Here is a traditional River Tay harling boat moored on the lovely sandbank at the Kinnaird Beat Rock Pool. The 2 salmon anglers on the right hand side of the river with their professional guide had just landed their 2nd salmon when I took this perfect shot. This fishing area of the Tay is between Pitlochry & Dunkeld where the River Tummel greets the Tay and is a renowned hot spot. The deep water to the right hand side of the boat is a serious salmon holding pool that our salmon guides love to take salmon fishing guests to.

Here's a perfectly coloured traditional River Tay cobble salmon boat blending in with the riverbank stones slightly upstream of the River Tummel/Tay confluence. This is the tail of the Rock Pool which lies between the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld. The riverbank trees in the shot are primarily oak trees.

Here's a downstream shot taken in front of the Upper Kinnaird Beat salmon fishing hut on the River Tay. This lovely Tay salmon beat is located directly upstream of the Tummel Tay confluence and is a fantastic salmon beat for a quality River Tay fly fishing experience. The salmon pool 50 yards downstream of the boat id called Daffodil Lie and is marked with a big bunch of daffodils which appear each Spring when the pool fishes its best.

Here's 2 traditional River Tay 'coble' salmon fishing boats moored up on the Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay near Dunkeld. These boats add another dimension to the salmon fishing day and assist many salmon fishers to catch salmon on the River Tay each year. These boats are used frequently to give our salmon fishing holiday guests the best chance of catching salmon.

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.

Here's a brace of these special larch & oak built River Tay salmon fishing boats. These boats are known as the 'Tay coble' and are fantastic for assisting guests to catch salmon. These have numerous fishing applications such as harling, trolling, anchored up fishing which can often provide a salmon fishing advantage. You can see the long rope and anchor in addition to the blue padded comfortable boat seats.

River Tay Harling

By Jock Monteith 6th January 2026

Traditional River Tay harling is the most amazing craft in Scottish salmon fishing and requires the utmost skill and attention levels to be carried out effectively by your boatman.

Don't underestimate this salmon fishing method as the water coverage achieved from traditional harling on the River Tay is immense.

Traditional River Tay Harling

In the old days on the Tay before the outboard era began in the 50's harling was conducted by 2 professional boatman on the oars all day with the guest positioned at the stern of the boat. It was this syncronised boatmanship that would position the guest's baits over the likely salmon holding areas and as importantly at the right pace of presentation.

The Salmon Harling Advantage

The main advantage harling has over riverbank fishing in addition to the fact than you can easily fish 3 or more salmon lures that don't leave the water is the ability to present the lures over longer range salmon lies at a controlled pace you'd never be able to achieve from the riverbank. This is especially effective in the cold high water of early Spring or when you really need to 'hang' a lure over educated Autumn salmon that have seen it all from the faster fished lures and flies from the riverbank anglers.

Here's a 16ft River Tay salmon fishing coble constructed from larch and oak. These traditional salmon boats are very stable yet can navigate shallow water when required. I've spent years out in this style of River Tay boat and enjoyed the capture of many salmon while boat fishing. This is one of the Kinnaird Beat boats on the River Tay near Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire.

The Traditional River Tay Coble Boat

The traditional River Tay coble in the right hands is indeed the most deadly tool in Scottish salmon fishing and a skilled boatman who fully understands his craft is a pleasure to watch. A boatman should have been taught to drop downstream by one boat length between each turn of the boat with his 3 lures or flies set at different distances. If this is done technically correct every square metre of the salmon pool will have been covered by at least one of the lures.

The traditional River Tay salmon fishing boats are exceptionally productive during the higher water levels of early Spring as this fortunate salmon fisher found out at Dunkeld. The boat allows for a slower salmon lure to be fished which is a great cold water presentation tactic which resulted in the capture of this heavyweight salmon. You can see the salmon in the landing net prior to being released back to the river.

Marking Each Turn Of The Salmon Boat

A professional Tay ghillie should also be taking visual markers on the riverbank as 'aiming off' points for the bow of the boat between each downstream turn. There's only a minority of professionals working on the Tay these days who fully understand this craft as many haven't been taught these effective harling skills and therefore have little confidence in this boat fishing technique. The other big mistake you see on the Tay is boatman charging up through pools they're about to then fish back down through and oblivious as to what they have just done.

Careful Salmon Beat Commuting

A boat under an expert boatman's control should manoeuvre up through pools away from the likely salmon holding hot spots with the absolute minimum of disturbance for obvious reasons. If you disturb salmon by charging a boat straight over them with a full throttle engine salmon could easily move on and right out of the beat in many cases on a big river like the Tay. Look for a beat where the professional boatman or ghillie understands how to maintain the ambiance of the river while going about his traditional boating duties.