Look at the shape and colours of this perfect marine feeding machine! This is a Scottish Spring salmon which was captured on the River Tay near Dunkeld during January. This fish fell to a carefully presented tube fly in the higher Spring water level even though most Tay fishers wrongly think spinning is the best method at that time of year. This fishing was captured by one of my salmon fishing holiday guests while I was assisting him as his personal fishing guide for the day.

This was a perfect River Tummel salmon of 11lbs caught that I caught while working as a salmon guide in May near the mouth of the River Tummel. You can see the light blue floating fly line on my fly rod which was fitted with a 15ft sinking tip just to get the fly down a foot or two in the water column. Note the fine meshed landing net bag the salmon is lying on.

Look at this shape of a salmon for total marine predator hunting finesse. This is a River Tay Spring salmon which was caught by myself while working as a River Tay salmon fishing guide near Dalguise in the Tay Valley. These are the most prized salmon of all to target and thousands of salmon fishers come to the Scottish rivers each Spring for a chance of one.

This perfect Spring salmon was caught by myself on the River Tay during late February after hours of searching the river for a fish. When you go salmon fishing it requires a solid logic backed fishing plan at the start of the day to catch salmon and this fish was the result of that type of detailed planning. Look at the perfect shimmer from this early Spring salmon's silver flanks lying beside my salmon fly reel & Spey rod.

This 20 pounder was the first of two perfect March caught Tay Spring salmon caught by this fortunate young salmon angler on his first ever days salmon fishing near Dunkeld in the Tay Valley. Young Robbie Fairfull was given this salmon fishing guide experience with myself by his father via a River Tay salmon fishing experience gift voucher.

Here's the perfect end result of a carefully presented River Tay salmon fly in the middle area of the Tay Valley near Dunkeld during May. Look at the physical perfection of this salmon and it's no wonder these Spring run fish are the most highly regarded of all the Scottish salmon runs. The fish is in the landing net beside my salmon fly rod & reel.

I can vividly recall the amazing thrill of landing this perfect fish during late May on the River Tay near Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire. Spring salmon in Scotland are always in perfect condition like you see here as this salmon lay beside my salmon fly rod and reel in the landing net before I released it back to the river.

Beautiful Spring Salmon

By Jock Monteith 26th February 2026

We'll soon be in the best period of the year for that 'once in a lifetime' encounter with the very finest and most perfect marine creature of all the Scottish 'Springer'.

Here's a close up shot of the head of the most sought after marine creature otherwise known as a fresh run Spring salmon. This fine fish was caught in May on the River Tay near the Tummel & Tay confluence which is a renowned holding area for Spring salmon near the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld.

The Naturally Occurring Salmon Run Cycles

Personally, I've had plenty of experience on the riverbanks of Scotland on a professional basis without boring you too much with the details. To my mind and I'm sure more salmon anglers will soon also be realising that the Spring run of salmon that enter the Scottish rivers looks as if it going to dominate for a while until 'Mother Nature' re-shuffles her deck once more. Natural 'ever changing' cycles are a fantastic part of Scottish salmon fishing and should be embraced by all anglers and accepted as part of the magic of salmon fishing. Catches during 2021 & 2023 were generally low due to hot Summer months with little water which obviously played a big part in the generally poor salmon fishing as our fish (& anglers) never did like those low warm water conditions which have consistently appeared throughout my lifetime. An expercienced salmon angler who pocesses the correct tactical thoughts & skills will however rise to the challenge during such low warmer water conditions and will know exactly how & where to target often deep lying salmon during such conditions.

Why Do We Fish For Salmon

One of the main attractions of Scottish salmon fishing is obviously catching a salmon but that is not the 'be all and end all' if it doesn't happen and I don't know any angler or professional ghillie anywhere who has a 100% batting average. The sheer escapism, natural riverbank beauty, the flows & swirls of the river, the excitement of the tug on the fly reel and many other salmon fishing attributes are what does it for me and thousands more salmon fishers. Being in with the 'chance' of a salmon is another appealing component of the lure of Scottish salmon fishing and there's always a chance in this game. By comparison our old friend 'Nessie' hasn't popped her head up for many decades yet over 2 million visitors show up annually on the banks of Loch Ness for the most remotest possibility of a sighting! The 'natural' world is where we all once evolved from and deep down that instinct to return is also present even in the most 'hard core' city dwellers.

A New Era Of Salmon Fisher Hosting

If you're a ghillie who resists taking photographs and posting them on social media then now's a great time to learn and make these important adjustments to your game for the promotional benefit of the entire industry. We are now well and truly into the 'customer service' era and client hosting & teaching skills are absolutely paramount to the client experience for a fair chance of repeat bookings & referrals. If that means a daily 5 mile run at 6am in the rain to blow the cob webs off then just do it for a week and tell me it's not an attitude game changer! As a nation Scotland has one of the very finest salmon fishing infrastructures in the world paired with the best salmon fishing traditions and fly fishing style however we are not doing the industry justice if we're not maximising the fishing guest experience nor promoting all salmon captures and the beautiful riverbank scenery.

Here's a River Tay Spring salmon that was aught on the fly near Dunkeld during the first week of June. Although caught in June this is a Spring salmon that's been in the river for a few weeks so still technically a Spring run salmon. The silver salmon fly reel you can see is a Van Staal C-Vex 9-11 Combo model which is my favourite salmon fly reel.

Learn From Salmon Fisher Success

On a personal basis I don't like it too easy when I'm fishing for salmon anywhere and would rather be the 'lucky chap' third or fourth through the pool to catch the only fish of the day than having it made easier by being the first fisher through a pool. There's much more of a buzz if your mind has had to go deep into 'subsurface' mode to force a salmon to take that's seen it all than casting for that newly arrived alert 'sea licer' who's coming for anything you launch at him. If you see the above occurring on any river make that chap your fishing buddy and 'observe' as there are not many about these days with that level of 'tactical wizardry' but they most definitely do exist as I'm fortunate to know a few of them.

The Changing Scottish Salmon Runs

Often I do just wonder if the reducing Autumn salmon runs may have something to with the fact that these Autumn salmon haven't been protected the same way Spring fish have been in the last decade on a few Scottish rivers or should we really have the right to think salmon runs should remain the same when everything else on the planet is constantly changing and always has done. While planetary temperatures are rising it's comforting to know that the planet was 2.5 degrees warmer 4000 years ago thanks to recent scientific Greenland ice core analysis so don't let the media sensationalism of it all cloud your salmon fishing thought judgement. In the meantime thank God for being alive at this place and time as you'll soon be out in the Scottish Spring salmon zone for the chance of another adrenalin inducing encounter with 'The King of Fish' and I hope the next tug on your fly reel is from an absolute brute of a heavyweight 'Atlantean' that doesn't like the look of you!