The May caught River Tay salmon was in perfect ocean run condition and was caught by myself while working as the salmon beat Head Ghillie at the neck of the Kinnard Beat's Rock Pool. This salmon fishing hot spot is located a few hundred yards upstream of the mouth of the River Tummel. This is undoubtedly a Tummel fish due to its short deep build proportions which the Tummel is renowned for.

I can vividly recall the amazing thrill of landing this perfect fish during late May on the River Tay near Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire. Spring salmon in Scotland are always in perfect condition like you see here as this salmon lay beside my salmon fly rod and reel in the landing net before I released it back to the river.

Heres the River Dee Monkey & Copperass tube fly patterns. If you need only 2 salmon fly patterns to fish through the higher water levels of Spring then these are the only 2 you'll require. As a professional salmon guide I don't deviate from these 2 fly patterns during early Spring.

Look at the shape and colours of this perfect marine feeding machine! This is a Scottish Spring salmon which was captured on the River Tay near Dunkeld during January. This fish fell to a carefully presented tube fly in the higher Spring water level even though most Tay fishers wrongly think spinning is the best method at that time of year. This fishing was captured by one of my salmon fishing holiday guests while I was assisting him as his personal fishing guide for the day.

Here's a late May example of a fresh run River Tay caught Spring salmon which was captured on the Kinnaird salmon beats near Dunkeld. This is the most sought after salmon of all and it's a delight to land a fish like this on a 15ft salmon fly rod.

Here's my own trusted silver friend of 20 years. This is a Van Staal C-vex 9-11 salmon fly reel with the 9/10 spool fitted paired up with the brilliant Monteith 9/10 Speycaster Multi System fly line. These 2 items fished of my bespoke built Bruce & Walker 16ft 9/10 Spey rod is Spey casting perfection and that's my firm professional opinion. As a professional Scottish salmon fishing guide you need to have quality salmon fishing equipment like this fly reel.

Here's a great shot of Jock Monteith's Tweed jacket and favourite Monteith salmon fly rod. The salmon fly rod was hand built by Harrisons of Liverpool and the light blue fly line was produced by Airflo in Brecon, Wales. My Tweed jackets were always made by Haggarts of Aberfeldy who used to supply all of the fishing & shooting estates in Scotland.

Catching Spring Salmon On The Fly

By Jock Monteith 28th April 2026

It takes a fair degree of skill & preparedness to catch a perfect Spring salmon on the fly so over the next few paragraphs I'll zoom in on a few of the basic points that often mean the difference between success and failure.

Your Salmon Fly Reel

Your salmon reel should be mechanically sound and should always have the smell of WD40 or another lubricant about it. Personally I'm convinced WD40 is an attractant for salmon as for many years salmon takes came 'mysteriously' consistently after I'd used this oil or it was on my hands (prior to tying my fly on) after oiling a guest's reel who'd turned up on the beat with an unserviced 'squeaky' fly reel. It's also important that your reel is 'backed up' properly with at least 30lbs breaking strain braided backing which is checked and renewed (if required) at least every second year if your reel is heavily used. All 'unwaxed' backings can perish from mould if left in damp conditions on the reel which happens all too often. You don't want a hefty brute of a super fit Scottish Springer to be the one who lets you know there was a weakened area in your fly line backing!

Your Salmon Fly Rod

A 14ft to 16ft salmon fly rod is and always has been the best choice for the length of a salmon fly rod. I'm just not into this short switch rod nonsense as these rods and as with all the other 'new fad' fly line designs there's zero thought about 'fly control' at range which tells me that they have not been properly thought out with salmon fly fishing on bigger rivers in mind or designed by people who truly understand salmon fishing and what optimises the chances of success. An 11ft switch rod is never going to be easy to put 'loft' on your fish once hooked at range and especially with 'flow dragging' modern day shooting heads or to mend a fly line 'to the fly' on delivery compared with a much longer rod. Personally I always used a 16ft Bruce & Walker Spey rod on the Tay to 'specifically' give me total control of the fly at 30 to 40 yards which allowed me to properly present a fly 'slowly' at distance in the cold water conditions of Spring which also allows me some 'loft' to clear the fly line up off the water when playing a fish at range to avoid a drowned line scenario.

