Here's a fabulous action photograph of Jock Monteith loading up a perfect Spey cast for long range salmon fly delivery across the River Tay with his tweed jacket and chest waders on. This shot was captured on the Meetings Pool of the Lower Kinnaird Beat by top Scottish photographer Louise Bellin.

Here's some anglers receiving expert Spey casting tuition at Dunkeld on the River Tay. Learning to use a double handed salmon fly rod is easy when instructed by a professional salmon fishing guide who's fully tuned in to the traditional Scottish Speycast. This was a group lesson that was being given to a team of salmon fishing holiday guests who wanted to learn how to fly fish for salmon. Learning to fly fish for salmon is easy when you have the best salmon fishing guide instructors.

Here's a salmon fishing holiday guest in the middle of a Spey casting lesson on the River Tummel. The focus was on getting a visual of the anchor point which is the mid section of the cast where the front end of the Spey line briefly touches the surface of the river before being sent across the river. Watching this anchor point touch down assists with the timing of the power stroke as any experienced salmon fly fishing instructor will know.

Here's a group of salmon fishing holiday guests testing out their newly learned Spey casting and riverbank movement techniques on the left bank of the River Tay's Cottar Pool on the Newtyle Beat. This perfect green grassy bank makes a perfect salmon pool for teaching salmon fishing guests.

Here's Scottish salmon guide Jock Monteith showing a group of Canadian salmon fishing holiday guests how best to tie on a salmon fly. Much salmon fishing technical information is delivered to the fishing guests on a guided salmon fishing day including Spey casting lessons, how to move effectively between each cast and how to set the hook when a salmon takes the fly.

Here's a lovely upstream shot of the Lower Tummel salmon beat near Pitlochry with a salmon fishing tour guest trying out his newly taught Spey casting abilities. This lovely upstream shot was taken during early June which is a beautiful time of year to fish the Tummel. Moments after I took the shot this guided salmon fishing guest Martin Hunter hooked and landed his first ever salmon.

The Dunkeld Spey Casting Service

By Jock Monteith 11th August 2018

If you could use some salmon fishing tactical fine tuning please make direct contact and I will arrange a top professional salmon guide to assist you via a guided salmon fishing day.

We offer our renowned salmon fishing guide service on all 4 major Scottish salmon river destinations (Tay, Dee, Spey & Tweed).

Here's a group of new fly fishers testing out their newly taught skills with a double handed salmon fly rod during the Summer. Many larger groups come to me for a crash course in salmon fishing and this was one such party that I guided for on the River Tay near Pitlochry.

Tactical Salmon Casting Tuition

The focus will be to show salmon fly fishers the real art of how to handle and get the best performance from a Spey line which is a skill often overlooked or not effectively demonstrated at all these days.

This is one of the salmon fishing middle River Tay hot spots. This stretch of water is known as the Ash Tree Pool which accounts for 40% of the salmon caught on the Lower Kinnaird beat. This salmon fishing guest is fishing the tail of the Ash Tree pool with a professional River Tay salmon guide who took this photograph.

Salmon River Movement Technique

How to effectively move through a salmon pool will be demonstrated which we observe many anglers not fully understanding which greatly hinders their chances of success through significantly reduced daily water coverage and showing salmon too much of the fly. Good riverbank salmon fly swing spacings are crucial for success with a salmon fly rod on any river regardless of the type of fly rod & line being used.

Here's the beautiful silver flanks of a fresh run Spring salmon which was caught on the River Tay near Dunkeld. Salmon like this create indelible memories such is their power and amazing natural beauty when you encounter of one of these fine creatures. This perfect salmon was caught by one of our salmon fishing holiday guests while accompanied by myself as his personal salmon fishing guide.

How To React To The Salmon Take

A completely 'logical & effective' salmon hooking procedure will be demonstrated where the instructors will 'simulate' the take from a fish and exactly how to react (or not!) to ensure an effective hook set that will keep the salmon on all the way to the landing net! This skill if adopted will completely reverse the normal one fish landed to every 3 or 4 hard earned salmon takes.

More Salmon Fishing Articles

This perfectly timed photograph was taken by professional photographer Louise Bellin on the Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay at the famous Junction Pool which is directly where the River Tummel enters the Tay. Jock, dressed in traditional Tweeds and waders holds his fishing rod, demonstrating the perfect Spey cast required in this salmon fishing hot spot for maximum water coverage of the lovely Tay salmon pool.

