Once you've got enough faith in a specific salmon fly pattern then look for the fly that outperforms it's replica associates. Here's a selection of my 'Jock Shrimp' & 'Copperass' patterns with a few other aces that I sometimes fish with too. I love these old aluminium Richard Wheatley fly boxes too and have many of them which I've collected over the decades.

Look at this perfectly tied Jock's Shrimp salmon fly that's been tied with soft 'movement inducing' materials like Arctic fox. When a fly like this is swum in the stream these fine fibres come alive and make the fly move like a live creature therefore making them much more effective than other stiffer fly tying materials.

This salmon fly pattern was designed by myself 20 years ago as a professional salmon fishing guide and has accounted for hundreds of salmon for me personally of the years and for many of my salmon fishing trip anglers too. Here's the dressing information;
Hook: 1

This fine salmon took a 'Copperass' tube fly in the Ash Tree Pool of the River Tay near Dunkeld. A few professional salmon fly fishing instructors understand just how deadly controlled salmon fly presentation is during the cold high water level of Spring so they prefer to use a spinner.

Here's one of my favourite Copperass tube flies not long after it produced a perfect 18lbs Spring salmon for me while working as a professional River Tay ghillie. This pattern of salmon fly is 1 of 2 that I swear by and have built a professional salmon fishing guiding business on the back of.

Here's one of my hard working trusted River Tay boat fishing lures which has performed numerous times over the years as you can see by its battered external condition. This is the pearly pink 4 inch Tomic Classic lure from Canada which is the only River Tay 'harling' lure required from January to the end of April each year. As a professional River Tay boatman having trusted effective lures like this are vital for success.

Favourite Salmon Flies

By Jock Monteith 22nd March 2026

I'm going to briefly touch on a subject over the next few paragraphs that for most part is completely unexplainable with salmon flies and sometimes even River Tay 'harling' lures regarding their effectiveness in the stream.

Complete faith in a specific individual fly or lure is a rare commodity which is well worth treasuring once identified.

Here's a look at my own personal salmon fly box which includes my main 2 salmon fly patterns which are the Jock's Shrimp & Copperass salmon fly patterns. These 2 patterns have been responsible for over 80% of the salmon I've caught in the last 2 decades. This shot was taken at the River Tay/Tummel confluence near the Perthshire town of Pitlochry.

There's A Big Difference Between Salmon Flies

Over the decades of being professionally involved in this business I've seen certain individual flies and lures work far more consistently than an exact replica of the same lure or fly. I've seen this to a degree that when you identify one like this you should treasure it and never consider giving it away or on loan to another angler as they are like hen's teeth!

This perfect 27lbs Tay Springer took me by surprise at the Kinnaird Beat's Rock Pool during a high water period at the end of May while I was working as a professional salmon fishing guide. What a absolutely perfect fish which showed up at 5pm after a full day of salmon fishing effort. You can see the size of this fish against the 32 inch frame of the salmon landing net the salmon is lying on before I released this fine fish.

A Switch To The Killer Fly & Bang!

As an experienced professional salmon fishing instructor I've seen myself out with a replica of the same fly pattern on many occasions covering fish with no sub surface contact to then switch to the 'proven' identical equivalent and more or less straight away getting into contact with a salmon. The only thing I could put it down to is that possibly the scent of a fish stays on the fly and becomes an additional attractant but that's my best shot as a salmon guide at explaining this very strange phenomenon as to my eye both patterns would be identical.

A heart racing close up inspection with one of these fine Atlantic salmon and will remain in your memory banks for an entire lifetime. This perfect Summer salmon came to a deadly Jock's Shrimp salmon fly and was caught near to the River Tummel/Tay confluence which is located not too far away from Pitlochry in Perthshire. Note the fish friendly fine mesh of the landing net behind the salmon.

All Replica Salmon Lures Are Not The Same

The same thing however is noticeable on River Tay 'harling' lures and certain individual lures work far better than apparent replicas of the same model. With a plastic moulded lure like a Kynoch or a Tomic for example there could be an internal unseen difference to that lure created in the moulding process that alters the action of the lure but there's definitely something in it and like salmon fly equivalents, this is truly unexplainable.

River Tay Harling Lures With A Difference

As another example of this I personally have hundreds of plastic Tay 'harling' lures but when venturing out onto the river the selection would narrow down to less than half a dozen. Those lures would be the most 'battle scarred' old scabby bangers in my entire selection range. Even if one of them is fished on its own on any 'harling' rod that is the lure 99% of the time a salmon will take even if it's fished on the shortest line which means that salmon are very likely seeing it last and not first!

Here's one of my own Wheatley aluminium salmon fly boxes with a few choice patterns in it and a spare coiled up salmon leader. Once your salmon fly faith levels rise then you'll always know what fly to tie on during each month of the salmon fishing season.

Keep Your Special Salmon Flies Safe

My advice on this if you've spent enough time on the river to witness some of the above is once you've got a fly or lure that's working consistently hang on to it with both hands. With success on any salmon river brings curiosity from other anglers so you'll probably always feel compelled to let a curious angler borrow one of your favourites. On occasions I've done that to see that particular proven fly not given back or having been completely ruined due to a bad casting technique so my advice is don't do it.

This is the brown winged version of the Jock's Shrimp fitted with a Partridge Nordic No 6 tube fly hook. This is a true weapon of a salmon fly and lethal for attracting salmon on the famous River Tay and other Scottish salmon rivers.

Does Salmon Fly Size Really Matter

Just to add a bit more to this article one of my best River Tay salmon guide colleagues always uses the same big salmon tube fly while 'harling' from the boat. This Ally Shrimp 'Cascade' style of pattern absolutely nails Spring, Summer & Autumn salmon and has produced springers up to 34 lbs for his beat. The mentally disruptive part of this for any straight thinking salmon fisher is that the Summer grilse cannot leave this big tube fly alone either while the rest of us are all out fishing sparsely dressed size 11's!

Here's a shot of a team of Copperass & Jock's Shrimp salmon flies that have just come off the fly tying vice. These 2 patterns are highly effective at all times of the Scottish salmon fishing season in varying sizes to cover all water & temperature conditions.

Gaining Complete Faith In A Salmon Fly Or Lure

After you've landed a few fish on a particular lure or fly a mental switch will flick to 'on' and your faith levels will soar for that particular fly or lure. When you are convinced what you're fishing with is 100% reliable then your expectation and belief levels will soar. When you're fishing a lure or fly that's proven itself to you on many occasions and your riverbank movement and water column depth targeting are spot on you're always going to stand a fair chance of a fish. Nothing beats fishing with complete faith & positivity which I'm certain salmon can pick up on via the double handed carbon fibre transmitter in your hands!