The River Tay pictured here is an amazing place to be while pursuing Atlantic salmon. This sunlit riffle on the water is also good fishing conditions as salmon are less aware of the presence of anglers in these conditions. This location is between Pitlochry & Dunkeld and well worth a visit with or without a salmon fly rod in your hand.

This lovely early Spring photograph shows a lone salmon fishing trip fisher over casting their fly at the mouth of the River Tummel where it enters the Tay. This is a perfect lowish water sunlit day for increased chances of catching a prized Spring salmon. I took this upstream facing photograph while serving as a salmon fishing guide.

The rising sun looks huge above the River Tay in this fine early morning shot which was taken near Pitlochry on the River Tay. The ripple in the mid section of on the sunbeam are the sub surface stones that form the Daffodil Lie on the Kinnaird salmon Beat. As a professional salmon fishing guide I always reach for my camera when I see special light conditions like this.

Here's a bunch of daffodils that mark one of the main salmon lies at the Green Bank Pool of the Kinnaird Beat near Dunkeld. The old school professional ghillies of Scotland were astute enough to realise that their Spring salmon showed up each year as the daffodils were flowering so perfect for riverbank Spring salmon lie identification purposes.

Look at the nice streamy water that starts to fade out 100 yards downstream of where this River Tay salmon fishing holiday fisherman is positioned. Salmon will briefly stop there before pushing on up through the streamy water above. Now you'll start feeling like you can sense the presence of salmon once you can identify their likely holding areas.

This guided salmon fishing trip guest came to learn how to wade properly & safely in the River Tay and to brush up on his general salmon fishing tactical approach. The gravel bank in the distance is where the River Tummel enters the Tay which is a great area for intercepting salmon which is not too far away from the Perthshire town of Pitlochry.

In low water like you see here in this picture of the River Tay you need stealth and a careful salmon fly presentation to outsmart resident salmon. This lovely salmon pool is located on the Tay at Kinnaird and fishes very well for salmon fishing holiday guests in low water conditions with the above mentioned stealthy approach.

This is an upstream view of the Kinnaird Beat's Rock Pool neck where I moored the salmon fishing boat. You can see the shallow water to the right of frame which is a great mid river position to cast a fly into this side of the channel as many salmon hold between the camera and the boat. I teach salmon fishing trip guests these important salmon lies and how to identify them with ease.

The River Tay is a tantalisingly beautiful Scottish river as you can clearly see here. This shot shows the lovely overhanging oak tree and the perfect cut riverbanks directly outside the Kinnaird fishing hut which is positioned slightly downstream of the Logierait Bridge. I took this perfect river shot while working on Kinnaird as a salmon fishing guide and tactical salmon fishing tuition provider.

Look at this for professional chef fishing hut lunch table preparation. This is the Kinnaird salmon fishing hut near Dunkeld on a corporate hospitality event salmon fishing day. The table you see is made from solid oak and this big 8ft x 4ft window overlooks the River Tay which you can see through the balustrade.

Here's one of our River Tay salmon fishing trip guests moments before a Spring salmon took his fly at the Green Bank Pool of the River Tay at Kinnaird. Careful salmon lie approach often pays off when fishing any salmon pool especially when salmon are suspected of lying close to the riverbank like this scenario. This fisher had come from California to fish the Tay and departed with a very special memory.

This is my most favourite salmon pool of all and I've been fortunate to catch many salmon here over the years while working as a professional River Tay salmon fly fishing instructor. When I was in charge of the Kinnaird salmon fishing beat 10+ years ago I took a chainsaw down this riverbank which was a completely overgrown jungle of fallen trees at that time. Look at the beautiful end result from a couple of weeks of hard riverbank maintenance manual work.

Here's a lovely River Tay salmon Pool known as Daffodil Lie which is a salmon fishing hotspot that's formed by a sub surface pile of riverbed stones that you can clearly see the surface disturbance from in this photograph. Salmon love to hold up in here and can be frequently caught by anglers who know this salmon lie and how to fish it. As a salmon fishing guide and tactical fishing instructor I know only too well the potency of this River Tay salmon lie hot spot..

This salmon fishing holiday angler is fly fishing through the Mike's Run Pool of the River Tummel during a cold & wet early Spring day. I just had to grab this shot as his salmon guide when the sun appeared through the clouds as it was far too spectacular a light show moment to ignore.

Here's a traditional River Tay salmon boat moored up at the March Pool sand bank immediately downstream of the Tay/Tummel confluence. This is a perfect low water sunlit early Spring fishing day which is always a pleasure to be out fishing for salmon in. A professional Tay salmon guide will always utilise the boat to commute salmon fishing holiday guests into the best fly fishing locations like this one.

Look at this perfect early morning River Tay salmon fishing hut perfection which I took after preparing the hut for a group of salmon fishing holiday guests. It's always great to get down to the fishing hut early to prepare all of the fishing kit for the guests and light the fire. This is the Kinnaird Beat fishing hut which is located between the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld.

