Here's a lady salmon fly fisher out covering the tail of The Trap Pool on the River Tay near Dunkeld. This fine shot was taken during May when the riverbanks were if full natural beauty mode. The light blue fly line she is working with is a full floating fly line with a sink tip on the front end to sink the salmon fly down a foot or two.

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.

This perfect Spring salmon was caught by myself on the River Tay during late February after hours of searching the river for a fish. When you go salmon fishing it requires a solid logic backed fishing plan at the start of the day to catch salmon and this fish was the result of that type of detailed planning. Look at the perfect shimmer from this early Spring salmon's silver flanks lying beside my salmon fly reel & Spey rod.

The most famous of the bigger Scottish rivers are the Tay, Spey, Dee & Tweed and this perfect fish of around 14 lbs was caught on the fly on the River Tay during July near the Perthshire town of Dunkeld. Look at the perfect deep bodied build of this perfect salmon as it lay in the landing net prior to being released.

This fish was caught at sunrise on the River Tay near the Perthshire town of Dunkeld. This salmon weighed 14lbs and took a small fly at 7am just as the sun was rising. You can see the glimmer of light on the silver flanks of this fine fish as it lay in the landing net prior to its release.

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.

Scottish Salmon Management

By Jock Monteith 24th December 2018

As a nation Scotland is very fortunes to have over 400 salmon rivers that all have varying salmon run timings and are of differing sizes from the smallest head water tributaries to the largest main stem rivers.

Knowing roughly where and when to fish each river is half the battle for success in Scottish salmon fishing

This is God's finest marine creature in a salmon landing net moments before it was released back to its River Tay habitat. This fine fish was caught during late March near Dunkeld and weight exactly 23lbs. The fish took a pearly pink 4 inch Classic Tomic lure in colour code 341. These lures are ordered from Tomic Lures in Canada especially for use on the River Tay by many professional salmon fishing guides.

Salmon Ocean Mortality Rates

If you really believe there's a big issue at sea (which in my opinion has always been there) then fund 2 patrol vessels that utilise all the satellite & sonar data to follow & police our wild salmon migration routes to and from Scotland to their feeding grounds. So what if that costs £1 million pounds plus per year for a few vessels to permanently patrol as that is surely small potatoes to pay for an industry that currently still generates way over £100 million for the Scottish economy each year. The revenue to fund this is already being collected or I'm sure it could be swiftly raised through private corporate sponsorship funding if the re-appointment of existing multiple fishery board and foundation funds for less important projects could not be re-directed via good old human brain power 'prioritisation'. Significant annual & future season wild salmon smolt output targets (actual figures disclosed) should dominate all fishery board meetings as this is the most potent relatively short term restocking initiative that can be actioned. Nature has always been a numbers game regardless of the ever fluctuating & completely guessed ocean mortality rates.

We Need Real Salmon Management Entrepreneurship

What Scottish salmon fishing needs is a fresh prioritised management approach to deliver logical remedials so we're not as dependent on what nature gives us from year to year. To date, although there's a few notable exceptions we have largely been on the 'slow boat to China' in some key areas of Scottish salmon fishery management. 'Natural' large scale wild smolt ranching, large scale habitat evaluation and enhancement, in river stock protection & permanent oceanic policing protection would give Scotland the most attractive 'natural' salmon stock 'boost' abundance in the world. As a hint to the above mention of 'wild smolt ranching' entrepreneur and river manager Bob Kindness over on the River Carron in Wester Ross has been a forerunner at boosting Carron salmon stocks with 'genetically intact' wild ranched smolts and proudly presides over the only Scottish salmon river I'm aware of that has recorded an increase in 'rod & line' caught salmon & grilse during 2018! Bob has achieved this success on a shoe string budget although he's clearly of multi millionaire status in common sense!

This superb Autumn cock salmon took me 50 minutes to tame on the fly rod on the Newtyle Beat of the River Tay near Dunkeld while I was serving as a professional salmon guide & Head Ghilie. With big salmon like this you just need to take your time as they cannot be rushed.

