Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon Fly Fishing Action from Tay, Perthshire March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon Fly Fishing Action from Tay, Perthshire March 2016.

March spring salmon fishing is now over on the Tay, Perthshire for 2016 but there has been some memorable days on the river. We now enter April with continued expectation with super fly fishing conditions and a reasonable run of spring salmon.

Roger Worth plays a good spring salmon on the fly from the Slap at the top of the Catholes at Stanley.

A superb 16 pounds beauty prior to release.

Sarah Hinchliffe with a little beauty from the Black Stones.

Sarah and Ghillie Calum King carefully release the fish back to the river to continue its journey.

Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon caught Fly Fishing on Tay, Perthshire March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Salmon caught Fly Fishing on Tay, Perthshire March 2016.

The Tay in Perthshire is having another steady spring fishing week with now over 40 springers landed throughout the river. Conditions have been good with excellent opportunities for fly fishing.

Roger Worth plays a lively salmon in the Wash House on the Pitlochrie beat at Stanley.

Successfully landed! Roger catches a bar of silver and Sarah Hinchliffe has silver on her finger! Congratulations to Roger and Sarah for getting engaged yesterday on a spring fishing trip to the Tay.

Danny Fulton plays a springer in Horsey.

A lively fish!

A picture prior to release.

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Stobhall - River Tay

Back in November I booked a day on the Stobhall beat and this including fishing the famous Linn Pool. Conditions on the day were good despite the water a bit on the low side for the Linn Pool to fish well but I couldn't wait to get stuck in. I set up both fly and spinning rods and various tactics and lures were utilised on the day.

The mighty Linn Pool. This was my first glimpse of the beat as I made my way down to the hut. Not bad!

I was to fish the Linn Pool first with Ernie the ghillie and fellow rod Steve. Ernie took us across in the boat to Bellymore which is a man made spit situated pretty much in the middle of the pool. It certainly makes fishing the pool much easier. I started off spinning with a Toby Salmo at the end of the island and worked my way down as Ernie suggested fishing in a clock like fashion. This worked well and it allowed me to fish cover large areas of the pool. There were one or two fish splashing around in the pool and Steve had an offer on a Salmo which didn't stick unfortunately but I didn't get a touch. Ernie suggested giving the Major's Cast a harl so it was back into the boat and off upstream. 

About to get aboard the boat and head across to Bellymore.

Looking towards the Linn Head from the point of Bellymore.

One in a million snap! A nice springer jumps out the water just as I was taking this photo of the pool.

Looking across to Taymount House from Bellymore.

Looking up Bellymore in the Linn Pool. Was a few fish showing here.

I sadly never got any photos of the Major's Cast as I was in the boat but Ernie took me up to the neck of the pool and we harled it down it's length. I changed tactics for this pool and put on a Vision 110 Kinkuro and cast it out the side of the boat. Ernie also had a couple of rods out and the lures were all fishing different depths. Harling is all down to the boatman's skill and ability to get the lures all working at the same time and it is good to watch how it's done. It really is an art and it's a very effective way to cover such a large river like the Tay when fishing from the bank just isn't going to be enough. About half way down the pool and my rod buckled over and I lifted the rod out of the holder ready to set the hook but as I lifted the rod, the fish let go and the opportunity was gone. Still, it was good to know that the lure was fishing as it should be and it instilled a bit of confidence going into the afternoon session after lunch.

A lovely fishing hut over looking the River Tay.

The interior of the well equipped fishing hut.

I spent lunch time talking with Trout and Salmon writer and expert angler, Jim Coates and his pal Iain Wood of Atholl Sporting. It was good to share thoughts and ideas about salmon fishing and it was also good listening to their stories of fishing rivers that I haven't had the pleasure of fishing before. The hour passed in no time so it was back to the fishing and what pools to concentrate on.

Looking upstream in the Finford Stream.

A lovely view looking over the Finford Stream.

First run down the pool with the fly rod and a 1.5" Gold Willie Gunn.

I was to start my afternoon off in the Finford Head and then have a run through Tam's Corner. This was a lovely stretch for fly fishing so I decided to put the spinning rod away for a while and give the pool a good going over with the fly. A Willie Gunn was my choice of fly and I fished on on a F/H/S1 shooting head with a 10ft 4ips tip. My first run down the pool was fruitless but I felt the fly was fishing nice enough to give it another run through before trying the spinning gear again. I changed flies and put on a 1" Monkey and decided to give the fly a bit of extra movement this time by slowly retrieving it as it swung round in the current. Again, this seemed to be fishing well but the fish remained elusive and I fished down the pool twice without seeing a splash.

