Here's salmon fisher Chris Blandford with a perfect fly caught River Tay Spring salmon which he caught near the Perthshire town of Stanley during March while I was his salmon fishing guide. The bright clear sky Spring sunlight illuminated this salmon's beautiful silver flanks for this perfect salmon capture shot which I took.

These fresh run Scottish salmon look as if they've been forged from molten silver and are often referred to as 'bars of silver'. This perfect Spring salmon took a 'Jock's Shrimp' salmon fly near the River Tummel & River Tay confluence during late May which is a great time to intercept a fish of this calibre. I took this perfect up close shot while this beautiful fish was still in the landing net before releasing it back to the river.

Here's 1 or 2 perfect fresh run early Spring salmon captured from the River Tay near the mouth of the River Tummel. This fisher caught both salmon on the fly with me as his personal salmon fishing guide late in the afternoon and both fish were caught within a few minutes of one another. It often pays to fish consistently hard until the 5pm end of the fishing day as often fish are on the move late in the afternoon during Springtime and can be caught if you're persistent enough to get your fly in front of them.

Look at this and tell me you cannot see the nose of an astute marine predator. This is a River Tay Spring salmon that was captured near Dunkeld during the Spring month of May which is a great fishing time on the Tay. I caught this salmon opposite the mouth of the River Tummel where it enters the Tay while I was off duty as a River Tay salmon guide.

Here's the beautiful silver flanks of a fresh run Spring salmon which was caught on the River Tay near Dunkeld. Salmon like this create indelible memories such is their power and amazing natural beauty when you encounter of one of these fine creatures. This perfect salmon was caught by one of our salmon fishing holiday guests while accompanied by myself as his personal salmon fishing guide.

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.

Catch A River Tay Springer

By Jock Monteith 3rd December 2017

There's many exciting aspects of Scottish salmon fishing but none more so than catching a fresh run 'fighting fit' Spring salmon on a fly rod.

We're now fast approaching the start of the 2018 salmon fishing season and these fine Spring salmon will already be present in the bigger Scottish salmon rivers.

Here's the bow section of a hand built River Tay 16ft salmon fishing 'coble' boat with a Brady fishing back and Bruce & Walker salmon Spey rod fitted with a Van Staal salmon fly reel. Professional salmon guides in Scotland take their personal salmon fishing equipment seriously too!

Spring Fishing Preparation

There's big excitement too for many thousands of Scottish river salmon fishers in getting ready for the new season and double checking rods, reels, lines & tying up a few fresh salmon fly patterns for the high cold water conditions of Spring. Most of us who are afflicted with 'Spring salmon fever' count down the days of Winter to getting back out with a fly rod in our hands.

Here's the Newtyle salmon fishing ghillie ferrying anglers across to the popular left hand bank of the Cottar Pool which is a very productive pool on this lovely middle Tay salmon beat. This early morning photo captured the mist rising off the Tay Valley.

The Salmon Kelt

Under the surface of the river there's many kelts present through the early Spring which are salmon that have already spawned during the Winter months. Many of these 'respected' salmon will eventually smell the salt of the ocean again. Lying unnoticed in amonsgt the kelts will be the often shy 'beefed up' and most perfect salmon of all the 'Springer'.

You can see the frozen riverbanks behind this group of celebrating River Tay salmon fishers. This was an opening day party out in the boat near Pitlochry. Early January is a highly picturesque time to be out salmon fishing as long as you wrap up well like these salmon fishers did.

Salmon River Opening Days

The River Tay kicks off its 2018 salmon fishing season on the 15th of January and the other big Scottish rivers follow during early February. There's much 'pomp & ceremoney' on all of the river opening days and the drams always flow. River management & the owners of the various salmon beats usually always show up and participate in the day too.

Here's professional salmon fishing guide Steve McIrvine holding a perfect heavyweight Spring salmon of 35lbs which he caught during the month of February when he was the Head Ghillie on the Glendelvine Beat of the River Tay near the Perthshire village of Murthly. Steve is now one of the Ballathie Beat professional ghillies near Stanley.

Professional Scottish Ghillies

The professional salmon men of Scotland will know exactly & intimately where their early Spring salmon lies are located on their beats and will no doubt have been watching the water for the weeks and days leading up to the opening of the river. Many of each salmon beat's regular salmon fishers will have also worked out the jigsaw of where Spring salmon will be holding so drawing straws is often the only way to keep pool fishing rotations fair for all.

This is a perfect pristine example of what a River Tummel bound fresh run Spring salmon looks like. This perfectly shaped salmon was caught right at the Tummel/Tay confluence between Pitlochry & Dunkeld during late May. These perfect fish are present in this area of the River Tay from late March through to early June. I caught this salmon on the Monteith Copperass salmon fly which is a particularly effective pattern.

The Cold Water Salmon Take

In the early cold Spring river water and even when you're catching or getting constant dunts from the kelts treat each knock on the fly with suspicion and complete respect. On many occasions while fishing the early months of the season the most insignificant and gentle salmon take has turned out to be that perfect and sometimes long awaited Spring salmon.