This is the tail of the Gauge Tree Pool on the Dunkeld House salmon fishing beat of the River Tay slightly upstream of the historic Dunkeld Bridge which you can clearly see in this photograph. I took this shot of one of our River Tay salmon fishing trip guests while working as his salmon fishing guide on the Tay. This shot was taken at dusk and you can see the sunset still illuminating the hills behind the bridge.

Here's a lovely upstream shot of the famous Meetings Pool of the River Tay's Kinnaird Beat during the last hour of daylight. Some anglers refer to this time of the day as the 'witching hour' and often salmon push on up river as the light fades and especially during low water conditions.

Here's a lovely shot of the Tay/Tummel confluence at dusk during the Summer. Sometimes fishing the last few hours of daylight can be advantageous and I recall one night at this spot catching 3 perfect salmon before the light faded away into darkness. This area of the Tay is close to Dunkeld & Pitlochry so easily accessible for salmon fishers.

Here's a lovely upstream shot of the famous Rock Pool of the River Tay's Upper Kinnaird Beat during the last hour of daylight and often salmon push on up river as the light starts to fade and especially during low water conditions like you see in this dusk photograph.

Here's a photograph of myself out surveying the Meetings Pool on the Lower Kinnaird salmon beat of the River Tay at dusk. As a professional salmon guide I always like to watch the river during the last hour of daylight for any signs of salmon movement.

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.

Salmon River Observations

By Jock Monteith 17th June 2026

You can often learn plenty about a salmon river when you're not fishing it than you can do with a rod in your hand.

On a personal basis I always used to love walking up a salmon beat at dusk observing the river and all of its subtleties.

I took this shot of one of the most famous River Tay salmon fishing huts which dates back to 1970 when Willie Laird the ghillie and a few colleagues sited this local Victorian golf course hut on the banks of the Tay as the fishing hut for the Newtyle Beat. Look at the lovely woodland to the rear of the hut and the perfect grass bank in the foreground for salmon anglers and salmon guides to fish from.

Watching The Salmon Pool

When you're salmon fishing don't just rush onto a pool as a 10 or 15 minute observation (especially if you're new to the beat) could easily give you the 'heads up' as to exactly where salmon are holding should one pops its head or tail up. Even if a fish doesn't show a little bit of prior pool observation from a salmon holding perspective will soon tell you where the likely taking areas will be. Sometimes salmon will surprise you on how close to the riverbank they are holding before a deep wading fisher spooks them off to the other side of the river which effectively ruins their chance of an easy fish.

I took this beautiful downstream shot of the River Tay in Perthshire which is a famous Scottish salmon river. This lovely shot was taken a few miles upstream from the Perthshire town of Dunkeld. You can clearly see my salmon fishing guest a few hundred yards below me. The dark shadowy water just off the main current is a great Tay salmon holding area and is always worth fishing through.

Try Different Areas Of A Salmon Pool

Once salmon fishers robotically fish through a salmon pool a few times without thinking about their approach or wade depth look to other areas of the pool as this type of rod pressure will either have switched these fish off or moved them about to different temp holding areas of the pool. The best thing to then try is a completely different approach even if it means getting over to the far bank (even if it's a more difficult bank to fish) or rest the pool for a few hours and return later. Going deeper with a bigger or smaller fly to what these spooked salmon have been seeing will also stand you a better chance of a rattle!

Salmon Movement At Dusk

On one of the beats I used to work on there was a beautiful big pool with a reasonably shallow tail and even during daylight hours in normal lowish water conditions you could often see the water displacement of salmon as they pushed upstream through this thin water. In the evenings during late Spring and Summer when many salmon move through the night it was fairly easy to see the bow waves of running salmon at this particular lovely wide thin water salmon pool tail and I often used to sit with a flask of tea in anticipation of this visual brilliance.

An Evening Bow Wave Surprise

One evening while watching the river at dusk I saw a few salmon coming right up through the centre seam of the river as they pushed on up the Tay. I then noticed this much bigger bow wave which was aligned more to my side of the river than where I was seeing these other bow waves. This bigger bow wave veered over towards me and when it got 20ft away a big dog otter's head appeared before it instantly vanished out of fright! I really thought for a moment that a Tay 40 pounder was coming to say hello!

I took this photo of the stone build Newtyle Beat jetty which dates back to 1970 when it was constructed by Willie Laird who was the Newtyle Beat ghillie at that time. I served as Head Ghillie on Newtyle from 2001 to 2009 which was a fantastic period for me as a professional salmon guide. You can see the boathouse I built in 2008 on the opposite bank if you look closely. You can also see one of our traditional River Tay harling boats just upstream of this famous jetty.

Ghillie River Observations

As a full time career ghillie random visits to the salmon beat outside regular operating hours would on occasion catch a poacher red handed or flag up evidence that would identify the presence of poachers. A cigarette butt different from the brand your guest was smoking or a different boot print in the sand or silt would usually be the initial subtle signs. More often than not a different lure snagged on the riverbed from what my guests were fishing with would be the sign and telling by the condition of the lure as to how recently it had been lost.

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.

Sunday Morning Salmon Poachers

While looking after the beat I was in charge of I used to take a run down to the river at 6am on a Sunday morning as that was the time most poachers would figure was safest due to the rivers being legally closed on Sundays and most ghillies would be 'out for the count' due to a heavy Saturday night in the pub with their fishing guests! Catching a poacher requires careful thought too just the same way salmon often do!

Here's the Dunkeld traditional larch built salmon fishing boat moored up for the night as dusk approaches. The dusk is a magical time of the day to observe a salmon river as the fading light and general calming of the river magnifies your sensory perception.

Let It Be And See The Funny Side

One evening while walking home up the river I recall bumping into 5 young blonde haired boys who were clearly brothers (as they looked like a set of Russian dolls!) aged from approx 5 to 12 years old. They were all well spaced out on the riverbank and armed with spinning rods and all of them could cast their lures well. They were on holiday and staying at the local caravan park and they didn't see me approaching to ask them what they thought they were doing! I was impressed by their abilities and consistency of cast so I directed them to a safer pool on the beat where they stood a much better chance of a fish!