When you truly realise that pristine heavyweight salmon like this run the River Tay throughout the fishing season then the chance of a capture of one of these will draw your subconscious mind into play. This is a dangerous state of salmon fishing mind as it usually always results in the loss of thousands of pounds in fishing tackle and salmon permit tickets! Look at the perfect condition of this fresh run River Tay Spring salmon.

I personally manufactured & named this salmon pool 25 years ago as previously it was a big deep hole full of fallen trees and was completely un-fishable. It took one week and much gravel movement to create and pack this perfect salmon fishing riverbank you can see. The pool was named The Trap as it is indeed a trap for running Tay salmon as the deep water channel flows right through this side of the river forcing salmon to come through and stop in this beautiful pool.

I took this shot of the beautiful Lower Blackhall salmon beat on the River Dee near Banchory. Our River Dee salmon fishing guides bring our Dee salmon fishing trip guests to this pool and they fish it from the opposite bank where you see the sand and then cast their salmon fly across to this riverbank letting the current swing the fly back across the river.

Here's a beautiful May shot showing a lone angler out on the River Tay near Dunkeld in search of a prized Scottish Spring salmon. The shadow of the trees on the far bank is a great salmon lie for fish that have powered up through the fast water immediately downstream.

Here is a traditional River Tay harling boat moored on the lovely sandbank at the Kinnaird Beat Rock Pool. The 2 salmon anglers on the right hand side of the river with their professional guide had just landed their 2nd salmon when I took this perfect shot. This fishing area of the Tay is between Pitlochry & Dunkeld where the River Tummel greets the Tay and is a renowned hot spot. The deep water to the right hand side of the boat is a serious salmon holding pool that our salmon guides love to take salmon fishing guests to.

I caught this fine 16lbs specimen Spring salmon in February on the River Tay near Dunkeld as hard proof that early run Scottish salmon certainly do exist. Look at the caliber of this perfect fish which is exceptional and easily caught too for those who know how & where to fish during the early Spring months in Scotland.

There's loads of these beautiful little native creatures on the Scottish salmon rivers and it's an honour to have a sighting of one from time to time. This photo was taken of a feeding otter on the Kinnaird Beat's Ash Tree Pool where a colony of otters reside. When you're out on a salmon fishing day on the River Tay you'll often be amazed at the wildlife you'll observe.

The Call Of The Salmon River

By Jock Monteith 30th March 2024

You can bet your life on the fact that there will be plenty Spring salmon ready to run the Scottish salmon rivers during the following weeks.

While not that many years ago the bulk of the Spring run on the River Tay appeared in May it looks like this head of fish are showing up a month earlier these days. This pattern of constantly altering salmon run timings is nothing new in this business and understanding this fact is important so you can make adjustments to the timing of your fishing trip when required.

The Odds Of Catching A Salmon

If you study the catch numbers from a superficial 'what's been caught' marketing point of view you'd not be impressed with your 'pay per play' odds of catching salmon at any time even though actual effective 'rod pressure' stats is never fairly considered. This is the most 'illogically' thought out 'chicken & egg' marketing concept ever created as it often produces a self fulfilling downwards death spiral for salmon fishing venues permit sales who continue to support such marketing naivety. All of this however has absolutely nothing to do with the thrill and excitement of turning up on the river and knowing these perfect Summer fish could easily be present. The eventual thrill & satisfaction of catching one of these fine specimens is over all too quickly so it's the preparation excitement, journey to the river, camaraderie & just being in with a chance of one of these perfect fish in God's finest playground is where in my opinion the true salmon fishing value lies.

What Is Salmon Fishing Success

If you're a statistics conditioned thinker then you're excused for assuming that Scottish salmon fishing is only about how many salmon you can catch however it's no ones God given right to expect success during every outing unless they are at the skill set level where are odds are tipped in their favour like a few serious operators I know! For those of us who see a bigger attraction in the natural world and the 'escapism' thrill that goes hand in hand with this fantastic pursuit we take value from the journey more than the inevitable end result of enough fishing attempts. The definition of success; 'the progressive realisation of a worthwhile dream or goal'. If salmon were too easy to catch all of the time they would lose their 'accomplishment' appeal and even during recent years salmon are still indeed sometimes fairly easy to catch.

How To Become A Dog Otter

If you start thinking like a dog otter you'll eventually start performing like one. A dog otter doesn't read salmon fishing books written by people who've spent little time properly vibing into the salmon rivers nor could a dog otter be influenced by misinformation from a fellow angler or a negative ghillie. The dog otter will follow his own nose & core instincts and will soon work out exactly where to look and capture a salmon. The dog otter's approach to a salmon pool will be based on a 'logical & thorough' examination and nothing other than that so it's always wise to have or develop a similar water coverage approach and 'instinctive feel' for the river.

Tune Your Mind Into The River

Freedom of thought on a riverbank will give you the fishing advantage especially if you react and implement those little subtle thoughts that come into your head throughout the course of the fishing day. If you do this long enough you'll convince yourself you can even start to sense the presence of salmon even when they're keeping their heads down and not showing. When you get to that level in this pursuit you'll then truly know you only need a few dozen casts at the right place and time of day to score! I recall many incidents on the Tay after fishing guests had blanked and then said to me 'go on show me how it's done' before handing them back a buckled fly rod!

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.

Become Your Salmon Fly Or Lure

Drop the 'robotic' fly selection mode and start tank testing your fly at the side of the river to see how well it's highlighting and moving in the stream. Look at the light and water clarity for contrast and consider the depth and speed you're trying to achieve before you make your final decision or even think about tying your final blood or turle knot. Once you make that selection decision stick with it and become that fly. Your thoughts should never wander from being focussed on exactly how & where that fly is searching.

Strategic Salmon Pool Coverage

On the big Scottish salmon rivers like the Tay where you'll very likely have hundreds of yards of salmon water to cover in the morning & afternoon salmon fishing sessions it is crucial that your water coverage is perfect. At lunchtime or at 5pm it's important to know you've ticked the water coverage box so take a river 'snap shot' in your head and see your fly consistently swinging through all of it spaced by approximately 3 to 4 feet. The 'law of averages' will be working for you if you adopt this methodical salmon pool coverage approach so don't just stick to one riverbank position where all you'll be doing is training salmon to accept the presence of your fly or lure. Your objective is to locate & 'startle' a salmon into not accepting the presence of your fly!

Instant Gratification In Salmon Fishing

While there are obvious and proven wild salmon stock enhancement techniques that could be successfully used to bolster and develop the existing runs of wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland (paired with massively overdue satellite assisted oceanic salmon migration route fishery patrol vessel policing!!!) this game has never ever been one of instant gratification unlike so much of modern day life. They say a golf course gives a great insight into the character of a person but I'd say that the salmon river goes one step further. It takes skill, tact & patience to lure a wild Atlantic salmon that's not in the river to feed and that for me is a big part of the challenge. Personally I take just as much satisfaction from a day of perfect water coverage whether a salmon shows up for an interview or not. In saying that a day of perfect water coverage usually always provides at least one serious enquiry from our treasured underworld!