Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Fly Fishing in late April 2016 on Tay, Perthshire.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Spring Fly Fishing in late April 2016 on Tay, Perthshire.

The Tay in Perthshire is currently seeing excellent conditions for salmon fly fishing with lower water conditions. We are now fishing a river within this mighty river and catches are steadily improving week on week. The present weeks catches have now passed 100 recorded.

We have excellent conditions for fly fishing from bank and anchored boat.

Anne Emsens playing a lively spring salmon in the Black Stones on the Catholes at Stanley.

Danny Fulton playing a salmon below Stanley Mills on the Pitlochrie beat.

Success! A lovely fresh run fish pictured prior to release.

Salmon are running hard up the system carrying long tailed sea lice.

A small fly does the trick!

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Murthly 2 - River Tay

I was invited down by ghillie, Tony Black, to fish on the famous Murthly 2 stretch of the River Tay as part of a group of like minded anglers who call ourselves the Salmon Nutters. Conditions were as close to ideal as we good have asked and there were good numbers of fish caught in the lead up to our day. Murthly is blessed with some of the best fly water on the Tay so fly fishing was first choice tactics for most. I chose to fish the pools first with the fly then again with the spinner afterwards. This is a method I often use on the Tay as I like to maximise my chances of landing a fish.

Team photo at Murthly 2.

We arrived at the beat around 8.30am and we were all treated to a sausage roll for breakfast kindly bought by Philip. This was accompanied by a good dram for some but I was happy to wash mine down with a coffee as I was driving. This was the first time most of us had met in the flesh after years of chatting on various Forums etc so it was good to finally put faces to the names and enjoy a bit of craic with, what have turned out to be good pals. After the rolls and drams it was down to business and Tony allocated us to our pools for the morning. I was to fish the upper part of the top beat under the stewardship of Tony's brother Philip. Philip is a fine angler himself and he made sure we all knew exactly where we were likely to pick up a fish.

Discussing tactics for the day ahead with Stuart, Gavin Kenny and Paul.

The top pool on the beat we were to fish was called the Tronach. This was a lovely looking pool and ideal for fly fishing. Philip started Colin in at the top with Kenny half way down the pool and myself in near the tail. The tail of the pool fished brilliantly but I didn't connect with anything so Philip suggested I headed down for a cast in the Greenbank with the spinner.

Looking up the Tronach from the seat on the South bank.

Looking downstream half way down the Tronach.

Good craic just before heading off for lunch.

The Greenbank was another nice bit of water but due to the high bank on the south side it wasn't the easiest place to fish the fly so it was to be covered with a Vision 110 to begin with. On arrival to the pool there were one or two fish showing which looked as though they were running so Philip suggested changing to a copper Salmo. I tied on the Salmo and made my first cast. I had no sooner started to wind when the line went tight and I lifted into a strong fish. First cast with the Salmo. We couldn't believe it! The fish stayed deep and pulled hard and but I managed to keep it under some sort of control. Just as I was gaining a bit of line back from the fish it somehow dropped off! I really thought I had it well hooked and there was still a good bend in the rod as I was playing it. Sadly, this tends to happen when fishing with tobys and there was nothing I would do differently if I had the time again. That's just part in parcel of fishing sometimes. Not long after I lost my fish, Philip's phone rang and it Paul, who was fishing further down stream, and he told us that he'd also just lost a fish. He was probably playing it the same time I had my fish on. I fished on down the rest of the pool but couldn't temp another springer to take the Salmo so I made my way back up to the top of the Tronach to have another run down it before lunch but unfortunately that proved fruitless as well.

Looking upstream into the Tronach from Greenbank.

Looking down the Greenbank into the Burn.

Lunchtime in the well equipped top hut at Murthly was once again provided for the lads by Philip and we munched our way through loads of sandwiches, crisps and cakes etc. Not to mention a large volume of drams as well! Paul was lucky enough to land an fresh run 10lber on a Salmo just before lunch to everyone was delighted for him. We sat and laughed our way through the lunch hour and had great time chatting about the forums and various pages we all know each other from. The company really does add to a good day's fishing and this was no exception but it was time to head back out onto the water and try again to land a mighty Tay springer.

The hut on the Top Water at Murthly 2.

After lunch I was to fish the Girnal pool along with Kenny, again with Philip as our ghillie. This was another good pool for the fly and there were also fish showing in it and they seemed to by lying in the pool which was encouraging. By this time though, are strong wind had built up which made deep wading and long casts difficult so I opted to persevere with the Toby. Kenny had an offer on the fly not long after starting which sadly didn't stick but it was a good sign that the fish were still keen. I followed him down the pool with the Salmon but neither of us could temp another fish into taking our offerings.

