�.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 27th February)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 1, Benchil 2, Catholes 3, Upper Scone 1, Pitlochrie 3, Burnmouth 4, Stobhall 6, Taymount 8, Ballathie 2, Cargill 1, Islamouth 3, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 1, Kercock 1, Delvine Burnbane 1, Murthly 2 4, Newtyle 2, Dunkeld House 5, Dalmarnock 2, Portnacraig Pitlochry 3.
Total: 53 Largest: Islamouth 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Burnmouth 2, Delvine Burnbane 1, Dunkeld House 1.
Total: 4 Largest: Burnmouth & Delvine Burnbane & Dunkeld House 2lbs

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with colder weather and fortune favoured those who braved the elements in some cases. The week was again a marked improvement with 53 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was a 25 pounds fish from Islamouth. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and very cold weather is not making fishing easy. The spring fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size.

The majority of the salmon have been caught in the lower river, which is understandable with the cold conditions and a few fish have been running giving improving results further up the river including odd fish from Loch Tay now. The beats around Stanley traditionally lead the way in these conditions in early spring and should be a barometer for the runs. Almondmouth got off the mark on Saturday with a superb 19 pounds fish being landed by Tay Chairman, Bill Jack ably supported by Peter Kaye.

Benchil produced fish last week just below Stanley with Brian Brown catching a good fish from the boat in the Long Shot for Upper Scone. On the opposite day Lee Conway caught a lovely 8 pounds fish from Aitken Head on the fly and Bob Hunter, helped by George McKinlay caught a 7 pounds fish from Todd Holes.

On Pitlochrie at Stanley Danny Fulton caught a superb 17 pounds fish from Horsey on the fly, Ed Slaven caught a 13 pounds beauty from Pitlochrie pool on a Toby then later in the week

Peter Fine caught a 13 pounds fish casting a monkey from the boat in the Tarr Tank in front of Stanley Mills. Catholes was also doing well with 3 fish in the week. Ian Jardine caught a 10 pounds fish on a Toby from the Byers and Peter Fine got a 10 pounds beauty casting from the boat in the Little Head. Earlier in the week John Shaw caught a cracker casting the fly from the boat also in the Little Head. Burnmouth caught 4 in the week with Steven Watt and Jason Stratton catching fish from the boat up to 15 pounds.

Taymount and Stobhall continue to do well with 14 fish between them which included a lovely fresh fish for Findlay Boyd from the Linn Pool. Ballathie and Cargill kicked their seasons off their first fish of the season as fish started to nose up the river slowly. On Cargill Kevin Knights from Newmarket caught a 12 pounds fish from the Pot Shot on a Toby Salmo.

Islamouth also got into the action this past week with 3 fish which included a superb 25 pounds beauty caught by John Mcelroy from the boat with Ally Scott.

Further upstream Mike Wojtowicz caught a lovely fresh 6 pounds fish from the boat on Saturday.

Spring salmon have been running further up the system and spreading slowly. Kercock landed one fishing in the week.

Delvine and Burnbane had a lovely 16 pounds fish caught from the boat by Brian Joseph on a Tomic Lure. Murthly had a reasonable week with 4 fish from the Number 2 beat.

Newtyle had a couple of fish in the week with Steven Cope catching both of them from the Cotter and Ferry pools respectfully.

Dunkeld House had a good week with 5 fish which included three cracking fish for Robbie Ross weighing up to an impressive 20 pounds.

Later in the week Paul Carrigan caught a superb 21 pounds fish from the boat in the Gauge Pool.

On Dalmarnock the Grant brothers had a great day on the beat with a fish a piece, Steven caught a 14 pounds fish from the Fernie Haugh pool and Robert also caught in the same pool weighing 12 pounds. Much further up the system, Pitlochry Angling Club reported their first success of the year with 4 fish being landed. Les Dargie got things underway with a fresh 8 pounds fish from the Sawmill stream below the town then Saul MacKay caught 2 fish on Friday on the fly from the Port-na-Craig bank. George Renwick also had success landing an 11 pounds beauty from the Green bank on the fly.

The Spring Salmon fishing season is now through February and expectation remains very high after previous good springs. Last weeks catches continued to be heartening after the slow start and bad weather. Let us hope this is a sign of an upturn in catches as last February proved. It has been a reasonable start so let us hope the season lives up to every one�s expectations over the coming weeks and months. Tight lines!

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire prospects w/c 29th February 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire prospects w/c 29th February 2016.

The Salmon fishing season is now over a month old on the mighty Tay in Perthshire, Scotland as we are about end February to enter March and we have been encountering some colder winter weather after milder conditions with heavy rain earlier in the season which put the river up making life fairly difficult with limited opportunities for anglers to brave the elements in pursuit of that magical spring salmon however that has changed and we have good water levels and better opportunities. Spring salmon have started to run the river and catches are improving over the last three weeks. The weather hopefully will remain settled over the coming week which should help and give the river more settled conditions and benefit the river to give a greater chance of producing some sport and some early "Bars of Silver" if you are prepared to brave the elements.

