Here's an angler out fly fishing the renowned Meeting Pool on the River Tay's Upper Kinnaird salmon beat which is a perfect salmon fishing hot spot and one where many new salmon fishers are launched into the sport each year. This is the confluence of the rivers Tay & Tummel and the Tay is the river that goes up to the left hand side of frame. Look at the beautiful big riverbank oak tree to the left of frame.

Here's a guided River Tay salmon fishing guest fishing his way methodically down through the Meetings Pool on the Upper Kinnaird salmon beat which is a perfect holding area for salmon in medium to low water levels from mid March through to October each year. Look at the beautiful fully leafed oak trees on the far side of the river.

Here's a beauty of a fresh run River Tay salmon that came to inspect my fly on the River Tay during early June while working as a professional salmon fishing guide. This bright light day assisted my camera in picking up the perfect silver flanks of this beautiful fish before it was returned back to the Tay. Look at the fine rubberised fish friendly landing net mesh from my landing net to the rear of the salmon ensuring zero scale or mucous membrane damage to the salmon before releasing it.

Look at this shimmering River Tay fly water perfection and think about what could be lying up in here and ready for a careful salmon fly presentation. This is the perfect March Pool on Scotland's famous River Tay which is one such perfect fly pool in this middle River Tay fishing area between the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld.

Salmon Fishing Fiction

By Jock Monteith 4th July 2026

Never let anyone 'contaminate' your salmon fishing well by misinforming you that bright light river days are a waste of time.

Many of my most memorable salmon fishing days have been ones where the light conditions were brighter than a big bag of bright things!

Your Sparkling 'Alive' Salmon Fly In Bright Light

That complete bright light nonsense would probably have been started by an inexperienced angler who's mind's needle 'naturally' tilts to the negative side of the dial and who also likely had zero grasp of the necessary sub surface techniques for the various seasons of the year. Ignore that bright light rubbish if you ever hear it and keep well away from these types as their negativity could jump ship and contaminate your wading boots too! Staying positive and embracing all salmon salmon fishing conditions is the key & 'challenge' of success. Your salmon fly will never look as good in the water as it will on a bright light day and if we're seeing that difference I'll guarantee you the 'underworld' will be seeing it the same way!

Salmon Fishing Tactical Versatility

Having the versatility of thought to change and adjust your tactics beats the typical 'one dimensional' salmon fisher's approach all day long. If the salmon are lying deep then go deep after them. If the water is cold fish a slower fly and if salmon are not reacting to a big fly give them a 'sniff' of a small fly. There's an additional buzz involved in the capture of an older resident fish that's completely ignored a barrage of offerings when you come in at the back of fly fishers who've tried their best and you nail that old resident (that's been showing but not taking) with your first educated swing through the pool.

15ft 10 ips Braided Core Fly Line Sink Tip Assassin

I recall one such experience on the middle Tay where I couldn't get onto the best pool with a guest until the afternoon on a very bright light day due to a squad of 'herons' that had their hand brakes jammed on for the entire morning (and the first half of the afternoon) before the head ghillie kindly cleared the runway for a proper 'tactical' attempt. This September bright light low water day saw 2 salmon hooked by myself & the beat's head ghillie on controlled long distance heavy sink tip presentation that the salmon were definitely 'not' expecting having been totally conditioned by the 'herons' to expect only to see flies and lures swimming high above them and no where near their noses!

Salmon Fishing Is Not Rocket Science

I know I keep repeating myself but excuse me as it's just my style of brain washing but to be 'consistently' successful in salmon fishing you need to be focussing at all times on what's going on under the waterline so stop looking at you're beautiful fly reel and the amazing scenery and become a salmon antagonist specialist! Next time you're out salmon fishing try to get into this mindset as it will completely change the way you look at a river. Start trying to visualise the shape, depth & contours of a salmon pool under the waterline and exactly where in the water column salmon are likely to be holding before targeting those suspicions with clinical 'sub surface' tactical precision!