Kenny fishes the fly in the Girnal.

Fishing down the Girnal with a Toby Salmo.

Daffies out on the banks of the Girnal.

Stuart Norris spinning the Girnal.

After fishing the Girnal I decided to head back upstream for a crack in the pool opposite the hut. this was where Paul caught his fish in the morning and it certainly looked a great bit of water. I had first run down with the Toby before finishing off the pool with a Sunray Shadow. Neither method fooled the salmon though and it was time to call it a day and head back to the hut for a blether with the lads before heading home.

Spring has sprung on the banks of the Tay at Murthly.

Ghillie, Tony Black and Gavin Hunter doing some harling in the afternoon.

I really enjoyed my day on the Tay at Murthly. It was great to meet new pals and enjoy the banter in person just like we do when we are on line. I have met some cracking lads through various forms of social media and forum and I can honestly say I have made some good friends because of this and our passion for all things salmon fishing. I will really look forward to the next meet where ever or when ever that may be.
 In the mean time, why not check out the Facebook page  "Salmon Nutter Flies" and say hello or post a few photos of your tying. Maybe see you there?

Tulchan C - River Spey

After fishing Tulchan back in February as part of Ian Gordon's group I was keen to return and organised a day with some pals, Bill Cook and Andy MacLennan. We managed to book 8 rods on beats B and C. These rods were taken by some more good friends and we made a day of it. The anticipation began with numerous messages and texts during the run up to or day on the 9th April and we were all really excited about the prospect of fishing the water at Tulchan during a good time in the Spring.

Charlie with his first ever River Spey springer.

Charlie with his second springer of the day.

We arrived at the magnificent hut on beat C to be greeted by ghillie, Lawrence de Rosa. After a chat about tactics and previous catches etc if was time to get the gear set up and out on the river. The river was sitting at 1ft on the gauge and was running off after a rise earlier on in the week. The colour was ideal and fish were caught in steady numbers from all beat during the week. 

The magnificent fishing hut at Tulchan C

The interior of the main hut on Tulchan C.

Charlie and I raring to go. 

I was to fish with my good pal Charlie and we were allocated the pool at the top of the beat called Speanoch. Speanoch is shared in rotation with B beat and it was a fantastic looking pool. Lawrence suggested we fish it off the north bank first then cross the river and have another run through from the opposite side. This is what we did and the pool was a delight to fish at the height we had. Charlie and I both fished through the pool but we couldn't believe we never had a touch as it looked so fishy.

Charlie putting out a nice long line in Speanoch.

Looking down onto Speanoch from the high bank on the South side of the river.

We made our way across the river and started again at the top of the pool from the south bank. I opted to start at the top of the pool this time and Charlie went in 30 yards below me. Just about half way down the pool a good fish showed mid stream which spurred us on. No sooner had we got to the area where the fish showed, Charlie had a lovely take from a fish and lifted into it. The fish was dogged and tried to stay deep. Chalrie soon had the fish under his control though and I was delighted to do the honours of slipping the net underneath it to land Charlie's first ever Spey springer. A cracking fish of around 7lb was unable to resist Charlie's home time Cascade variant.l. The sea lice wasn't long off the fish either. After a few photos it was sent on it's way to carry on it's journey up river to where ever it may be heading. It was great to see a fish in the net and it gave us hope there would be one or two more around. We fished on through the rest of the pool without a touch but we did see a couple of fish head and tail in the pool but it looked as though they were running hard. It was now time for lunch so we made our way back to the hut and with the good news of landing a fish.

Charlie and I fishing down the Speanoch shortly before Charlie struck "silver".

Safely in the net. Charlie with his first ever Spey springer.

Not only did Charlie catch 2 fish for his day, he also landed a fresh water pearl mussel!

Lunch time was a good laugh and it was great to catch up with the other lads Philip Black, Andy Pelc, Alan Mowat, Mel McDonald. The conversation never strays far for fishing when we get together but that's how we like it. Charlie's fish was toasted with a nice dram of 12 year old Aberlour and we all hoped we would be toasting a few more fish in the afternoon too.

Looking downstream at the top of the Tulchan Pool.

Looking upstream in the Tulchan Pool where the Tulchan burn enters the Spey.