Looking upstream form Finford Head in Tam's Corner.

Second run down Finford Stream with the spinner this time.

I went back up to the top of Tam's Corner and fished it down through into Finford Stream for the last half hour with a Vision 110 in the hope of covering a fish which didn't fancy taking the fly. I could cover a good bit more water with he spinning gear too but try as I might, the fish just weren't interested in my offerings and I called it a day a 5pm without a touch for the afternoon.

Head ghillie, Bob does a bit of harling with one of the guests.

It was great to fish on one of the best and most famous beats on the River Tay. The Linn Pool is something else and it was quite daunting at first to be honest. It's deep and unpredictable with currents going upsream and down which seems to make the fish stop off in it for that wee while longer giving anglers the chance to land one of them. The Major's Cast was another fine pool and it was good to get some excitement during the morning whilst out haling. The rest of the beat that I saw fished the fly really well and you were just waiting in anticipation for that line to go tight and all hell breaking loose! The ghillies Bob and Ernie were most welcoming and they knew the beat inside out. Their knowledge and skill with the boats is great and they do their utmost to put you onto a fish and  I will look forward to returning again next Spring when hopefully the conditions are a bit more favorable and the fish are in the mood for getting their photograph taken!

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay District Salmon Fishery Board Open Meeting.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay District Salmon Fishery Board Open Meeting.

The TDSFB are to hold an open meeting in the Birnam Institute, Birnam, Perthshire at 7pm on Thursday 31st March 2016.

The meeting is welcome to all to air their views on the river what ever the issues.

There will be 2 presentations made during the meeting and there will be an open forum the air views and take questions on the river.

Tay Board Chairman Bill Jack will give a presentation on the river.

David Summers will give a presentation on the current activities of the Tay Board.

Please put this in your diaries and make it a fruitful and constructive evening. All WELCOME


Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 26th March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 26th March 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now approaching April with a spate running off to give excellent conditions for fishing in slightly 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�.

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with much milder weather and catches have spread with higher river temperatures. The week produced another good week with 75 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was an 18 pounds fish from Farleyer. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and very cold weather is not making fishing easy but continued milder weather in the coming week may encourage more fish to run the river. The spring fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 26th March)
SALMON & GRILSE: Fishponds 1, Benchil 1, Catholes 6, Pitlochrie 4, Burnmouth 8, Taymount 4, Ballathie 2, Cargill 3, Islamouth 12, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 5, Kercock 1, Glendelvine 1, Murthly 2 3, Newtyle 3, Dalmarnock 2, Dalguise 1, Lower Kinnaird 3, Farleyer Upper 1, Farleyer Lower 4, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 5, Coupar Grange 4, Portnacraig Pitlochry 1.
Total: 75 Largest: Farleyer Upper 18lbs
SEA TROUT: Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 1, Upper Kinnaird 6.
Total: 7 Largest: Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 3lbs

The majority of the salmon continue to be 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 as fish start to spread in the system. The beats around Stanley traditionally lead the way in these conditions in early spring and should be a barometer for the runs.

Fishponds was the lowest beat to catch. Richard Jaeger caught a superb 8 pounds fish on the fly from Lodge End. Just above Benchil produced a 9 pounds fish for Chris Rae�s party on Saturday from the Long shot.

The Pitlochrie beat produced throughout the week with Hamish Murray having an outstanding day last Monday with 3 fish in the day up to 12 pounds all caught casting a Devon from bank and boat.

Later in the week Tim Greenfield had a superb 14 pounds fish casting the fly from the bank in Cawn Pore.

Catholes produced fish on most days in the week with Gerry Rattray catching on the fly from the Woodside casting from the boat on Monday. James Barclay also had a good fish casting the fly from the bank in Erics on the same day. Tuesday saw Paul Clayworth land a good 9 pounds fish casting a Devon from the boat in the Black Stones.

Billy Graham had a good day on the beat on Wednesday landing 2 fish up to 13 pounds from the Slap and Erics on Tobies. Later in the week Tim Greenfield caught a cracking 11 pounds fish casting the fly form the boat in the Woodside at the top of the Catholes. Burnmouth had a good week with several fish landed. They had a great start to the week with 4 on Monday up to 17 pounds. Taymount had a reasonable week with 4 fish including a 7 pounds fish for Graham Leslie. Ballathie and Cargill produced fish as well in the week.

On Ballathie Simon Rutherford caught a lovley 8 pounds fish on Saturday against the odds with the river rising rapidly.