This was my Monteith Sunk line salmon fly fishing system which was a sunk line Speyline that allowed salmon anglers to fish their fly as deep as necessary. This Speyline Multi tip system came with a pouch of braided core sink tips of varying sink rates which were carefully thought out by myself while working as a professional River Tay salmon fishing guide.

Early Spring Salmon Fly Lines

Your salmon fly line should be bulky enough at the front end to be able to turn over a fairly heavy sink tip with a biggish tube fly which is required through the early months of the Scottish salmon fishing season. A short (4ft) bulky front end leader (25lbs Maxima) is essential for the energy transfer to the fly when fishing a biggish fly as a light, limp or long leader will fail and give you very strained salmon fly turnover at best. Most floating Spey lines are too light up front to be effective with enough energy transfer to turn over a 15ft 'Type 3' or 'Type 7' sinking tip so look for a Spey line that's got a bit of 'beef' upfront to make heavy tip turnover easy or one that has been specifically designed to do so. The shorter thicker shooting heads will do this easier but you will compromise your 'fly control' at range if you use a shooting head as a shooting head's thin running line and bulky short head section is almost impossible to mend 'to the fly' with on touch down at range. Launching a shooting head out into 'oblivion' has nothing to do with salmon 'fishing' as you must have complete control of your fly and are able to maintain or alter your fly's swim behaviour whenever you wish at any point of its journey back to your side of the river.

How To Select Early Spring Salmon Flies

For the early months of the year a 1 to 2 inch copper or aluminium bodied tube fly with a nice 'waggly' wing with some subtle 'bling' to catch any flickers of sunlight would be the best fly choice in a few different Spring colours. Personally I always preferred the lighter aluminium bodied tubes fished off a heavy sink tip as these tube bodies have a far superior stream action than the much heavier and less mobile copper equivalents. The only three fly patterns you really need are a Dee Monkey (black & yellow), an Orange & Yellow and possibly a Cascade/Willie Gun as these 3 general colour patterns work as well as any that I've ever seen or needed. Once you get into mid April you'll need to be also carrying these patterns (or similar) tied in smaller regular double hooked versions to match the generally lower & warming water conditions. With any salmon fly make sure your hook points are in good order and check them periodically while fishing. Don't be shy at moving down to a subtle size 11 once the month of May appears as often smaller flies work best during late Spring for those astute enough to fish them.

Hooking one of these muscle bound Spring salmon is one skill but knowing exactly how to play the salmon correctly is a completely different discipline. This perfect 'Springer' was captured and quickly released on the River Tay by one of our salmon fishing holiday guests during late May near the Perthshire town of Dunkeld.

Optimal Spring Salmon Water Coverage

It's important that your water coverage is optimised via good methodical fly swing spacings between each cast. Ultimately your water coverage is going to be the single most important component that's going to position your salmon fly over a cooperating Spring salmon at some point in the fishing day. All too often I see salmon fly fishers 'inching' their way down through a pool which is massively 'limiting' their daily salmon pool water coverage and therefore also their chances of getting in front of a 'taker'. Three to four feet between each cast is a great measure to work with and will allow you to cover plenty of water each day without showing salmon too much of the fly which often gets the desired inquisitive predatory reaction!

This was a perfect River Tummel salmon of 11lbs caught that I caught while working as a salmon guide in May near the mouth of the River Tummel. You can see the light blue floating fly line on my fly rod which was fitted with a 15ft sinking tip just to get the fly down a foot or two in the water column. Note the fine meshed landing net bag the salmon is lying on.

Maintain Low Key Total Faith When Salmon Fishing

As a professional salmon guide, the best mindset I've found when pursuing these amazing creatures is having solid 'low key' faith but drop the vibe of eagerness and 'instant gratification' expectations as seldom salmon will be caught quickly on any fishing day. A salmon take usually always occurs when your mind has completely drifted off the true task in hand. This recurring anomaly has convinced me over the decades that these creatures are tuned into a completely different frequency and they'll shy away from you and your fly if your vibe is too eager to interview them! I'd relate this to the same way when you walk into your house or office where you know there's a wifi signal even though you cannot see it or feel it so be careful with the vibe you're giving off when you're on a salmon river with a 15ft carbon fibre 'antenna' in your hands!