Here's the shimmering sunlight dancing across the River Tay near Pitlochry during early Spring. Even early Spring has some amazing scenery like this well before the leaves appear on the riverside trees. There's much more to Scottish salmon fishing trips than just catching salmon.

This perfect River Tay 'coble' boat at the ready stirs my blood in perfect water and light conditions like this. This photo was taken at the tail of the March Pool on the Kinnaird Beat of the Tay during Springtime.

Salmon Fishing Dreaming

By Jock Monteith 11th April 2024

There's no better place to go into a 'dream like' state of mind than in the wilderness of a Scottish salmon river with a fly rod in your hand.

Here's a picture from a 'recurring' Tay dream of mine!

The River Tay's Upper Kinnaird beat

If you look closely at this lovely photograph of the River Tay's Upper Kinnaird beat you'll see a salmon angler in the distance tucked in fishing the deep streamy channel at the neck of the 'Rock Pool'. If you look even closer in the distance you'll see the big gravel bank opposite the 'March Pool' where the River Tummel enters the Tay. The pool immediately in front in the above photograph is the tail section of the 'Green Bank Pool' which is another very serious Spring salmon fishing hot spot.

Real Confidence With A Salmon Fly Rod

These above Upper Kinnaird beat locations are serious Springtime hot spots when Tummel salmon are in the area and one of the few beats I could stroll onto during April, May or early June and just know I'll catch a salmon. This Tay salmon fishing venue (even though I've fished and worked on many) is my most favourite one of all. The reality of this beat is that it has never ever been properly marketed 'visually' or 'factually' up until now as agents haven't a clue about how to fish it or what makes it special. I recall a few anglers coming off the river for lunch in perfect water conditions one May day after 'blanking' and one of them foolishly said to me 'ok show us how it's done'. It took less than 10 casts to prove my point on the 'Daffodil Lie' right in front of the fishing hut to all their amazement before handing the rod over to a Russian fishing guest to deal with.

Look at this fine picture of the River Tay taken from the Upper Kinnaird salmon fishing hut which sits in a perfect elevated position overlooking the river. The little riffle you see in the picture is known as Daffodil Lie which often produces a quick salmon fishing guests.

Quality Salmon Beat Education

I'll elaborate on the above because this beat has not been taken seriously by hundreds of Tay fishers over the years because the fame on Kinnaird salmon fishing mainly lies on the lovely Lower beat to the uneducated 'catch stats' conditioned eye. If I personally had the choice of either beats for the day I'd choose the Upper Kinnaird beat because it has guaranteed 'rested' holding pools, Tummel fishing, Tay fishing, high water pools, low water pools, harling water, trolling water, a confluence, fly water, spinning water and on occasions when the Tay is running coloured usually the Tummel will be fine or vice versa. To my mind this makes it complete salmon fishing perfection not to mention one of the nicest and most elevated fishing huts on the entire river.

This perfect 27lbs Tay Springer took me by surprise at the Kinnaird Beat's Rock Pool during a high water period at the end of May while I was working as a professional salmon fishing guide. What a absolutely perfect fish which showed up at 5pm after a full day of salmon fishing effort. You can see the size of this fish against the 32 inch frame of the salmon landing net the salmon is lying on before I released this fine fish.

Special Upper Kinnaird Memories

My personal memories having fished and ghillied on this special beat for several recent years go up to 27lbs in weight. But over and above the many fly, boat, spin caught encounters this beats has absolutely captured my fly fishing mind. For any salmon angler who can read water and deliver a consistent decent line this Tay venue is loaded with seriously good hotspots. In addition to that this lovely middle Tay beat has a fantastic secluded setting in a very peaceful part of the valley and loads of undisturbed wildlife visits the water's edge each day to add to the fascination of the Upper Kinnaird salmon fishing experience.

Jock Monteith is a well known professional salmon fishing tour organiser in Scotland and leading professional salmon fishing guide. Jock is holding a perfect fresh run 14lbs Summer salmon in this shot at the Daffodil Lie Pool of the River Tay's Kinnaird Beat which he hooked after a few casts while testing out a salmon fishing trip client's new fly rod .

Upper Kinnaird Beat Salmon Fight Action

Here's a few special moments on this lovely middle Tay salmon beat that I personally don't really need Youtube to host as these Upper Kinnaird beat moments and many more are permanently hosted in my head! The Green Bank Pool, The March Pool, The Rock Pool, The March Pool, The Rock Pool, The March Pool, Daffodil Lie, The March Pool. Here's also a magnificent sweeping panoramic video of the absolutely 'amazing' March Pool right opposite the mouth of the River Tummel which you'll struggle to better on any middle River Tay salmon beat during Springtime to end this newsletter on a perfect salmon pool note!