Cargill had 3 in the week with David Golding landing a 6 pounds fish from the boat. Robbie Graham caught from the Pot shot and Micheal Martin had a lovely sea liced 8lber on the fly.

Islamouth had an excellent week with fish most days up to 16 pounds.

Earlier in the week Ian kettles landed a good fish on the fly then Andy Hindhaugh, Ian Michell and Charlie Martin all caught mostly at the junction of the Isla on fly towards the end of the week.
Meikleour and Upper Islamouth had a better week with 7 fish up to 16 pounds. Fish were landed by Craig Hood and Alan Cockburn.

The middle river is fairing much better with rising river temperatures. Kercock caught a fish on Monday and Glendelvine managed one on Thursday. The Murthly beats keep producing most days. Newtyle had 3 in the week with David Gardiner landing a 9 pounds fish from the Lairds Bank and Roberto Fraga catching a 10 pounds fish from the Cotter on the fly. Dalmarnock managed 2 at the end of the week with Will Park catching a 14 pounds fish from Sowerby and Archie Brydon landing a good fish fro the Bank Pool on a Salmo. On Dalguise a fish was caught by Graham McIntyre on a Toby from the Bridge pool. The Kinnaird beats had fish in the week as well.

The upper river is starting to see improved sport with the Farleyer beats catching 5 in the week up to 18 pounds. Up on the Loch Fish n� Trips had a reasonable week with 5 fish. Owner Grant Tigwell had several in the week up to 16 pounds. The Tummel is also seeing improved sport with Gordon Hanslip landing a 10 pounds fish on a Spinner from the Port-na-Craig beat administered by Pitlochry Angling Club.

The Isla are seeing salmon run up the river with Coupar Grange reporting 4 in the week.

The Spring Salmon fishing season is now entering April 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 April 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 28th March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire prospects w/c 28th March 2016.

The Salmon fishing season on the mighty Tay in Perthshire, Scotland is now about to enter April and we have been encountering some milder weather last week after colder conditions giving excellent conditions for anglers to brave the elements in pursuit of that magical spring salmon however that has changed and we have had a spate over the weekend putting the river up which may continue to improve catches. Spring salmon are running the river and catches have improved over the last month. 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 a spate on Saturday from heavy rain and snow melt (around 7� on the Ballathie gauge).

The weather was milder over last week with some sun however that changed with a large drop in pressure giving us heavy rain on Saturday. Milder temperatures have given the river more water from snow melt plus the rain. This current week looks far more unsettled and returning to colder conditions with frosts at night. 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. Colder weather will settle the river back to good levels and make ideal spring fishing conditions. The water temperature has risen to around 43 degrees Fahrenheit or 6 degrees Celsius but may drop with a colder forecast. These are typical temperatures for this time of year. The temperature has risen slightly with no frosts at night and higher day time temperatures, this may encourage more salmon to run resulting 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 but as the temperature has risen and fish will run further and catches will spread. 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. 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.

The Tay Ghillies Association are continuing their popular FISH OF THE MONTH AWARD to encourage good catch and release practice on the Tay. Each month the winner will receive 2 personalised crystal Whisky glasses engraved with details of the catch and they will automatically be entered into the fish of the year competition for a Stylish Crystal Engraved Decanter. Full details of this initiative.

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

The Tay's policy for April and May is that all spring salmon should be released, i.e. the Tay has adopted a policy of 100% catch and release for spring salmon. Spring salmon are a scarce and precious resource. Please help preserve both them and the long term future of your sport by following the recommendations. It is vital the river system follows these guides to ensure the draconian rules do not get extended in seasons to come.

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

Carlogie - River Dee

I was invited to fish the Carlogie beat as a guest of ghillie Sean Stanton along with River Dee staff Ross MacDonald and Mark Walker. The river was sitting at 1ft 10in on the Potarch Bridge gauge and over head conditions were ideal. The water was still on the cold side so tactics of fishing fairly deep were the order of the day so I rigged up my 15ft Vision Catapult with a F/H/S1 line and a 10ft 5.6ips tip. My initial fly of choice was a 3/4" tungsten Monkey tube.

Rossicks. This pool was fishing very well at this height and is a lovely cast. The fly swings round perfectly.

I was allocated the top part of the beat in the morning and Sean suggested that Rossicks would be well worth a good going over so I took his advice and headed off upstream. Sean accompanied me as I began fishing down the pool and he was pointing out good lies and where fish have been seen splashing before which helps enormously. Nothing like fishing over lies where you are confident there might just be a fish resting and this really helps to keep the concentration going. Despite this though, my run down the pool proved to be a fruitless one so it was off to the Mill Pool.