Currently the river is falling away slowly after colder weather last week (around 3�5 on the Ballathie gauge).

The weather is to remain colder over the next week with some more sun as well hopefully! There will be some rain passing through on Monday night which should fall as snow on the hills. Colder conditions certainly benefit the river at this time of year slowing the spring salmon run down and giving everyone a chance to catch as they run up the river slowly. The milder weather prior to the start and last week gave us more water and would have encouraged salmon to run the river. Colder weather has settled the river back to a good level and made ideal spring fishing conditions. The water temperature was around 38 degrees Fahrenheit or 3 degrees Celsius and should remain at that level in the coming days. These are typical temperatures for this time of year. The temperature may come back further with the colder forecast for the week ahead but there have been salmon running throughout the system after milder conditions prior to the opening day and resulted in fish being caught well up the system. The lower river around Stanley seems to be the hot spot currently in the colder conditions and this confirms historical results in the past. Hopefully there might be a chance of a fresh fish anywhere in the river. There will no doubt be quite a few kelts about on many beats and possibly some later run fish, which have yet to spawn. Should you require guidance on salmon identification at this time of year please see this link for some help.

As to methods, in settled conditions fishing by any method will have to be slow and deep with large lures to catch the elusive Tay Springer. 20 pounds main line with a 15 pounds leader plus favoured lures include Devons, Toby Salmos, Vision 110�s and Rapalas, for spinning and Temple Dogs, Tubes, larger flies and Monkies for fly fishing. The Tay is a large river but modern lines such as Skagits or iflights make tuning over and casting larger flies easier and the fish tend to be near the bank in larger waters. Harling is also a favoured method at this time of year but be warned wrap up well or it will not be a pleasant experience. Harling is also a favoured method at this time of year but be warned wrap up well or it will not be a pleasant experience.

Popular hotels to stay in the area are the Tayside Hotel in Stanley, Ballathie House, The Meikleour Arms, The Anglers Inn in Guildtown and the Royal Dunkeld Hotel.

The Tay in Perthshire is a prime spring salmon fishing destination so why not give it a go?

Finally, you are reminded that the Tay's policy for January � 1st April 2016 is that all spring salmon must be released, i.e. the Tay has a policy of 100% mandatory release of all salmon caught under the new Scottish Government Statutory Conservation Regulation. Spring salmon are a scarce and precious resource. Please preserve both them and the long term future of your sport by following the release of salmon as it is a now legal requirement during this period even if a fish has died. The Board's bailiff team will be enforcing this new legislation.

When releasing salmon please try to keep the fish in the water as much as possible to give them every chance to recover prior to release. Releasing fish from boats in the river is not recommended. Further information on the policy and good release practice.

If you have any news or pictures of catches or experiences on the Tay and you would like to share them please email me on robert.salmonfishing@googlemail.com to be included in the reports.

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon Fly Fishing on Tay, Perthshire February 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon Fly Fishing on Tay, Perthshire February 2016.

The spring fishing on the Tay, Perthshire is currently doing well but when you catch a spring salmon on the fly it is truly memorable.


A spring salmon being hooked, played, landed and returned on the Tay at Stanley, Perthshire in February 2016 by Peter Fine.

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Little Blackhall And Inchmarlo - River Dee

I had a day on the Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo beat of the River Dee last Saturday thanks to the ghillie, Martin Robson. The river was in fine fettle and was sitting at around 1ft 9in on the FishDee gauge. My set up for the day was my 15ft Mackenzie DTX rod, AFS Hover shooting head and a 10ft super fast sink tip. My fly of choice was the good old Willie Gunn.

Fishing down the Otter Stone.

The granite on the far bank has been exposed after the winter floods. I think it looks quite good.

Looking upstream in the Fawn.

Fishing down the Fawn Pool.

Looking upstream in the Fawn.

I fished the top part of the beat in the morning along side Martin and we covered the water pretty well but despite favourable conditions, we just couldn't temp a fish to take our offerings. Every pool was fishing the fly nicely and it was good to be back on the beat again. This was one of the first private beats I ever fished on the Dee and it's always good to come back. The fishing is easy whether it's off the bank or shallow wading, you just know that there is every chance of connecting with a fish given the right conditions.

The fishing hut at Inchmarlo.

Looking down the Roe Pot from the Inchmarlo hut.

Fishing down the Roe Pot. A classic River Dee salmon pool.

One of the Little Blackhall huts over looking the Roe Pot.

The Roe Pot is always a good bet to pick up a fish on the beat and I fished it down willing the line to tighten with every cast. As I neared the tail of the pool just above the timber pier in the picture above I had a good offer but sadly it didn't come to nothing and that was to be it for my day.

Looking downstream across the tail of the Roe Pot.

The Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo beat looks a lot different since my last visit here in 2015. All the croys which were once a feature of the famous Roe Pot have all but gone and large areas of granite banking have been exposed on the Little Blackhall bank on the upper parts of the beat. As well as this, much of the road leading to the upper pools was washed away and repairs are ongoing to get the beat back to full working order.