Charlie and I were to fish the Tulchan pool and the pool below, Dunbar. This was another lovely stretch of water and Philip and Bill had seen a few fish showing in here during the morning session. The pool was ideal for the Sunray Shadow but with the water still on the cold side we were unsure whether the fish would move to a stripped fly. We stuck with it though and about half way down the pool I looked up to see a good fish rising clean out the water just opposite where Charlie was standing. It turned out to be attached to his fly and he was bent into a strong fighting fish. I quickly wound in and grabbed the net from the bank and made my way down to assist. The fish was boring deep and trying hard to shake the hook but Charlie played it well and I slid the net under the lightly hooked fish much to our relief. It was another spit fresh fish of around 6lb and again, the lice couldn't have been long off it. Charlie was delighted and not only had he caught his first Spey springer in the morning, he had doubled his tally and now had his second! After posing for a quick photo we released the fish to continue it's journey. I went back up to finish fishing the pool but as I got myself into the area where Charlie landed his fish earlier on, there was an almighty bang and my rod had snapped just above the joint on the middle section! My trusty old Vision GT4 Catapult had given up the ghost after a good innings of around 9 years. I was eager to see if another fish was around to a quickly set up my other rod and finished fishing the pool. Sadly it was all in vain as I never had an offer but you were just waiting for the line to go tight at every cast. 

Looking down the Tulchan Pool into Dunbar..

Charlie playing his second fish of the day.

Looking up Tulchan Pool just before calling it a day at 5pm.

Fishing finishes at 5pm on a Saturday at Tulchan Estate so we all made our way back to the hut to reflect on what was a great day in great company. Charlie finished top rod with 2 fish and we were surprised to hear he was the only one who managed to land a salmon. There was a sea trout caught by Mel and Andy MacLennan lost a good fish on B beat and also landed 2 kelts. All in all it was a good day given it was still early in the season for Tulchan to produce good numbers of fish.We all went our separate ways and we headed off down the road satisfied with the fact we covered the water well and managed to get 2 fish in the book to add to their weekly tally.

Roll on next season! 

Salmon Fishing Scotland Summer Salmon Fishing on Tay 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Summer Salmon Fishing on Tay 2016.

We are nearly at the end of April and summer fast approaches. The Stanley area of the river offers some great value fishing during May, June and July.

Stanley Fishings Summer Permit Details 2016.

Benchil/Pitlochrie Beats
Salmon and Sea Trout Permit
2nd May to 2nd July 2016 (9 Weeks)
Cost �250
plus an extension is available from 4th July to 30th July on Catholes/Luncarty Beats (4 Weeks)
Total Cost �50

Benchil/Pitlochrie Beats
Sea Trout Permit
2nd May to 2nd July 2016 (9 weeks)
Fly Fishing with 11�3 Trout Rod Max
Total cost �75

Luncarty/Catholes Beats
Salmon and Sea Trout Permit.
2nd May to 30th July 2016 (13 Weeks)
Total cost �150

Luncarty Beat
Salmon and Sea Trout Permit.
2nd May to 30th July 2016 (13 Weeks)
Total cost �150.00

Luncarty/Catholes Beats
Sea Trout Permit
2nd May to 2nd July 2016 (9 weeks)
Fly Fishing with 11�3 Trout Rod Max
Total cost �75

Catholes Beat
Salmon and Sea Trout Permit
2nd May to 30th July 2016 (13 Weeks)
Total cost �150.00

For further details contact: -
Robert J White Tel: 01738 827416 Mob: 07979528134
Stanley fishings Email: Robert.salmonfishing@googlemail.com
C/O Benchil View
Perth Road
Stanley
Perth PH1 4NQ
Or log on to the beat web sites: Catholes, Pitlochrie, Benchil and Luncarty.


Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 23rd April 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 23rd April 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is well into April with the river falling off to lower levels with excellent conditions for fishing in slightly colder weather last week 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 late April to give everyone a chance of landing a spring �Bar of Silver�.

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with better weather and catches have spread with higher river temperatures. It was another equaling best week of the season so far with 114 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was 18 pounds. It is early yet but improving runs are coming into the river and better weather is making fishing easier with lower water last week which may have encouraged more fish to run the river as the run strengthens. The spring fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size overall.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 23rd April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Lower Redgorton 1, Upper Redgorton 1, Fishponds 2, Benchil 1, Catholes 2, Upper Scone 2, Burnmouth 1, Stobhall 4, Taymount 3, Ballathie 4, Cargill 4, Islamouth 12, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 2, Kercock 1, Glendelvine 1, Murthly 2 15, Newtyle 12, Dunkeld House 5, Dalmarnock 2, Dalguise 2, Lower Kinnaird 2, Upper Kinnaird 7, Edradynate 2, Findynate 1, Farleyer Upper 1, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 3, Keithick Mains 2, Ericht Fishing 1, Portnacraig Pitlochry 12, Loch Faskally 6.
Total: 114 Largest: Kercock & Portnacraig Pitlochry 18lbs
SEA TROUT: Keithick Mains 1.
Total: 1 Largest: Keithick Mains 2lbs

The majority of the salmon have been caught in the lower river up to recently, which is understandable with the cold conditions but that has changed with warmer water allowing fish to run further giving improving results up the river including odd fish from Loch Tay and Loch Faskally now as fish start to spread in the system. The middle river is now the barometer for the runs as water temperatures rise to the late 40�s.