Looking upstream towards the Dees Mill from the Mill Pool. I never tire of that view.

Working my way down the Mill Pool. The three huts on the Dess bank which used to overlook this stunning pool are now gone and the banks have had to be reconstructed after the flooding.

The Mill Pool has to be up there with the most scenic parts of Deeside. This pool is quite close to the main North Deeside road but yet it feels so secluded when you fish it and you rarely hear the traffic, except the odd motor bike tanking past. This is another pool which was hammered by the Storm Frank flooding and the old huts on the Dess bank were sadly washed away along with large chunks of the bank itself. The bank has now been repaired but the hut, for me anyway, always provoked thoughts of past history of the Dee and the people who might have fished here many years ago. As inviting as the pool fished in the conditions I couldn't temp anything and headed off to the hut for some lunch with the other lads.

Fishing down the Calm Pool on a beautiful March day.

Like so many lunch hours up and down the river recently, our lunch time was spent discussing the current state of the fish stocks running the River Dee these past few years. There is currently a smolt tagging process ongoing at the moment where fifty of these juvenile salmon will be fitting with radio tracking devices. Their movement will be tracked down river and hopefully the river staff will get an idea of where a majority of the mortality is taking place whether it's in river or just off the coast. As always with research carried out on the Dee, the results will be published as soon as the all the data has been analysed and processed. I'm sure everyone with an interest in not only the River Dee, but salmon in general will look forward to seeing those results.

A bumpy wade down the top of the Boat Pool.

Fishing down the Boat Pool with Ross MacDonald in at the top of the Village Pool.

The old boat mooring stone with padlock and chain still attached has been uncovered by the flooding last December.

After lunch it was off down to fish the Boat and Village pools. These are both very good pools and hold fish all year round. The top part of the Boat pool can be a tricky wade but at this height it was fine. The water clarity also helped and it was easy to navigate a route through the pool. Once I had completed the Boat pool I carried on into the Village pool. There has been a bit of a change here too and the bank has been scoured clean and new rocks have appeared due to the grass being washed out. One such rock was the old boat mooring which had been uncovered after years of being buried under the banking. The old padlock and chain was still attached and it was certainly nice to see that lying on the bank once again. Like I mentioned about the Mill pool earlier, it makes your imagination drift back to the old days to think of when it was used frequently and by whom it was used by. Well, it does for me anyway! But back to the fishing. This was another part of Carlogie that fished really well at the height we had but I just couldn't find a willing salmon to take my offerings so we decided to head back up river for a look at the massive changes up around Long Haugh and Pitslug then to have a final run through Rossicks before calling it a day.

Looking upstream from Pitslug to the area formerly known as the Long Haugh. Massive amounts of shingle have been shifted by the winter floods here.

Looking downstream in Pitslug where there is now a shingle bar running down the middle of the pool. It didn't stop a Dess rod on the opposite bank landed a fresh run springer of around 17lbs though!

Long Haugh and Pitslug are to of the upper pools at Carlogie and both fish very well at their optimum water levels. Sadly, the Long Haugh is no longer really a pool as such and is now just a fast run coming down from Alan's. The island where you once had to cross a small side stream of the main river to get out and fish from is no longer there and the whole river pretty much now passes through where the island used to be. This has done away with the pool and as a result of the island being washed away the Pitslug pool below now has a shingle bar going right trough the middle of it. The deeper channel which once used to start at the neck of Pitslug is really only now a back water at this height but it could still fish decent enough in a big water possibly. The tail of the pool still looks like it will fish though and that's a bonus. The fish didn't seem to mind the changes to Pitslug though as a rod on the Dess bank landed a spanking fresh 17lber on the day. Only time will tell with that but when I look back at old photos of the beat it's only really then that you realise the colossal amounts of shingle which the river has shifted. It would have taken weeks, if not months to that with diggers and bulldozers.

I'd just like to thank Sean for inviting us down to fish such a cracking beat. It was a great gesture and was much appreciated by us all. It was also a pleasure to fish with Ross and Mark as it is always good to catch up with them on the river. We couldn't have asked for better conditions but try as we might, we just couldn't get a fish in the book for him. Still, there are far worse places to blank and you tend to blank a lot more often than not so we can't complain really. Will look forward to returning to Carlogie again as part of my pal Ade's week in August so until then I hope the beat see a few fish in the book and that the "new" pools and lies are as steady as there were before the flooding.