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.

This is one of the salmon fishing middle River Tay hot spots. This stretch of water is known as the Ash Tree Pool which accounts for 40% of the salmon caught on the Lower Kinnaird beat. This salmon fishing guest is fishing the tail of the Ash Tree pool with a professional River Tay salmon guide who took this photograph.

Here's a lovely scene of the right hand bank of the Meetings Pool on the River Tay near Pitlochry. This is a good area of the Tay to catch salmon and many fishers come here each year in pursuit of them with their own salmon fishing guide to make sure they are fishing the pools optimally.

I took this shot of a salmon fly fishing angler at the Croys Pool of the Kercock salmon beat which is one of many middle River Tay hot spots. This middle area of the Tay is good for salmon fishing from March through to October and the Tay can be fished with the fly or with a spinning lure. This lovely gravel riverbank is easy to fish from unlike the far tree clad riverbank.

This perfect Newtyle salmon pool is known as 'The Boil' due to a huge riverbed stone that's positioned in the middle of the river opposite this salmon fisher which creates a huge boiling effect on the river surface. You can see Birnam Hill in the distance.

Exactly where this River Tay salmon fisher is positioned is a very good salmon lie as the stream slows up here and deep water begins so perfect for resting salmon to hold up in. This is the Meetings Pool tail at Kinnaird which is between the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld. The angler is a salmon fishing guide team member from Monteith guided salmon fishing services.

Your Salmon Fishing Approach

By Jock Monteith 24th June 2026

There's a vast array of tactical salmon fishing skills and approaches to learn for success in salmon fishing.

One of the biggest attributes for success in Scottish salmon fishing is having the ability to control your mind as success often does not come within your first few casts of the day.

This fish was caught neat the Perthshire town of Murthly with this fortunate salmon angler's very first cast of the fly while I was serving as his personal salmon fishing guide. Sometime salmon can surprise the angler and his guide by showing up at the very start of the fishing day. This fine fish was caught in the Cottage Stream Pool on the Kercock salmon beat of the River Tay.

The Occassional Quick Salmon

In saying that I have hooked salmon on numerous occasions with the very first cast of the day and even while extending a line for a client before he started to fish I've seen the fly grabbed as I was handing the guest the rod. You can imagine the look on the guest's face! These instances however are few and far between and most of the time you've got to persevere for that one 'take' at some point throughout the course of the fishing day.

I took this photo of the stone build Newtyle Beat jetty which dates back to 1970 when it was constructed by Willie Laird who was the Newtyle Beat ghillie at that time. I served as Head Ghillie on Newtyle from 2001 to 2009 which was a fantastic period for me as a professional salmon guide. You can see the boathouse I built in 2008 on the opposite bank if you look closely. You can also see one of our traditional River Tay harling boats just upstream of this famous jetty.

Salmon River Fever

When all of us are en-route to the salmon river there's a huge sense of expectation & excitement that never seems to leave us. Even as a professional career ghillie this never diminishes and every day is an exciting adventure and even more so for recreational salmon fishers who can only visit the river a few days of the year due to their own personal time sapping work & life commitments.

Here's professional River Dee salmon guide John Fyfe holding 1 or 3 salmon that he landed on the River Tay near Dunkeld during the month of August. I personally guided him this day to eliminate him guessing where the salmon were holding and his professional salmon fishing presentation expertise did the rest. This Summer salmon was landed at the Green Bank Pool on the Kinnaird beat and you can see the Tay salmon boat in the background.

Pacing Your Salmon Fishing Energy

The recipe for success in Scottish salmon fishing is to keep your expectation levels in check and your perseverance levels high. Don't allow your enthusiasm levels to dip if you've not seen a splash after the first hour or two. The opportunity to catch a salmon will always be there on any Scottish salmon beat at some point in the fishing day so realise the game you're playing and understand exactly how it works.

This is the Rock Pool on the River Tay slightly upstream of the River Tay & River Tummel confluence which is just visible in the background. This is a very good salmon fishing area in Scotland and worthy of a salmon fishing trip. I took this beautiful shot in low water conditions during June after commuting down in this traditional Tay salmon boat.

Your Salmon Fishing Tactics

If your water coverage is intelligent and consistent enough and you know exactly how to hook a salmon when that opportunity arises then just keep going. Take your mind off the task in hand but keep fishing methodically & correctly down through the salmon pools. It is often during this almost hypnotic 'automatic pilot' state when a salmon takes which will instantly wake you up and sharpen your senses like nothing else I've ever experienced can do. This initial tug is a huge part of the thrill for many and probably much to do with the instant adrenalin rush it creates.

This young salmon fly fisherman caught this Autumn run salmon at the Willie's Croy salmon Pool at the bottom end of the Newtyle Beat near Dunkeld while I was his personal salmon fishing guide. This was this young Austrian salmon fisher's first ever salmon which he caught all by himself with a perfect Spey casting technique which he picked up very quickly. Note he is wearing a life jacket and safety glasses which are essential fly fishing safety equipment items.

Salmon Catching Opportunities

Look at the salmon river as a shooting range with targets that 'pop up' from time to time but not all the time. We often do not see when a few running salmon appear and stop in a pool in a state of excitement that would readily take a salmon fly if one was there. With that in mind fish with confidence that sooner or later you're going to swing your fly in front of a cooperating salmon and if you don't at least you know you've given it your best tactical approach throughout the entire fishing day and you'll still walk away from the river with a real sense of satisfaction.

Here's a fabulous action photograph of Jock Monteith loading up a perfect Spey cast for long range salmon fly delivery across the River Tay with his tweed jacket and chest waders on. This shot was captured on the Meetings Pool of the Lower Kinnaird Beat by top Scottish photographer Louise Bellin.

Salmon Fishing Skill

It takes skill to catch an often elusive & completely wild fish like an Atlantic salmon so make sure you know as much as you can about effective water coverage. Don't expect results if you've not obtained a good grounding in the correct salmon fishing tactics. Once you've learned enough of what you need to know you'll develop an inner confidence that will more or less guarantee you a tug on the fly during most outings to the salmon river. Always make sure your fly swing spacings are perfectly measured to a yard as that will certainly take care of your daily water coverage objective.

Here's the most perfect classroom of all for learning how to fish for salmon with a double handed fly rod. Many salmon are caught on this perfect area of the River Tay which is located just over an hour north of Glasgow & Edinburgh.

A Split Second Salmon Decision

It takes a mere second for a fish to switch on to the presence of your fly in the stream so the difference between a successful day or a blank day is indeed a fine line. To maximise your chances of obtaining a positive reaction from a fish it's important to remain effective with your water coverage for as much of your fishing time as possible. Sometimes you'll be fortunate and cover a taker within the the first hour or two but more often than not you'll need to push on with a consistent and well thought out battle plan over the full course of the fishing day. Just remember that all the hours of searching will be instantly erased from your mind when that first totally captivating tug on your fly reel occurs!