Here's a prefect wee River Tay 'springer' which was hooked and landed at the Kinnaird Beat's Rock Pool tail during February. There's not many anglers who fish the Scottish rivers in February these days even though there's always fish like this to be caught.

Here's Jock Monteith photographed with his black labrador dog 'Selkie' in the Cottar Pool of the Newtyle Beat during late Spring. This shot was taken by professional Scottish photographer Peter Sandground while Jock was in his tweed jacket and traditional River Tay salmon fishing boat near Dunkeld. You can almost make out the bluebells on the grassy slopes in the background.

This zoomed in shot was taken by me from the Rock Pool on Upper Kinnaird looking downstream to a party of 2 fishers accompanied by their professional salmon guide the moment a perfect 12lbs Spring salmon was landed which is barely visible in the landing net in this shot. The River Tay is a great Scottish salmon river even in low bright water conditions and this guest went on to land another salmon of similar size moments after this fine river shot was captured.

There's much skill and understanding involved in catching a Scottish salmon on a spinning rod and make no mistake about that fact. This visiting American salmon fisher was learning these spin fishing skills near Dunkeld on the River Tay during the low water of Summertime while under my supervision as his salmon guide.

Here's a lovely upstream shot of the Lower Tummel salmon beat near Pitlochry with a salmon fishing tour guest trying out his newly taught Spey casting abilities. This lovely upstream shot was taken during early June which is a beautiful time of year to fish the Tummel. Moments after I took the shot this guided salmon fishing guest Martin Hunter hooked and landed his first ever salmon.

Here's all of the days fishing kit laid out waiting for the fishing guests to arrive on the River Tay near Dunkeld. You can see there's both fly rods and spinning rods in addition to a big McLean salmon landing net and Brady fishing bag full of lures, flies and other important salmon fly fishing accessories.

Catching Scottish Salmon

By Jock Monteith 21st July 2019

There's more involved in catching a perfect fresh run salmon like this than simply turning up on a 'least course of resistance' salmon fishing permit with a rod on the riverbanks of Scotland.

Long gone are the days where catching salmon was easy from rivers that were once absolutely stuffed with fish.

Being Prepared To Catch Salmon

Of course even today there are still ocassional days where a 'blind dog in a snow storm' couldn't fail but for the majority of visits to any salmon river you must have a good level of technical salmon fishing ability and the correct equipment levels to be in with a reasonable chance of success. A resident salmon beat ghillie may not be able to spend enough time with a guest who's in need of assistance unless he's been specifically booked that day to do so.

Salmon Fishing Client Qualification

Qualifying any customer in any business is so crucial to the service you are providing and this is no different in Scottish salmon fishing. Questions like "how often do you fish" or "what equipment and salmon flies do you have" are only a couple of the very basic questions which can go a long way towards the client enjoying their day or if not qualified correctly then possibly never returning to the salmon river again due to a lack of understanding & attention.

Low Salmon Fishing Agent Standards

On a personal basis I've experienced agent clients appearing at the river with no equipment because they thought that the 'rod' they had bought mean't that they had actually bought a fishing rod! From experience I'd say that the general standard of at least 75% of 'permit only' purchasers on the salmon rivers of Scotland who have not been qualified or assisted correctly have a very slim chance of ever catching a salmon.

Reputable Salmon Fishing Agent

For these salmon fishers there's obviously still a remote chance and on occasion even if it's only once every 3 or 4 years that a salmon with surprise them. For myself and many others we need that most fantastic 'adrenalin fix' the salmon take creates on a much more frequent basis and a fish on a worst case scenario every second or third outing to the river is much more acceptable and meaningful.

Here's a shot of myself while serving as a professional River Tay salmon fishing guide with my black labrador dog 'Selkie' out in the Cottar Pool of the Newtyle Beat near Dunkeld. This shot was taken by professional Scottish photographer Peter Sandground for the Glasgow Herald Magazine.

Jock Monteith Professional Salmon Fishing Guide

What I'm stating here is a simple fact that if you're new to this amazing sport or you're not that confident with your current salmon fishing approach you will benefit from a true professional's input on where and how to fish and advice about bringing your basic salmon fishing skills and equipment levels up to scratch. This is logical common sense however proper qualification is far more important than most agents understand or are able to provide enough accurate advice on as none of them have ever served in a professional capacity on the salmon rivers of Scotland therefore they do not possess that vital knowledge.