This salmon fisher is out presenting his fly on the lovely Meetings Pool of the River Tay at Kinnaird. This entire area of the Tay Valley is steeped in natural beauty and attracts many salmon fishers each year. Book a professional River Tay salmon get to show you all of these middle Tay fly fishing hot spots.

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.

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.

Here's a salmon fishing guest fly fishing their way down through the Gean Tree Pool of the River Tay's Kercock salmon beat. This guest was under the supervision of a professional salmon guide resulting in 2 salmon being caught by this fisher that day even though it was a very bright July day. Look at the lovely sunlight sparkle coming off the water.

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.

When you hook a salmon it's important to know how to play the fish properly to gain control of proceedings. This perfect Spring salmon was caught on the middle area of the Tay during early June and is typical of the quality of fish found in the Scottish rivers at that time. The fly in this salmon's mouth is the deadly Jock's Shrimp salmon fly pattern.

Doing Your Salmon Permit Justice

By Jock Monteith 24th July 2026

What's the point in buying an often expensive salmon fishing permit to then turn up unprepared or unskilled on the salmon river.

A basic level of tactical awareness should be mandatory in this business even though many fishers likely wouldn't understand it was for their own benefit and success in the sport.

This is the Rock Pool on the River Tay slightly upstream of the River Tay & River Tummel confluence which is just visible in the background. This is a very good salmon fishing area in Scotland and worthy of a salmon fishing trip. I took this beautiful shot in low water conditions during June after commuting down in this traditional Tay salmon boat.

Synchronised Salmon Catch Statistic Recording

Imagine if the A9 or M8 was full of drivers that had never taking a driving lesson (not that you wouldn't already think that anyway!) and just how much danger and frustration would evolve! If you look at any business or pursuit there's usually some form of training involved but not in Scottish salmon fishing. We have also developed this 'catch stats' theme as the 'be all and end all' of the business but who's 'catch stat'ing the quality of the fishing effort? From what I see the 'catch stats' recording is actually in perfect 'synchronicity' with the competent salmon fishers who turn up on the numerous Scottish salmon beats and show the majority of anglers how to put a fish in the landing net.

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.

Acquire Some Professional Salmon Guide Fine Tuning

While many professional ghillies often won't voice this for fear of upsetting their clients too many fishers who turn up on the rivers of Scotland have noticeable flaws in their salmon fishing approach which could very easily be rectified via an instructional & tactical awareness guided salmon fishing day. The male ego being what it is can make it tricky to approach an established fishing guests who's been fishing for decades to tell him he's virtually wasting his time fishing like that. Often it's just easier for a professional salmon ghillie to just observe a poor tactical fishing approach and say nothing to preserve the client relationship as many established fishers won't take kindly to bad news about their own tactical grasp!

This River Tay gravel tapered riverbank is a very popular venue for teaching salmon fishing guided guests how to fish from. Look at the perfect line of oak tress on the opposite side of the river. The Tay is located in Perthshire which is in central Scotland and not too far from Edinburgh & Glasgow.

Your Wading Boots Are Your Real Weapon

One of the biggest errors I've personally noticed by the vast majority of salmon anglers is thinking that they can 'heron' over a 'showing' fish and pester that salmon into taking. Sometimes the fish that shows can be caught but if that doesn't happen in the first 2 or 3 spaced swings of the fly in its general location where depth, speed and size of fly has been considered then the chances are it's just acting as a decoy for the 'taker' who's lying 400 yards downstream that good riverbank movement would otherwise get your fly in front of! Your wading boots (and how they move on the riverbed) are your best and completely under rated and unspoken 'weapon' when pursuing the 'King of Fish' and more so than any other item in your entire salmon fishing kit!

Don't be a 'launch & hope' specialist and adopt salmon fly thought mentality as to your fly's speed & depth as that's what will give you a huge advantage while fishing for salmon anywhere in the world. This lovely River Tay salmon was caught with a perfectly controlled Jock's Shrimp salmon fly near Dunkeld. This shot was taken while the fish was lying in the landing net prior to unhooking and its safe release back to the river.

Salmon & Trout Hooking Differences

Whatever the catch rate for an individual salmon beat or river is I strongly believe (based on what I've personally seen) that theses catch rates would at least be doubled if salmon fishers truly knew how to consistently convert salmon takes into landed fish via an effective & logic backed hooking procedure. As kids most of us were already pre-programmed to react immediately when a trout boiled at your bob or tail fly. In salmon fishing the reaction to the take is a complete 'polar opposite' to trout fishing and more akin to how you'd deal with a pike after it has picked up and run off with a dead bait! Knowing exactly how to 'effectively' deal with the hard earned salmon take is crucial for success in this sport and for doing justice to the salmon beat you are fishing.

I never buy cheap salmon fishing gear as it's often false economy and doesn't tend to last too long. What you see here is my own Bruce & Walker 16ft Spey actioned rod paired up with a Van Staal C-Vex fly reel, a Brady fishing bag and a McLean salmon landing net. All of these items I've owned for decades and use successfully each season on the River Tay. Buying cheap kit which needs replacing every few years costs more money in the long term.

Correct Salmon Fishing Kit Levels

There's no point turning up with antiquated salmon fishing kit that Uncle Fred left that was found in the loft above Auntie Fanny's garage! The salmon fishing rods that are around these days you can either pay a fortune for or pick up the same (or sometimes better) salmon rod action for a few hundred pounds like the lovely actioned Airflo Delta (or V2) 15ft 10/11 or 14ft 9/10 as good examples. A good reel and multi purpose salmon line can cost you no more than another £180 so there is absolutely no need to go wild with the credit card if funds are tight. Having good kit with a few appropriate and proven salmon flies goes along way to your enjoyment and effectiveness of your fishing day.

I took this photo of the stone build Newtyle Beat jetty which dates back to 1970 when it was constructed by Willie Laird who was the Newtyle Beat ghillie at that time. I served as Head Ghillie on Newtyle from 2001 to 2009 which was a fantastic period for me as a professional salmon guide. You can see the boathouse I built in 2008 on the opposite bank if you look closely. You can also see one of our traditional River Tay harling boats just upstream of this famous jetty.

The International Salmon Scene

I agree that there are some highly attractive global salmon fishing destinations where often there's more fish (& bigger) around but how's that going to work when you want to go salmon fishing at the drop of a hat in a limited time or finance scenario. We are often lead to believe from mainly 'detached' sources (even though we've zero 'accurate' stock measuring tools on 98% of the Scottish rivers) that we are in a low salmon stock period. On a personal basis I think it was far too easy to catch salmon ten years ago and I was starting to bore fishing guests by putting them into salmon far too frequently & quickly. On a personal basis a low river stock scenario is far more of a challenge (& buzz when successful) as effective tactical skills and a complete understanding of the river offers the only real chance of success.