This is a low water Summertime shot of the tail of the Rock Pool on the Dunkeld House salmon beat of the River Tay in Perthshire. Many salmon hold up in here when the river is running low as there's a deep channel over on the other side where you see that rocky point that experienced salmon fly fishers can cover with a long cast.

Here's a salmon fishing guest fly fishing their way down through the Gean Tree Pool of the River Tay's Kercock salmon beat. This guest was under the supervision of a professional salmon guide resulting in 2 salmon being caught by this fisher that day even though it was a very bright July day. Look at the lovely sunlight sparkle coming off the water.

Here's an upstream shot of the neck of the Boatlands salmon pool with the Dunkeld Hills visible in the background which is typical of the perfect scenery on the middle area of the River Tay. This salmon fisher shot was taken by myself as I was this angler's salmon fishing guide for the day.

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.

This is the neck of the famous Ash Tree Pool on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat which has a lovely fly fishing stream that you can see where many salmon hold up during late Spring through to early Autumn each year. This side of the river is the easiest side to fish from and this salmon fishing trip guest was accompanied by his professional salmon guide.

Summer Salmon Fishing

By Jock Monteith 9th November 2017

Summer salmon fishing can be a testing period of the Scottish salmon fishing season.

It's important that you have a good grip of a few of the basics skills and thought processes that will significantly increases your chances of success. The following Summer salmon fishing thought process could be very different from the tactics you currently deploy.

Here's a lovely Summer salmon which took a fly in the neck of the Mike's Run Pool of the River Tummel which is a tributary river of the River Tay in Highland Perthshire. Look at the perfect proportions of this fine fish. This shot was taken moments before the fish was released from the landing net.

Low Water Salmon Fishing Tactics

These are just two basic factors for consideration that will often allow you to 'pull the rabbit out of the hat' when faced with older more 'educated' salmon during the low and warm water conditions of Summer. When you gain faith in the tiny salmon fly Summer approach it will no doubt make you realise just how many opportunities you've probably missed in the past by fishing far too big a fly.

Look at this shape of a salmon for total marine predator hunting finesse. This is a River Tay Spring salmon which was caught by myself while working as a River Tay salmon fishing guide near Dalguise in the Tay Valley. These are the most prized salmon of all to target and thousands of salmon fishers come to the Scottish rivers each Spring for a chance of one.

How To Catch Difficult Salmon

To give you an exact idea of this imagine a little single or double of say a size 13 with only half a dozen short black wing fibres. This will look like a small trout fly with alopecia and will be difficult for you to see how this could possibly work until your line tightens. If a salmon partially sees the movement from a tiny fly it will often come to investigate with its mouth as opposed to seeing a bigger brighter less subtle fly which it will be familiar with as more and more appear each day in the pool it's holding in.

Here's a lovely well stocked salmon fly box containing a few highly effective salmon flies. It's good practice to sort out your fly boxes a few times every season and get your fly stock in good order like this. The predominant fly pattern that you see in this big fly box is the Monteith 'Copperass' pattern which is a particularly effective salmon fly which I designed while working on the Tay as a professional salmon guide.

Salmon Fly Selection

Don't underestimate the attracting powers of these tiny patterns which should always be fished on a light leader. The other thought process that can make a big difference in gaining cooperation from a resident low water Summer salmon is to ignore the traditional full floating line approach and weight the front end of your fly line adequately to get your fly down onto the salmon's nose. This tactic will also often gain the desired reaction from a salmon.

A Scottish Spring salmon is the most perfect creature of all and their physical beauty is something truly splendid especially when you have the tactical fishing awareness to create an up close inspection like this. This fine Springer I caught on the fly rod during April near Dunkeld on the River Tay in Perthshire. Look at the perfect marine colours this fish is still wearing while lying on this sand bar immediately before its quick release.

A Wild Atlantic Salmon's Vision

There's no different between the eyes of a juvenile salmon and that of an adult salmon so this is an important part of understanding Summer salmon fishing even though we all have a set idea of what a salmon fly should look like. In the low water of Summer you'll be shocked by just how small and subtle a fly can be fished to create the desired reaction from a salmon.

Sometimes in low warm water Summer fishing conditions it can be an effective strategy to use very small lightly dressed salmon flies like the ones in this picture. It often amazes me as to how small a fly a salmon will come for and sometimes even in higher water conditions too! This fly box was photographed on the River Tay at Dunkeld by Peter Sandground who's one of Scotland's leading photographers.

Fishing With Small Salmon Flies

One of the most common errors at times through the Summer months when there's been no fresh water and salmon are holding in the pools and not running is that most anglers fish far too big a fly & often too high in the water column. A salmon possesses an acute level of eyesight and to a degree most of us cannot fully appreciate.