A heart racing close up inspection with one of these fine Atlantic salmon and will remain in your memory banks for an entire lifetime. This perfect Summer salmon came to a deadly Jock's Shrimp salmon fly and was caught near to the River Tummel/Tay confluence which is located not too far away from Pitlochry in Perthshire. Note the fish friendly fine mesh of the landing net behind the salmon.

If you get rid of the soft rubber sleeves that most tube flies come with and replace them with rigid plastic sleeves they will result in more solid hook sets as the hard version don't pivot and keep the hoof straight while being set by the angler. It's fairly tricky to fit a hard plastic sleeve but some patience and a bit of heat will do the job. This is a Jock's Shrimp tube fly which I tied on a copper tube fly body.

This is the brown winged version of the Jock's Shrimp fitted with a Partridge Nordic No 6 tube fly hook. This is a true weapon of a salmon fly and lethal for attracting salmon on the famous River Tay and other Scottish salmon rivers.

Personally I love to use the Partridge Nordic tube fly hooks as they are micro barbed, very sharp and very strong. A single hook also hooks salmon better and does almost no damage to the mouth of a fish with 'Catch & Release' in mind. A good strong single hook also keeps the fly on an even keel when it's fishing. Once you've landed a few salmon on a single hook you'll be unlikely to ever go back to doubles or treble hooks. These are 3 Jock's Shrimp salmon tube fly patterns which is of my own design.

Here's a fine Summer River Tay salmon being netted by the beat ghillie at the stern of the boat. The Lower River Tay is a productive area for catching salmon from the Summer to Autumn part of the River Tay fishing season when many salmon congregate here. This fish was caught with some professional salmon instructor assistance on the Tay's Benchil Beat.

Here's a River Tay salmon in the last stages of the fight before being landed. Drawing the salmon into deep slack water makes the landing job much easier than trying the same in fast shallow water. All experienced salmon fishing guides will be aware of this as it considerably shortens the fight.

Keeping a high rod tip is essential while playing a salmon as was the case here with this lively River Tay Summer salmon that this salmon fly fishing visitor was playing. The high rod tip ensures the fly line is kept clear or riverbed obstacles which could snag the line and cause the loss of the fish. Look at the lovely red sandstone cliffs on the other side of the river.

Successfully Landing Salmon

By Jock Monteith 14th May 2026

For those of you who are relatively new to Scottish salmon fishing here's a few pointers to assist you with what you should be focussed on after you've hooked a salmon.

A salmon landing opportunity is best achieved if you follow this basic advice.

The Initial Seconds Of The Salmon Fight

The first thing in my mind immediately after contact with a fish is always has the hook been set properly. Even if you've felt the weight of the fish as mentioned plenty of times in the articles on how to hook salmon in this newsletter I'm always heavy handed with any fish for the first 10 seconds of battle to make certain of a good hook hold. Far too many salmon are lost each year due to the 'illogical' hooking techniques that are often used in Scottish salmon fishing where a good hook set is more often than not left to chance! The most frustrating and unpleasant feeling in the world is a slack line following the adrenalin inducing contact with an Atlantic salmon so best avoided if possible. If you want to ensure an optimal grip of a fish while fishing tube flies bin the doubles & trebles fished typically on 'pivoting' soft plastic sleeves and use the Partridge Nordic singles with a hard plastic sleeve for perfect hook set moment angle alignment. These super sharp (wider gape) and super strong weapons are IMHO the very best for an optimised hook hold.

Keep Adequate Pressure On Your Fish

After ensuring a good hook hold is achieved during the first 10 seconds of battle it's also very important that you maintain sufficient rod pressure on the fish. If you don't do this it's going to be an unnecessarily long drawn out fight which could ruin your chances of a quick double and probably the entire salmon pool too! If you've a good head of fish in front of you steer your fish away from the main taking area to a downstream position if possible rather than shaking up the entire pool. A high rod position with a good fighting curve bend in the rod is the key to playing any salmon as eventually that pressure will tire the fish out in preparation for landing.

Here's Alan Rennie playing one of 5 Spring salmon he caught that with myself as his salmon guide in the boat that day. Look are the riverbank where there's no leaves on the trees yet there's some beautiful sunlight which just gave the surface of the water of the river enough warmth to get these fish on the move and in a 'taking' frame of mind. This photo was taken in the Cottar Pool on the Newtyle Beat of the River Tay.

A High Salmon Rod Fight Angle Is Correct

On the high rod angle salmon fight position I'll add the following; In the old days a low rod position while playing a salmon on the Tay would have seen some pretty stern words being spoken by any of the Tay ghillies I ever fished with. They knew only too well the dangers of a low rod position and that salmon dive when distressed making the main line of contact susceptible to being snagged on subsurface boulders or roots instead of safely coming in high from the rod tip to the hook hold. The rod is the shock absorber too against sudden surges from a fish which a low rod position has less defence against. These days it appears to be 'trendy' to lower the rod during battle but I can assure you this is a foolish way to play a fish for a few good logical reasons.

Position Yourself Opposite The Salmon During The Fight

This one is dead simple to understand; If you play a salmon from an upstream position you're also playing the weight of the river and applying hook point pressure in an 'out of mouth' direction. A small hook that got a shallow flesh hold within a salmon mouth won't usually hold out for long if you play the fish from an upstream position. Whenever I've seen angler's doing this I completely cringe as I know the hook will get thrown and especially if their rod is also low! Walking down the riverbank and getting 'side on' to your fish will give you control of the fish & the fight and keep the hook pressure in a much safer in to 'side of mouth' direction.

It's always good practise to take a quality photograph of any salmon you catch for the beat ghillie to see and for social media. Capturing a great photo of your fish also doubles up as a perfect reminder of a special fishing moment. This fine fish was caught at the March Pool on the River Tay near Dunkeld. That's my own Monteith salmon fly rod and Van Staal salmon fly reel in the shot.

Find An Appropriate Salmon Landing Area

During the excitement of the fight the angler should not only have one eye on the fish but also an eye that is scanning for a good landing area. The perfect area to steer a salmon to (which can be done with a consistent steady pressure) during the latter stages of the fight would be an area of the pool that's out of the main current that has a bit of depth and looks to be snag and obstruction free. Sometimes this can involve walking the salmon down the pool a fair distance but doing so is much safer than attempting to land the fish in a shallow fast stream when the salmon will probably go crazy and use the current to significantly prolong the battle.

Hold Back With The Landing Net

The human mind through excitement often seems to miss an important link whenever a salmon is hooked as in the vast majority of cases the landing net appears instantly a salmon is hooked. An early produced landing net by the angler (or a ghillie) does no real favours but only puts the angler under psychological pressure to rush the fight which can easily end in disaster. Leave the landing net alone until the salmon starts showing signs of fatigue at close range and focus on playing the fish correctly up until that point. You'll know when the time is right to land the fish and it's only then a simple case of lifting the pre-sunk landing net after the fish is drawn over it. If an excited colleague or ghillie starts standing with a landing net between you and your salmon soon after the fish is hooked my advice would be to call them back out of the river until the time for landing the salmon is right. There's nothing I've witnessed in life that betters the natural high of the serotonin type endorphins that flood your body after the successful capture of a perfect salmon so make sure you take the fight successfully all the way through to the landing net 'inspection' stage to guarantee this amazing 'long lasting' feeling.