Natural Cyclical Wild Salmon Runs

In addition to the above nature is always on the move and a wild Atlantic salmon knows nothing of our calendar months and nor it ever should. One of the River Tay salmon beats I used to work on was purchased in 1970 purely due to its big Autumn salmon run as few Spring or Summer salmon fish were caught back in those days by comparison. In the late 90's Spring & Summer salmon became the dominating run with fewer Autumn salmon being caught on the beat. These days that venue still fishes best in the Spring & Summer unless your fishing for hatchery brood stock around or during late November/early December where 4 to 6 salmon in an hour is still very possible just like the old days! During September & October in the 70's on the Tay you were often hindered with frozen rod rings and these days you're usually more concerned with locating your factor 30! This year saw an overly extended hot Summer with very low water conditions which knocked out approx 25% of the fishing season along with the chances of good sport on the majority of Scottish salmon beats except for the few beats where low water conditions are needed and where salmon historically congregate in big numbers. The same low water extended hot spell also dried up the enthusiasm levels of the regular fishers who follow the 'catch stats' reporting which rightly or wrongly now dominates Scottish salmon fishing rod pressure.

Need To Know Salmon Management

It all really makes perfect sense and even though it often has our fishery management in a flap as they feel the right to know the answers about these naturally appearing & disappearing salmon runs when they cannot get to the bottom of it their egos become dented and salary justification guesswork comes into play. It also seems to suit the Scottish 'sun light starved' mind to moan about things instead of backing off and realising somethings are better not known about salmon to preserve the magical unpredictable 'natural' selling point of Scottish salmon fishing. I could link you to senior Scottish salmon fishing officials talking about declining Spring salmon numbers a few years prior to a great 10 year Spring run period began which was partly assisted by a simple and logical adjustment to an existing and failing 'Catch & Release' policy.

This wee Spring salmon beauty was caught on the River Tay in February during high water right outside of the Kinnaird Beat fishing hut by the professional salmon guide with his first swing of the boat through the salmon pool known as Daffodil LIe. Look at its amazing ocean colours that stand out perfectly against the dark water of early Spring.

A Salmon Ultimately Decides

If a wild juvenile salmon enters the sea there is absolutely nothing to tell it when to stop feeding and return to the place of its birth other than its own feeding instincts and reproductive call which we will never be able to influence and thank goodness too. With that fact in mind it is and always has been a complete lottery as to where between one and four years this 'return to fresh water call' occurs. These salmon know nothing of our graphs & discussions at salmon fishery board AGMs nor about the do good associations who pay their executives excessive salaries in the name of Atlantic salmon research.

Salmon fry are often abundant in the margins of the River Tay during late Spring when the eggs hatch from the gravel. This shot of these fry on the gravel riverbed was taken near the Perthshire town of Dunkeld while I was working as a salmon fishing guide.

Wild Salmon Stock Duplication

We all now know the effects of sea lice and pollution from the West coast Scottish fish farms and how that has subsequently shut down the majority of the entire West coast wild Atlantic salmon fishery asset from its once amazingly famous and prolific status. Yes we also know there's also a huge seal, goosander & cormorant issue that cannot be easily re-balanced for various legal reasons but surely now you realise why God gave a hen salmon approx 800 eggs per body pound and not just one or two like most other creatures are rationed to. Thank you 'big man' upstairs for having the wisdom and foresight to 'future proof' one of your finest ever creations.

Basic Salmon Fishery Management

If you want to naturally boost salmon stocks in any river it's nowhere close to the complex rocket science most people have bought into which has been sold to the masses by the mainly 'waffle' specialists who are in control of our 'out of control' industry. Firstly you must enhance, manage and protect the spawning & juvenile habitat areas in each river due to the buggering around of the surrounding hill ecology via commercial forestation and agriculture which has impacted many rivers with excessive sedimentation issues contrary to popular belief. Secondly you must protect the existing brood stock through effective 'Catch & Release' policies and other effective fishing & in-river stock protection measures. Thirdly, you must allow a minimum period of 5 years to see the benefits of your work. When I stuck my head above the parapet on the Tay in 2007 to play a vocal part in securing a more effective revamped 'catch & release' policy we didn't see the additional stock benefits until 2011/2012.