This perfect 20lbs salmon was caught at the Kindallachan Pool neck on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat during June while working as a salmon guide. I had my lucky Tweed jacket on that day which has been a magnet for salmon for decades on the Tay. Perfect salmon encounters like this stay in your memory banks for life even though a more accurate account of the capture lives on Youtube! My Tweed jacket and my Ocean chest waders are never too far away when I'm near a salmon river.

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.

This perfectly conditioned 11lbs Spring salmon was hooked and landed by myself during May on my own designed fly line that had a 15ft type 3 sink tip added just to get the fly down a few feet. It's important to know where and how to fish your fly throughout the differing fishing seasons in Scotland based on what depth you think the salmon are holding in. This was my favourite salmon fly reel and fly rod you can see in the shot.

Here's salmon fisher Chris Blandford with a perfect fly caught River Tay Spring salmon which he caught near the Perthshire town of Stanley during March while I was his salmon fishing guide. The bright clear sky Spring sunlight illuminated this salmon's beautiful silver flanks for this perfect salmon capture shot which I took.

This fish had only just entered the River Tay when it was caught by myself near Dunkeld while I was working as a salmon fly fishing instructor. This fresh run salmon was covered in long tailed sea lice which are acquired in the ocean and then drop off the fish within 48 hours of being back in the fresh river water. This fine Spring salmon had swum from Perth up to Dunkeld within that 48 hour time frame which is good going against the powerful flows of the Tay.

This 20 pounder was the first of two perfect March caught Tay Spring salmon caught by this fortunate young salmon angler on his first ever days salmon fishing near Dunkeld in the Tay Valley. Young Robbie Fairfull was given this salmon fishing guide experience with myself by his father via a River Tay salmon fishing experience gift voucher.

Once you've got your salmon sufficiently played out they'll sometimes sit still while you capture their astounding physical beauty with your camera. This was one such salmon that behaved itself after we captured it on the River Tay near Dunkeld while working as a salmon fishing instructor for some fishing trip clients.

Salmon Fight Videos & Photographs

By Jock Monteith 19th May 2025

While there are many ghillies and anglers who are 'would be' camera men and have been consistent with capturing salmon video & photograph shots for 10 plus years the majority of salmon anglers & ghillies don't currently contribute.

This is an important part of promoting Scottish salmon fishing and therefore don't miss great promotional opportunities when salmon are caught.

Perth is the biggest town in the River Tay Valley and as you can see here the Tay flows right next to Perth where it joins the tidal water in the Tay estuary. I took this lovely downstream shot from the old Perth Bridge during May during these perfect light conditions as you can see.

A United Salmon River Promotional Effort

If you're a time share beat professional ghillie on the Tay and your wages are guaranteed I understand there's no real need to get involved and that uploading videos or photographs can easily be viewed as unpaid additional work. In saying that there's great 'synergy' for the entire river to be achieved if you're comfortable changing your views on the above even if there's no availability on your own individual salmon beat. As the vast majority of you are genuine 'big hearted' men I've no doubt you'll certainly consider this suggestion for the benefit of the entire river. We are truly in an era now where national & international fishing clients are looking to social media for their salmon fishing booking motivation. By becoming consistently active on this front it will also counteract bad publicity certain ignorant tabloids have spewed recently about our game which was primarily due to the prolonged hot weather conditions last year which hopefully we won't be seeing a repeat of too often in the future. The media really need to acquire a basic understanding of the sport and learn the fact that salmon have never responded favourably to low warm water conditions!

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.

Taking Salmon Fight Footage Videos

If you’re fishing with a colleague who has hooked a salmon and you have a phone with a video recorder built into it here’s a few pointers to ensure the memory is optimally captured. A good video should have the sunlight behind or to the side of the cameraman, the frame evenly spaced with the angler in the centre of frame without being too far away. Try to get into a position to the side and slightly behind showing the angler, most of or all of his rod and the area of the river where the salmon is likely to jump or splash. A salmon fight footage video should be steady in the hand with slow sweeping movements that do not jump about. Capturing the splashing or jumping of a salmon is brilliant for the memory therefore becoming good at taking videos is very worthwhile. Try to control your breathing and slowly and methodically talk your colleague through what is happening with occasional instructional tips throughout the fight if required.

Relax Into The Fight With Some Banter

Try to inject a bit of humour to help relax your colleague (or fishing guest) and avoid long periods of silence or where the camera is only picking up areas of dead river. Only switch off the video when you think the salmon is ready to be landed if you’re the ghillie so this achieves 2 purposes in not rushing the fight by having the net ready too soon and also capturing highly valuable memorable & marketing material. If you’re not the ghillie and not personally landing the fish keep filming all the way to the landing net. Click here for a good example of what I'm referring to. That particular Scandinavian chap was 'thrown' a buckled Spey rod while walking the riverbank before his fishing day arrived! Good videos of Scottish salmon being played and uploaded onto social media makes the very best advert for Scottish salmon fishing so follow the above pointers and help to promote your beat, river & this fantastic and massively 'under-marketed' pursuit!

Photographing A Salmon

A good shot should have the sunlight behind the cameraman, the frame evenly spaced with the angler in the centre of frame without being too far away. Ideally the shot should also include the section of the pool where the salmon was hooked in the background with some of the scenic riverbank also visible. If the salmon has to be handled at all the angler’s 'pre wetted' hands should be behind the salmon’s head and tail area (not obscuring the front of the fish) and the fish should be in an upright position and sometimes even slightly tilted (belly forward) so that its silver flanks can be captured by the camera. The fish should be briefly lifted from the water to just above the waterline for a few seconds while these shots are being taken.The angler should also be asked to smile if they aren’t already doing so! Several rapid shots should be taken to make sure one or more of these photographs are excellent so make 100% sure your camera or phone lens is clean and sea lice free! A good photograph makes a great memoir so thought should be spent in this area to get at least one brilliant shot when any salmon shows up for an interview!