Little Blackhall and Inchmarlo is a cracking part of the River Dee and you wouldn't know it's just a few hundred meters away from the bustling town of Banchory when you are fishing the pools. It's always a pleasure fishing here and I will look forward to returning again soon hopefully. 

There is still some availability for the beat this year and if you fancy a day then have a look at the Little Blackhall And Inchmarlo on the FishDee wesite by clicking the link. It's great value and well worth a visit.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon fishing action from Tay, Perthshire 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon fishing action from Tay, Perthshire 2016.

The Weir on the Catholes at Stanley.
The Tay in Perthshire is having another good early spring week with several "bars of silver" landed so far.

A cracking 10 pounds " bar of silver" caught by Peter Fine casting from the boat in the Little Head on the Catholes.

The famous Slap pool at the top of the Catholes.


Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland February Spring fishing on the Tay, Perthshire 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland February Spring fishing on the Tay, Perthshire 2016.

February 2016 is seeing some great spring salmon fishing for the Tay in Perthshire especially in the Stanley area of the river with ideal conditions over the last week.

Cold conditions certainly benefit the lower river with Stanley the first stopping point of the spring fish. Catches are well above the 5 year average so far with the prospect of continued cold weather.

Bright winter sunshine on a cold day on the Catholes at Stanley.

Stanley Mill on the Pitlochrie beat.

Brian Brown with a superb spring salmon caught on Benchil with Upper Scone.

Findlay Boyd with a cracker from the Linn Pool.

The Linn pool just above Stanley.

Danny Fulton with a superb fish caught fly fishing from the bank in Horsey on the Pitlochrie beat.

The sun disappears on another cold spring fishing day on the Tay.

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 20th February 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 20th February 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire has now into the later part of February with improving conditions for fishing in colder weather and settling water levels plus catches are improving. Expectation is high on the river for 2016 after successful springs in 2015, 2014 and 2013 and hopefully settled weather will continue with an improving run in February to give everyone a chance of landing a spring �Bar of Silver�.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 20th February)
SALMON & GRILSE: Catholes 5, Upper Scone 2, Pitlochrie 3, Burnmouth 5, Stobhall 6, Taymount 7, Kercock 1, Glendelvine 1, Murthly 2 1, Newtyle 1, Dunkeld House 1, Dalmarnock 1, Upper Kinnaird 1, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 3.
Total: 38 Largest: Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 23lbs
SEA TROUT: Upper Scone 1, Delvine Burnbane 1.
Total: 2 Largest: Upper Scone 3lbs

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with colder weather and fortune favoured those who braved the elements in some cases. The week was again a marked improvement with 38 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was a 23 pounds fish from Loch Tay. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and very cold weather is not making fishing easy. The spring fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size.

The majority of the salmon have been caught in the lower river, which is understandable with the cold conditions and a few fish have been running giving improving results further up the river including odd fish from Loch Tay now. The beats around Stanley traditionally lead the way in these conditions in early spring and should be a barometer for the runs. The Pitlochrie beat produced fish for Upper Scone and Stanley Fishings. David Seaton landed a fish from the Pool in the week from the bank on the Upper Scone days and

John Morrison and

Lee Conway caught in the same place with Tobies off the bank as well.

Sam Datta caught a lovely fresh fish from the boat in the Tarr Tank earlier in the week. Catholes had a good day on Saturday with 5 fish successfully landed including 3 on the fly casting from bank and boat.

Richard Kingston from London caught 2 on fly from the Little Head and the Byers.

Phil Black had a lively fish on the fly from the Woodside while John McDead caught an 8 pounds fish on a Rapala from the boat in the Little Head. Taymount and Stobhall continue to have good success especially in the Linn Pool.

Andrew Spencer enjoyed success with the fly in the pool with fish caught up to 13 pounds. Burnmouth had success in the later part on the week with 5 fish.

Steven Watt landed 3 in a day and John Dewar caught a sea liced 13 pounds fish from the boat.

Further upriver there was a second fish of the season for Kercock.

John Jones caught his first salmon of the season weighing 16 pounds at Glendelvine from the boat. Murthly 2 got off the mark with a fish on Wednesday.

At Newtyle Brandon Bryant caught their first fly caught fish of the year, An 11 pounds bar of silver from the Cotter on an Ice Maiden.

Ian Dorrian caught a cracking 10 pounds spring salmon on the harl at Dunkeld House. Dalmarnock reported their first fish and have lost a couple of others. Upper Kinnaird reported another fish this week taking their total to 5.

Fish have been making their way up to Loch Tay with Fish n trips recording a couple on Saturday up to 23 pounds caught by Donald Brown in blustery conditions.

Stewart Lang also had a cracking 18 pounds fish on Thursday.

The Spring Salmon fishing season is now well through February and expectation remains very high after previous good springs. Last weeks catches continued to be heartening after the slow start and bad weather. Let us hope this is a sign of an upturn in catches as last February proved. It has been a reasonable start so let us hope the season lives up to every one�s expectations over the coming weeks and months. Tight lines!

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White