I like shots like this that depict the 'alive' vibe of the River Tay as you can sense here. This lovely shot was taken during late May as the riverbank scenery was coming alive and 2 salmon fishing tour guests were out in the boat searching for a salmon at the famous Cathedral Stream Pool which is directly upstream of the 200 year old Telford Bridge in Dunkeld where this fine photograph was taken from.

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.

The Dunkeld House Salmon fishing beat on the River Tay

Here's a traditional River Tay salmon boat out fishing the Cathedral Stream at Dunkeld during the last hour of daylight. The sun is about to set over the Perthshire hills which it did 15 minutes after this lovely shot was taken from the Telford Bridge in Dunkeld.

This is the neck of the Gean Tree Pool on the River Tay near the Perthshire village of Murthly. Look at the amazing carpet of daffodils that have been planted beside the boat mooring area. Often daffodils on the Scottish salmon rivers mark the Spring salmon lies for our salmon fishing holiday guests.

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.

Salmon Fishing Marketing

By Jock Monteith 22nd February 2018

In general Scottish salmon fishing has relied far too much on its global fame and history.

Since the birth of the internet and still 'isn't truly at the races' as far as 'effective' internet marketing goes on the world wide web.

Here's Jock Monteith powering upstream in a traditional larch built River Tay salmon fishing 'coble' boat at the confluence of the River Tay & River Tummel during the month of May. Jock has his cold weather clothing on and Tweed cap in addition to his life jacket which is essential for all boat or riverbank duties.

Changing Salmon Fishing Google Search Criteria

Last week alone my trusted website 'Search Engine Optimisation' team were attending a Google run conference that was giving the 'heads up' on the latest Google website SEO recommendations so this internet game is truly ever changing as consumer internet browsing changes frequently. If you think you can simply build a website or revamp your website every decade you're truly kidding yourself on and those who trust in you to represent them 'optimally' on the world wide web. I've also discovered over the years that SEO is a 'unique' skill in itself and few website builders or designers fully understand or can successfully implement an effective SEO strategy in addition to building a website. A successful forward thinking SEO strategy is a bit like giving a fast moving clay pigeon a bit of lead to stand half a chance of dusting it!

This Tay 'coble' boat was hand made by famous River Tay boatbuilder John Ferguson who's based in Stanley in the Tay Valley. These traditional salmon fishing boats serve many different fishing applications and are a pleasure to be out on the Tay in one for the day. This photograph of me in the boat with my fly rod & my labrador dog 'Selkie' was taken in the Cottar Pool on the Newtyle Beat of the River Tay by professional photographer Peter Sandground.

Scottish Salmon Beat Owners Wake Up

To run successful 'Google visible' internet marketing websites is an ever ending marathon of daily effort and forward planning. As an example my main www.salmon-fishing-scotland.com website has had daily salmon fishing related content added for the last 2450 days without fail. Work that out in real money and you'll see it equates to a continual daily effort for 6.7 years! That consistent daily effort is a small part of the work involved in making sure a website gets noticed as the slickest site that isn't visible at or near the very top of Google searches is of little commercial value if attracting 'new clients' is important to the business.

Knowing how and where to wade through a salmon pool like this fisher is doing for minimal disruption is a vital skill to master in Scottish salmon fishing. Most anglers think that wading deeper is better but the true facts about wading are quite the opposite. Observe that this salmon fisher is only at knee depth so as not disturb the salmon pool which is essential for salmon fishing success.

Professional Salmon Beat Representation

From what I can see far too many Scottish salmon fishing beat owners have not invested the required ongoing 'time & money' to keep abreast of the ever changing Google search engine criteria even if they have funded a basic internet website. Too many estates have thought that appointing one internet based agent was effective enough for ticking the box for optimising their salmon beat's vital internet presence but that assumption is indeed one of the nine tenths! One monopoly in any field of business breeds complacency and even the best fighters in the world have honed their skills with numerous sparring partners!

Here's my son Johnny spinning the neck of the Rock Pool on Kinnaird with his 10ft spinning rod. The use of a spinning rod is allowed on some of the Scottish rivers such as the River Tay in Perthshire. This lovely upstream shot was taken on the Tay near Logierait which is a salmon fishing hot spot that's close to the River Tay & River Tummel confluence.

Internet And The Salmon Net

Long gone are the days of having to call an office telephone number between the hours of 9am to 5pm through the week and gone are the days of A4 posters or glossy brochures. We are well and truly immersed in the new internet age and if you're not investing in this vital representation 'effectively' your business will suffer. As an example of this one of the River Tay beats this website represents sold £21k more than all other agents over the last 10 weeks and in the same time frame exceeded all agents sales input for the entire 2017 salmon fishing season! Here's the main difference; 95% of this activity was generated from international clientele via the world wide web and not from the 'catch statistics' trained home grown salmon angling brigade that now 'hold back' and seldom book their salmon fishing in advance.

Selective Salmon Beat Representation

It's one thing to present a salmon beat correctly & visibly on the internet but the delivery of a salmon fishing experience is vital too. It's naive 'short term' mentality to have a client trusting you to then deliver a low grade experience whether it be a 'guided' salmon fishing day or a 'permit only' salmon fishing supply. The reality in Scottish salmon fishing is that there are loads of good salmon fishing venues and a few truly brilliant ones. I often think about the old days when you walked into the sports shop for a new pair of trainers and it was either the black or the white ones. These days you'll walk out of most sport shoes shops 'dizzy' and more often than not empty handed!