Here's a truly amazing piece of salmon water on the Kinnaird Estate near Pitlochry which is a firm favourite for visiting salmon anglers. Salmon love to sit close in to this riverbank beside the broken water riffles you can see in this photograph. Personally I seldom fail to hook a salmon while fishing through this perfect River Tay salmon pool.

Here's a beautiful May shot showing a lone angler out on the River Tay near Dunkeld in search of a prized Scottish Spring salmon. The shadow of the trees on the far bank is a great salmon lie for fish that have powered up through the fast water immediately downstream.

This salmon fishing trip angler is wading down through the shallow water bar in the centre of the River Tay at the neck of the Rock Pool on the Kinnaird salmon beat near Dunkeld. This salmon fisher was taught to wade with stealth by his salmon fishing instructor which is an important salmon fishing skill to master.

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.

I took this shot of one of the most famous River Tay salmon fishing huts which dates back to 1970 when Willie Laird the ghillie and a few colleagues sited this local Victorian golf course hut on the banks of the Tay as the fishing hut for the Newtyle Beat. Look at the lovely woodland to the rear of the hut and the perfect grass bank in the foreground for salmon anglers and salmon guides to fish from.

I took this beautiful downstream shot of the River Tay in Perthshire which is a famous Scottish salmon river. This lovely shot was taken a few miles upstream from the Perthshire town of Dunkeld. You can clearly see my salmon fishing guest a few hundred yards below me. The dark shadowy water just off the main current is a great Tay salmon holding area and is always worth fishing through.

Fishing A Salmon Pool

By Jock Monteith 18th February 2025

There's loads of important information and skills to pick up in this fabulous pursuit and over the next few paragraphs I'll highlight a few of the more essential ones.

Ownership of a salmon fly rod does not assure success in this sport so double check your own form and make sure you're not too far away from what you're about to read.

This is the neck of the famous Ash Tree Pool on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat which has a lovely fly fishing stream that you can see where many salmon hold up during late Spring through to early Autumn each year. This side of the river is the easiest side to fish from and this salmon fishing trip guest was accompanied by his professional salmon guide.

Perfect Your Salmon Pool Approach

The first important thing to look at is how your physical approach to any salmon pool is conducted. I've witnessed many fishers over the decades crunching right up the riverside gravel to the neck of the pool to then fish back down through the pool naively hoping for success. Giving a salmon pool a wide berth so as not to spook, move away or alert any closer lying salmon is logically the correct approach so think carefully before you go near the pool you're about to fish is my advice.

Knowing how and where to wade through a salmon pool like this fisher is doing for minimal disruption is a vital skill to master in Scottish salmon fishing. Most anglers think that wading deeper is better but the true facts about wading are quite the opposite. Observe that this salmon fisher is only at knee depth so as not disturb the salmon pool which is essential for salmon fishing success.

Wading In A Salmon River

If you're wading in any salmon pool only do so to the minimum depth you need to give yourself enough 'anchor point' space for your Spey cast or to give you the often unthought of optimal angle positioning for fly speed control. Far too many anglers wade far too deep without considering the above relevant points with only thoughts of presenting their fly across the pool as far as possible.

Here's the double handede salmon Spey rod being held out and high across the fast stream at the Guay Pool on the Lower Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay near Dunkeld. This method is how you control your salmon fly at long range which is a rare skill seldom understood by the majority of new salmon fishers. A professional salmon fishing guide will teach these vital fly fishing skills.

Control Your Salmon Fly

This leads me to another fact that distance casting is meaningless if your salmon fly is not under full control. There are many 'casters' who look amazing with a double handed fly rod in their hands and then there's the 'fishers' who will consistently come down through a pool behind them and hook a couple of fish for fun. I've seen this so many times so enjoy your casting but get your thoughts 'sub surface' as quickly as you can as that is what truly matters in this glorious pursuit.

This guest was fishing with me on the River Tay near Dunkeld. This pool tail is a renowned hot spot for running salmon so I waded out to this fishing position to make it easier to fish the main salmon lie between the fisher and the far riverbank. Directly in front of the big tree that you can see on the opposite riverbank is the main salmon lie hot spot.

Spacing Each Salmon Fly Swing Properly

Make sure you're also separating each swing of your salmon fly by approximately 3 feet as 'less is definitely more' when it comes to showing a salmon your fly. A predatory reaction from a salmon is much more likely if a salmon only gets a brief look at the fly as you'll very seldom be able to pester a fish to take. On the bigger Scottish rivers this 3 ft spacing will also significantly increase your water coverage while looking for that taking fish over the full course of the fishing day.

Do Not React To The Initial Salmon Take Contact

When you're fly fishing down through a pool the mantra for your head should be 'do nothing' so if you get a nudge on the fly and these are the words in your head then there is a great chance you'll not react initially to the take and simply 'no nothing'. This is so important that you let the take develop and the salmon turn away to commence a steady draw of line off your fly reel. The initial take from a salmon can often be very gentle like that of a trout so don't blame it on a trout if you've reacted too quickly to a salmon as trout have never been that keen on our salmon flies!

If you're serious about your salmon fishing you'll learn how to separate each swing of the fly effectively to achieve maximised water coverage over the full course of the fishing day. This lovely shot was taken of a guided salmon fishing guest on right hand bank the River Tay Kinnaird Beat's March pool while learning how to fish for salmon..

Fishing Effectively Through The Salmon Pool

If your pool approach is good and you haven't gone right into the pool to your wader's full limit and your fly swing spacings are properly measured then the next very important point is how to react to the take from a salmon. This important topic requires a bit of logical composure so I'll not rush my personal view of this and will explain it in more detail as most salmon fishers are pre-programmed for disaster before they even reach the salmon river.

This was a perfect River Tummel salmon of 11lbs caught that I caught while working as a salmon guide in May near the mouth of the River Tummel. You can see the light blue floating fly line on my fly rod which was fitted with a 15ft sinking tip just to get the fly down a foot or two in the water column. Note the fine meshed landing net bag the salmon is lying on.

Do Not Lift Into The Take From A Salmon

Have you ever heard the statement 'just lift into it' as the advice given after the salmon has taken and turned on your fly ? This is the worst thing you could ever do when a fish takes as you're then logically relying on a lightly set fly reel clutch and the soft action of your fly rod to set the hook properly. If you're using super sharp fine wire hooks and the initial micro hold is sitting in some of the softer tissue within the salmon's mouth then you might get lucky and get away with this 'traditionally taught' salmon fly hook setting approach but to my mind I'd avoid it like the plague!

Addict Yourself To Salmon Contact Adrenalin

There's nothing worse than the 'fix' of adrenalin created from the hard earned take from a salmon to be then followed by the dreadful feeling of a slack line so don't put yourself in that position. Any hook point logically requires sufficient pressure to be set properly and if you don't do that a salmon is a true master at shaking out unwanted objects from it mouth and will usually achieve this within the first 30 seconds of contact with any partially set salmon fly hook. Keep the adrenalin release flowing right through to landing net inspection & release time and gain full value from this amazing natural high.

Sub Surface Cooperation From Salmon

Getting to the 'sub surface cooperation' point during you salmon fishing trip usually requires a fair bit of effort so any opportunity to hook a fish should be capitalised on and not squandered. After you've 'not' reacted to the first series of tugs and allowed the extra several seconds for the salmon to turn and head back to its lie simply clamp the fly reel face and let everything tighten with the rod tip down for about 3 or 4 additional seconds. If you time this correctly you'll momentarily feel the weight of the fish and the hook will be set and the fish will be 100% yours!