This perfect 20lbs salmon was caught at the Kindallachan Pool neck on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat during June while working as a salmon guide. I had my lucky Tweed jacket on that day which has been a magnet for salmon for decades on the Tay. Perfect salmon encounters like this stay in your memory banks for life even though a more accurate account of the capture lives on Youtube! My Tweed jacket and my Ocean chest waders are never too far away when I'm near a salmon river.

Here's a guided River Tay salmon fishing guest fishing his way methodically down through the Meetings Pool on the Upper Kinnaird salmon beat which is a perfect holding area for salmon in medium to low water levels from mid March through to October each year. Look at the beautiful fully leafed oak trees on the far side of the river.

This Tay 'coble' boat was hand made by famous River Tay boatbuilder John Ferguson who's based in Stanley in the Tay Valley. These traditional salmon fishing boats serve many different fishing applications and are a pleasure to be out on the Tay in one for the day. This photograph of me in the boat with my fly rod & my labrador dog 'Selkie' was taken in the Cottar Pool on the Newtyle Beat of the River Tay by professional photographer Peter Sandground.

A River Tay salmon guide will take you to the best fishing areas and will make sure you're fishing through them optimally. If you are new to the sport a guide will teach all of the basic fly fishing skills and will supply all of the required fishing equipment and permit access. This is an upstream shot of the March Pool on the River Tay opposite the River Tummel mouth. Look at the perfectly strimmed riverbank I completed for the benefit & safety of our many visiting River Tay salmon fishing trip guests.

Here you can see a perfect upstream shot from the Kinnaird Meetings Pool to the mouth of the River Tummel which flows in on the right hand side of frame directly behind the boat. This area of the Tay is fantastic for fly fishing and especially during March, April & May when the Spring salmon are running the River Tay & Tummel as they always hold up in this area and are easy to cover with a fly rod.

This Steps Pool on the Newtyle Beat is a productive salmon holding pool on the River Tay many salmon hold up here due to the series of giant riverbed stones that span right across the Tay in this pool hence the pool's name. The salmon fisher you see is fishing this easy side of the pool where the riverbed is gently tapered and therefore easy to wade through.

Become The Salmon Fly

By Jock Monteith 16th May 2026

Who's that chap in the tweed jacket holding the big Tay springer you may ask! That's not Jock that's a reincarnated 'blue bottle' in the shell of a human being just like that old horror movie from 1986 with Jeff Goldblum called 'The Fly'.

This Ally's Shrimp salmon fly hybrid with it's green pearlescent body is an absolute salmon magnet during duller salmon fishing days and especially if tied with Artic fox fur in the tail & wing as you see here. On an overcast day this fly has serious presence in the stream and often cannot be ignored by salmon.

Salmon Fly Control

No I'm not suggesting for one minute you get involved in a botched teleportation trial but in Scottish salmon fishing if you want real success you need to focus at all times on that little Arctic fox or buck tail fur ball at the end of your leader. Nothing in salmon fishing is as important as what your target audience are seeing but all too often anglers switch completely 'off' instead of completely 'on' each time the fly is delivered to the river.

I took this shot at the famous Ash Tree Pool of the Kinnaird Beat which is a must fish salmon pool for any salmon angler who's visiting the River Tay. This pool holds many Atlantic salmon from mid March through to mid October each year. This salmon angler was fishing the tail of the pool in this photograph.

How To Control Your Salmon Fly

There are various ways of keeping your fly under control but the first thought on any fishing day should be based on the water height and temperature and nothing other than that. During the near freezing water conditions of early Spring will mean you'll need a sinking tip to take the fly down a foot or so into the water column where the warmer thermals are as salmon sit high in the water column in very cold water conditions contrary to popular belief. Once the water warms up during the rest of the year play about with different weighted tips as salmon are more likely to be holding much deeper in the water column in warmer water conditions.

Here's a fabulous action photograph of Jock Monteith loading up a perfect Spey cast for long range salmon fly delivery across the River Tay with his tweed jacket and chest waders on. This shot was captured on the Meetings Pool of the Lower Kinnaird Beat by top Scottish photographer Louise Bellin.

The Aerial Fly Line Mend

I've never seen this topic written in books but if you want complete control of the fly at distance practice 'battering' in a big huge upstream mend just as your fly line has fully extended and is landing on the water. If you time this perfectly while most of the fly line is still in the air you'll reduce the angle of the fly line much more easily as most of the line will still be airborne. All anglers I see wait until the full line has landed before mending which is less effective and more difficult to achieve at distance. Waiting with a shooting head system will also make it virtually impossible to re-angle a heavy 'washing line' head with 'thread like' running line so practise this aerial mend and regain control of your fly at distance. A longer headed Spey line with properly thought out running line diameter is much easier to mend with but few anglers truly understand that fact.

This River Tay salmon fisher is Spey casting from the traditional Tay salmon fishing boat during late January on the Tay at Dunkeld with his 15ft double handed salmon fly rod. If you look in the distance you'll see the 200 year old Telford Bridge which is one of the Tay's most historic & beautiful sandstone bridges.

Constant Control Of The Fly

The above mending technique at range will equate to your salmon fly working from the second it hits the water on the forward delivery and not after the line sag of a slow mend which loses up to 20 seconds before the salmon fly angles itself properly and starts to fish 'effectively'. If you add that 'sag' from the predominantly used slower mend up over the course of the full fishing day you'll realise you've lost an hour or more of what could have been 'effective' fly swim time. This is one of the many reasons why you must be tuned into the fly's performance at all times.

Here's an upstream shot of the River Tay which was taken from the shallow mid stream gravel bar at the neck of the Rock Pool. You can clearly see the salmon fishing boat moored upstream awaiting my return. I took this shot during a bright light day in March.

Fast Water Slow Fly Tactics

If you're fishing down through a pool that has a fast current it's not only crucial that you slow the fly up with a mend as it lands but that you stop the current whipping your line round far too quickly unless of course you want to fish a super fast fly. The easiest way to do this is to hold your rod tip out and high to reduce trailing line contact with the river and slowly bring the rod round while lowering the rod as the fly crosses the river until the rod is pointing low and downstream at the end of each swing.

This perfect salmon fly was designed by myself on the River Tay 20 years ago and is an absolute salmon magnet when fished properly. Many experienced salmon anglers swear by the effectiveness of this pattern and it's sometimes wrongly referred to as the Newtyle Shrimp however it's proper registered name is the Jock's Shrimp as a credit to its creator. Here are the exact dressings for this deadly Scottish salmon fly pattern;
Hook / Tube: as required
Thread / Silk: Uni Thread 6/0 or 8/0, Red
Tag / Butt: Oval silver as for Rib
Tail: Orange Arctic Fox or equivalent with pearl flashabou accent or mirage over, just 2 or perhaps 3 strands max.
Tying note: it's important to set the Tag / Butt in place first, this helps lift the Fox tail slightly, increases movement and helps avoid

Get Your Thoughts On To Your Fly

Salmon fly mentality and becoming the fly are when you'll transform from 'salmon fisher' status to a 'salmon dental technician' and none of this is based on rocket science but only good old 'logical' common sense. Calculate your effective water coverage with good precise 3 to 4 ft downstream movements between each swing of the fly so as not to show a salmon too much and force their curiosity 'attack' hand. Get that riverbank movement bang on and pair it with complete salmon fly control and watch your 'batting average' soar! Consistent success in this fine pursuit is simply adopting a 'sub surface' vision of how your fly is likely performing with every swing across the stream.