This past week saw a few fish from the lower river scattered throughout the beats with Islamouth proving the best beat as fish hesitate at the mouth of the Isla. Lower Redgorton, Upper Regorton and Fishponds all reported fish. John Douglas caught a superb 12 pounds fish from the Little Shot on the fly from Benchil and another one was lost on Saturday in the same pool by Alex Graham. Upper Scone had a couple in the week from the Pitlochrie beat.

Catholes produced a couple as well with Ed Slaven landing a small fish on a Toby from the Black Stones and Bob White catching a 10 pounds fish in the Black Stones on the fly. A few other fish were hooked on the fly as well but lost as fish bolt through the lower river. Burnmouth managed one and 7 fish came off the combination of Stobhall and Taymount.

Ballathie and Cargill managed 4 each with Di Ibbotson showing the way earlier in the week with 2 lovely fish from the boat in the Bridge Stream and Rumbling Stone. Later in the week Nicky Sheddon had a cracking 9 pounds fish and her husband David hooked a good fish in the Cradle which unfortunately fell off near landing. On Cargill Emilio Suarez caught a lovely 7 pounds fish from the Bridge Stream and Steve Curnow had success on the Cradle. Islamouth had a good week with 12 fish caught. Later in the week John McElroy and Gordon Fleetwood�s team had success most days all on fly. Upper Islamouth and Meikleour managed 2 in the week and could do with a bit more water to improve sport. Justin Szymborski was successful with the fly in the Castle pool landing a 9 pounds fish on the fly.

The middle river is fairing much better with rising river temperatures over recent weeks.

Kercock had 1 in the week with Barry Cranstoun landing a superb 18 pounds fish. Glendelvine also had a fish but the Murthly beats fished well again last week with several fish landed. Murthly 2 ended up with 15 in the week and Murthly 1 had a good few as well with Ian Scrutons party doing well with fly and spinner. Paul Dawson had a superb 15 pounds fish on the fly carrying sea lice.

Newtyle had a good week with 12 which included a red letter day of 7 on Tuesday with Ronnie Fraser showing the way with 5 to his own rod up to 13 pounds all caught on the fly. He ended up with 8 fish for his 3 days fishing.

Other successful rods catching fish up to 14 pounds were Glyn Hall,

James Emery, Jon Amos and Andy Donald.

The Dunkeld and Birnam Angling club stretch has been producing fish as well with Billy Davidson catching 3 in a day on Fly.

Dunkled House had another consistent week with 5 fish landed. Paul Mitchell caught a 14 pounds fish early in the week from the boat and Peter Sprouston had success throughout the week with fish up to 14 pounds. Dalmarnock saw a couple of fish caught in the week with Simon Munro catching a 9 pounds fish on the fly from Clachantaggert. Dalguise also had a couple as did the Lower Kinnaird beat. The Upper Kinnaird beat had an excellent week with 7 fish landed.

Included in this catch was Chris Blandford with 2 lovely fish in a day.

The upper river is starting to see improved sport with fish caught on Edradynate, Fyndynate and the Farleyer beats. 3 fish were reported from the Loch this past week from Fish n� Trips up to 17 pounds caught by one boat on Saturday.

The Tummel is also seeing improved sport from the Port-na-Craig beat administered by Pitlochry Angling Club with 12 landed last week and there are now over 200 fish through the Dam resulting in fish being recorded in Loch Faskally.

On the club stretch Steve Watt caught throughout the week on fly and spinner. The fly seemed to be the most successful method with fish landed for Jimmy Ross, Les Dargie, Iain McLaren, Stuart Humphreys,

Jim Fisher and Russell Boyd up to an impressive 18 pounds. Pat Phelan also had a 9 pounds fish on a spinner for good measure. Fish are now being caught throughout the Tummel with West Haugh and East Haugh fishing well. Steve Watt had a memorable day on West Haugh and Dunfallandy with 3 cracking fish up to around 12 pounds on the fly. Loch Faskally are now seeing fish with 6 recorded last week.

The Isla are seeing salmon run up the river and progressing to the Ericht with 1 fish recorded in the week. Back on the Isla Keithick Mains recorded 2.

Fish have been reported running the Lyon as well but low water levels have curtailed sport.

The Spring Salmon fishing season is now in 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