Fine Tune Your Speycast

Jock Monteith

14th August 2026

The vast majority of Scottish Speycasters tend to cast like 'racehorses with blinkers on' with their heads only aligned to the target area and not to the crucial mid cast 'anchor point' which is vital for a perfectly timed power stroke delivery.

This perfect River Tay Springer was caught by myself on the 23rd of February from the Kinnaird salmon beat near Pitlochry. These early run Scottish salmon are perfect specimens and are guaranteed to get your heart racing. This fish was quickly returned and swam off strongly to continue its upstream migration to the upper reaches of the Tay. You can see the gold ABU Toby lure, Bruce & Walker Hexagraph spinning rod and Van Staal spinning reel used in the capture of this fine Spring run salmon.

Successful Salmon Spin Fishing

Jock Monteith

13th August 2026

Here's a few paragraphs on how to set a spinning lure hook based on practice not theory. Nothing beats professional time spent on a Scottish salmon river for observing the various aspects of this glorious pursuit.

This is the Steps Pool on the Newtyle Beat of the River Tay and I've drawn the optimal wade line in red which allows anglers to fish through the pool safely and effectively without spooking any salmon that may be present. I took this downstream shot while working as this guest's salmon fishing guide for the day.

Salmon Lie Approach

Jock Monteith

12th August 2026

Over the decades I've seen great opportunities for an easy 'early day' salmon completely blown by anglers who put on waders that go up to their chests and think they have to do the same while wading in the river!

Here's Jock Monteith amidst a Spey casting lesson on the River Tay under the historic Telford Bridge demonstrating perfect D Loop loading with the single Spey cast. The traditional Spey cast is the most effective and satisfying casts. This photo was taken by local Dunkeld photographer Charlie MacDonald. Jock is wearing his Graham of Menteith tartan kilt while demonstrating Spey cast with his 15ft Monteith salmon fly rod.

The Spey Cast Swing

Jock Monteith

11th August 2026

Understanding the value of a correct 'logical' line lift at the beginning of the Spey cast is crucial for negating the cast crippling 'water resistance' experienced by an incorrect line lift. Today I'll elaborate on what maintains this 'ease and smoothness' of cast through the middle section of the cast known as the 'swing' which is crucial for adequate rod loading in the D Loop.

I designed this deadly salmon fly pattern 20 years ago while working as the Head Ghillie and salmon fishing instructor on the River Tay's Newtyle Beat. Here's the exact dressing before anyone asks;
Hook: 1

Salmon Fly Selection

Jock Monteith

10th August 2026

There's been millions of words written on this fascinating subject over the decades by many serious salmon fishers who all have their own take on what the best patterns are. At the end of the day it boils down to faith as we will never truly get permanently inside a salmon's mind.

This guest was fishing with me on the River Tay near Dunkeld. This pool tail is a renowned hot spot for running salmon so I waded out to this fishing position to make it easier to fish the main salmon lie between the fisher and the far riverbank. Directly in front of the big tree that you can see on the opposite riverbank is the main salmon lie hot spot.

Important Riverbank Etiquette

Jock Monteith

9th August 2026

For the daily operation of any salmon beat to run smoothly it is important that all fishing guests read & understand the beat rules which are there primarily for safety reasons and to ensure the enjoyment of all paying guests.

Here's myself with a fine Spring salmon in the landing net immediately prior to its release. A good landing net with fish friendly mesh is an essential piece of salmon fishing equipment. I caught this fine salmon at the Daffodil Lie Pool on the beautiful Kinnaird Beat of the River Tay in Highland Perthshire.

Spin Fishing For Tay Salmon

Jock Monteith

8th August 2026

If your effective hooking rate with a spinner on the River Tay isn't close to 100% then there's a few different angles of thought to consider the next time you're out slinging cutlery across Scotland's biggest & deepest salmon river.

Here's the bow section of a hand built River Tay 16ft salmon fishing 'coble' boat with a Brady fishing back and Bruce & Walker salmon Spey rod fitted with a Van Staal salmon fly reel. Professional salmon guides in Scotland take their personal salmon fishing equipment seriously too!

Salmon Beat Ghillies

Jock Monteith

7th August 2026

Having served my time as a professional ghillie on the River Tay the next few paragraphs highlight a few of the finer points that I personally believe that makes a resident professional salmon beat ghillie stand out from the crowd.