This young man landed 2 almost identical heavyweight Spring salmon during late March on the River Tay. He achieved this after a 30 minute crash course on how to use a double handed salmon rod on the Ash Tree Pool of the River Tay near Pitlochry. This was the 2nd Spring salmon he caught so I took this shot of him and his father while accompanying them as their personal salmon fishing guide. What a memorable morning that was!

There's something magical about fishing the Cathedral Stream on the Dunkeld House Beat of the River Tay. Maybe it's something to do with the old ley lines that run through this location. This natural energy can be felt by anglers and salmon! I took this shot of the salmon beat head ghillie in his boat while serving as the accompanying guest's salmon fishing guide. I took this upstream shot from the mid section of the 200 year old Telford Bridge at Dunkeld.

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.

This salmon spinning reel was manufactured by Shimano and is known as a Stradic 5000. The fishing line on the spool is Maxima Chameleon in 18lbs breaking strain. I always add a few extra turns of line to the spool like you can see here just to add a bit of extra distance to each cast when working on a big wide river like the River Tay as a salmon fishing guide.

Here's professional Scottish salmon guide Jock Monteith with a salmon fishing tour guest at the neck of the famous Kinnaird Beat's Ash Tree Pool. You can clearly see the beautiful Perthshire hills behind Pitlochry in the distance and Jock carrying his favourite salmon landing net over his shoulder.

Now's The Day & Now's The Hour

By Jock Monteith 23rd March 2018

This is now without a 'shadow of a doubt' the big Spring fish zone on many Scottish rivers and make no mistake about that fact.

This is the time of year more big multi sea winter 'clunkers' come quietly snooping up into the Tay and other Scottish salmon rivers.

Psychic Salmon Fishing Guides

I've several guests fishing on the Tay at the moment with a bigger party of 4 arriving today for 2 days on the Dunkeld House beat. A few professional Tay ghillie colleagues are involved in hosting these clients so doing my usual phone around to make sure everyone was still on I said to one of the team 'I bet you're playing another big Tay Springer' to which he replied how on earth did you know that! I called him back to learn he'd just landed a twenty pounder! The truth is you don't need psychic powers to take a calculated guess with Steve McIrvine on Glendelvine as he's a true River Tay big fish magnet!

These Arabian guest had a great day out on the River Tay with me during August and all mastered the Scottish Spey cast and other important salmon fishing skills very quickly. When you live in London I guess coming to the Tay Valley for some salmon river therapy is a polar opposite to daily London life. This was one of the fish caught from the Tay salmon boat in the picture.

Milder Salmon River Water

The recent increase in river temperature which typically always arrives around mid March is the trigger for many 'pristine' Spring salmon to move and move they most certainly will. The next few weeks where most beats are unbelievably quiet for anglers represent a great chance for a connection to a fish of a lifetime. I believe many fishers like more residents salmon numbers to be built up in the pools but personally I'll take the challenge of working out in advance exactly where on any beat that big fresh run brute from Greenland is going to momentarily pause or be holding!

I took this photograph of this salmon fisher on the River Tay while serving as his salmon fishing guide. The former legendary Kinnaird Beat ghillie Bob Grant always described the Guay Pool as his favourite and most productive salmon pool. Having personally steered many fishing guests to salmon in this lovely pool I can only agree with Bob's evaluation. Nothing has changed in recent years as the Guay Pool is still the most productive Lower Kinnaird Beat salmon pool.

Scanning the River For Spring Salmon Lies

Look for the steady slow water glides with sufficient depth in lower water conditions to allow salmon a 'bolt hole' in case a predator turns up. Dark 'glassy' patches of water on any pool are usually indicative of a sub surface feature and a possible salmon lie. In the Spring when there's plenty of oxygen in the water look to the slower moving areas of the pool so it's a 'polar opposite' of where you're searching in the warm water Summer months. Always carry a landing net and if you hook a salmon leave the net well alone until only the latter stages of battle when you sense the salmon is ready. If you're a ghillie leave the net on your shoulder as all you'll do is let your guest think the fish is ready to be landed before it is ready.

Setting The Salmon Fly Hook

For the salmon fly fishers amongst you let the fish tug away at the reel until it decides to turn tail and start a lovely steady draw of line off your reel for a further 6 to 8 seconds. Keeping the rod tip pointing at the fish then clamp the reel face to stop the line feed 'dead' keeping the rod tip down! You should at that moment feel the weight of the fish which means job done! At this reel clamping stage give it a good few seconds feeling the weight of the salmon and especially if you're fishing a heavier gauge wire tube fly hook as they don't 'magic' themselves into the tougher tissue areas of a salmon's mouth either. Never rush to lift & engage the soft action of your fly rod until you're convinced the hook set has been effectively achieved.

Set The Salmon Lure Hook Properly

A successful hook hold with a spinner or salmon fly is not achieved without 'logical' hook point pressure so get the hook hold set then loosen the clutch off to play the fish or you will keep getting contacts that amount to nothing more than a 'gut wrenching' feeling of loss. I recall even this week hearing how bad a Toby 'Salmo' is for hooking salmon! FFS tighten up your clutch and watch the difference! Logically the bigger the hook the more hook point pressure is required to set it. If you've gone to little needle sharp bendy 'bass lure' hooks to counteract your 'anti logic' slack clutch habit then more fool you!

Get Your Tactics Correct For Action

Unless you like the 'brief' sound of your spinning reel drag on initial contact with a River Tay spring salmon followed by a slack line then tighten your bloody clutch setting up. That initial pull from a salmon on the lure is exactly when the hooks need to be set and if you miss the opportunity you've let yourself & the beat down. In 90% of cases I've seen this slack clutch 40 yard 'catch & release' tactic deployed and often even undermining the beat ghillie's direct fishing instructions. The logic behind this is truly kindergarten stuff but still many anglers seem not to be listening as if they're addicted to losing salmon by having there spinning reel drag settings as lightly set as their fly reels!