This family fishing party came to the Tay for an introduction to Scottish salmon fishing during July. The young lady with the white cap landed her first ever fly caught salmon that day much to the amazement of her onlooking family members. Look at the perfectly cut riverbank to the right hand side of the traditional Tay salmon fishing boat.

This old bench was found hanging from a riverbank tree 1 mile upstream of its now perfect location directly in front of the River Tay & River Tummel confluence following an early Spring flood. As soon as I saw the bench and had salvaged it I knew exactly where it was going to be re-sited and its now been here in this perfect elevated riverside location for the last decade. This is the most perfect seat for observing one of the most beautiful areas or the entire River Tay from. I added the accompanying rod rest rack in too as you can see.

Here's a lovely fly caught salmon by one of our guided fishing guests which was caught on the River Tummel neat Ballinluig in July. This fishing area of the Tummel is close to Dunkeld & Pitlochry. You can see the salmon is being perfectly supported by this salmon fisher while I took the salmon capture shot as his salmon fishing guide.

Here's a group of salmon fishing holiday guests testing out their newly learned Spey casting and riverbank movement techniques on the left bank of the River Tay's Cottar Pool on the Newtyle Beat. This perfect green grassy bank makes a perfect salmon pool for teaching salmon fishing guests.

Here you can see a perfect upstream shot from the Kinnaird Meetings Pool to the mouth of the River Tummel which flows in on the right hand side of frame directly behind the boat. This area of the Tay is fantastic for fly fishing and especially during March, April & May when the Spring salmon are running the River Tay & Tummel as they always hold up in this area and are easy to cover with a fly rod.

I took this picture of this beautiful perfectly shaped River Tay Spring salmon is probably my most favourite one of all time even though I've photographed thousands of salmon over my professional salmon guide career. This perfect River Tay Spring salmon I caught during the month of May near Dunkeld.

Here's professional Scottish salmon guide Jock Monteith with a salmon fishing tour guest at the neck of the famous Kinnaird Beat's Ash Tree Pool. You can clearly see the beautiful Perthshire hills behind Pitlochry in the distance and Jock carrying his favourite salmon landing net over his shoulder.

Salmon Fishing Tuition In Scotland

By Jock Monteith 5th August 2026

There are so many different angles and skill sets involved in teaching salmon fishing that need to be adapted to suit the guest's entry level depending on whether he or she is a beginner or an established salmon fisher in need of fine tuning.

Either way some solid and accurate salmon fishing information goes a long way in ensuring their success in this amazing sport.

Here's a group of new fly fishers testing out their newly taught skills with a double handed salmon fly rod during the Summer. Many larger groups come to me for a crash course in salmon fishing and this was one such party that I guided for on the River Tay near Pitlochry.

Salmon Fishing Tuition In Scotland

What I mean by the above is that a beginner firstly needs to grasp the basics of how to make a Spey rod work properly for them along with good riverbank movement techniques. Most importantly a beginner needs to be shown exactly how to react to the take from a salmon as this is the bit that is often botched by salmon anglers of all experience levels and accounts for the loss of many salmon hooking opportunities each year on the Scottish rivers.

Here's some anglers receiving expert Spey casting tuition at Dunkeld on the River Tay. Learning to use a double handed salmon fly rod is easy when instructed by a professional salmon fishing guide who's fully tuned in to the traditional Scottish Speycast. This was a group lesson that was being given to a team of salmon fishing holiday guests who wanted to learn how to fly fish for salmon. Learning to fly fish for salmon is easy when you have the best salmon fishing guide instructors.

Salmon Fishing Fine Tuning

A more experienced salmon angler who's in need of some fine tuning will be drawn into the world of 'sub surface' fly performance which is often not studied anywhere near closely enough by the vast majority of salmon anglers if at all. This can include focussing on fly material movement in the stream or matching the speed and depth of the fly's presentation with the various different seasonal water conditions. It is indeed sub surface thoughts that catch you salmon consistently but most anglers are switched off to this important thought process.

Here's myself with a fine Spring salmon in the landing net immediately prior to its release. A good landing net with fish friendly mesh is an essential piece of salmon fishing equipment. I caught this fine salmon at the Daffodil Lie Pool on the beautiful Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay in Highland Perthshire.

Experienced Salmon Fishers

The seasoned salmon angler who knows exactly how to fish through a salmon pool who's thoughts are already 'sub surface' will be brought into the intuitive side of the sport. What I mean by this is letting them see the difference between an good angler who knows his game and the total expert who is tuned into other aspects of what they 'sense & feel' while salmon fishing. A serious professional will even be able to sense the slightest favourable adjustments in the atmosphere that will let him know that a take is imminent.

Here's myself with 2 highly knowledgeable Scottish salmon fishing guide team members. This shot was taken outside the Crathes Beat salmon fishing hut on the famous River Dee in Aberdeenshire.

An Expert Salmon Fisher

A total expert will have been taught to operate on the 'subtle' thoughts that come into their mind throughout the fishing day through letting their natural senses & instincts lead the way. This individual will be a possibility thinker who can read a pool to a degree where they know exactly where a salmon could be holding regardless of the water conditions. The expert will leave many other anglers thinking he just got lucky and the expert will often keep his mouth closed when it comes to divulging exactly how he managed to make that salmon take when other had tried and failed.

This was one of my fishing guests fishing the River Tay in June after being taught to Speycast with this 15ft double handed salmon fly rod. The Tay is Scotland's biggest salmon river which is popular for salmon fishing trips. Look at the lovely riverbank and wooded Perthshire hillside on the far bank.

Observing All Salmon Fishers

This expert individual will be the type who studies the form of other anglers and adjusts the fishing approach they have used and then fishes through the pool behind them to hook the only fish of the day. Get hold of the total expert who is on this 'rare' level of their game and draw the information you need to improve your understanding of salmon behaviour and their amazing Scottish river habitats. Our guided salmon fishing service is made up of a professional team who are all of sub surface 'expert' status.