Here's a salmon fishing guest fly fishing their way down through the Gean Tree Pool of the River Tay's Kercock salmon beat. This guest was under the supervision of a professional salmon guide resulting in 2 salmon being caught by this fisher that day even though it was a very bright July day. Look at the lovely sunlight sparkle coming off the water.

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.

I took this photograph of this salmon fisher on the River Tay while serving as his salmon fishing guide. The former legendary Kinnaird Beat ghillie Bob Grant always described the Guay Pool as his favourite and most productive salmon pool. Having personally steered many fishing guests to salmon in this lovely pool I can only agree with Bob's evaluation. Nothing has changed in recent years as the Guay Pool is still the most productive Lower Kinnaird Beat salmon pool.

This is a great salmon pool on the middle River Tay at Kinnaird and is exactly positioned across from the confluence of the river Tay & Tummel. This Upper Kinnaird salmon beat is one of my most favourite beats on the River Tay I recall many special fishing memories here. This is the March Pool the salmon fishing angler is fly fishing and in the distance the Junction Pool and Ferry Stream Pool can also be seen.

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.

Master Your Left Hand Spey Cast

By Jock Monteith 1st October 2025

If you're a salmon fly fisher there's a massive tactical fishing advantage in learning to Spey cast.

As the vast majority of the population are right handed learning to use the less favoured left hand will open up a completely different dimension to your salmon fly fishing approach.

Here's the most perfect River Tay salmon pool where the River Tummel meets the Tay. This has always been a great area for catching salmon on a fly. Located between the Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld this area is fairly easy to access from all major Scottish cities making it a must for any visiting salmon fishing trip guests. This salmon fisher was being guided by one of our salmon fishing guide team members who captured this lovely shot of the occasion.

Left Hand Lead Spey Casting Ease

The biggest barrier for many salmon fishers is indeed daring to use their left hand to perform the Spey cast however I can assure anyone with that level of self doubt that their initial thoughts on this are completely illusionary and 100% self-misinformation. Smoothness of lift and swing are the real weapons in mastering the Spey cast so obviously your less powerful left hand is going to be 'naturally' easier to train than your hard hitting dominant right! Don't kid yourself on that a right hand double Spey will do from the right hand bank of the river as a stiff upstream breeze or restricted down stream loading space will only mean you're fishing in danger of hooking yourself or less effectively for distance (when required).

Here's a salmon fly fisher amidst a Spey casting lesson on the River Tummel where the focus was being put 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. Look at the lovely fast streamy water behind this fisherman which the River Tummel is famous for.

Spey Casting Mirror Teaching Principle

The key to mastering the left hand lead Spey cast is to firstly train your mind to Spey cast using your right hand which will in turn give the precise commands to your hands to completely take on board your entire understanding of every component of the cast. Learn how to 'lift' your fly line correctly which is where the majority of Spey casters fail as the short stroke shooting head casts have distracted from this vital element of the Spey cast and many instructors don't teach the ascending high smooth lift or even understand what I'm referring to here. Once your brain and right hand are in full control of proceedings then all you're looking for from your left hand is simple mirror image duplication.

Learning to use your left non dominant hand with a Scottish Spey cast opens up a much bigger tactical range for your salmon fishing approach. This salmon fishing tour angler was learning how to do this from his professional salmon fly fishing instructor on the Oak Tree Pool near Meikleour on the River Tay.

Left Hand Salmon Fishing Application

One of the River Tay salmon beats I used to frequent had the most amazing right hand bank on one of its main holding pools. The problem for many was that there was a high bank leading into fairly deep water so no one ever attempted to put a fly through it from the right hand side. All of the fly fishing took place from the left bank where there was nice easy tapered gravel wading which was crazy as the right bank was aligned with the running and holding zone for salmon due to a sharp right hand downstream meander. On the occasions I'd put a fly through it I always got hold of salmon and recall a few days where I caught 2 or more from one swing through this perfect pool as salmon just weren't seeing a half decent controlled fly presentation from that non favoured side of the river.

This is the Rock Pool on the River Tay slightly upstream of the River Tay & River Tummel confluence which is just visible in the background. This is a very good salmon fishing area in Scotland and worthy of a salmon fishing trip. I took this beautiful shot in low water conditions during June after commuting down in this traditional Tay salmon boat.

Deploy A Different Salmon Pool Approach

When salmon fishing conditions are tough and fish are lying in the pools (whether you're aware of their presence or not) don't ever think you're going to nauseate a salmon into taking your fly as that's highly unlikely going to ever happen. What you need to do is come in from different angles that the salmon aren't expecting and try to 'pick a fight' with salmon by getting right inside their heads. Get your fly moving in an unexpected manner and keep it completely unpredictable and watch the difference. This is why sub surface thoughts of fly control & stream swim behaviour are so essential in salmon fishing as a one dimensional right hand Spey cast 'launch & hope' specialist will have little chance of catching a fish with the 'repetitive' boredom they're creating in the minds of resident salmon.

Diversified Salmon Fishing Tactics

Having the ability to deploy your salmon fly effectively from either side of the river regardless of the wind conditions is basic tactical preparedness that every salmon fly fisher should have in their fishing skills bag. Thinking 'outside the box' when fishing conditions are tough on the salmon river will often provide the tactical adjustments that'll eventually grind out the only fish of the day however to get there you must have these skills and the tactical agility to deploy a new approach when you see the normal fishing approaches failing. There's a far greater sense of satisfaction when you hook & land a fish that's required a tactical rethink than any fish that appears from the robotics of a normal salmon pool fishing approach.

The Full Logic Based Spey Cast Components

Here's another Speycasting article that breaks down each of the 3 stages of the Spey cast (the lift, swing & power stroke). This is my own explanation based on logic and 'ease of communication' derived over decades of effective 'hands on' riverbank tuition to brand new Spey casters ensuring their logical understanding of the cast gets them off the starting block quickly and effectively. While many Spey casters have different methods of teaching this is my 'unique' gramatical explanation method which I've personally found to be highly effective at programming a brand new Spey caster's mind for the simple reason that when the mind fully understands the logic based components that makes the Spey cast function then the hands (via the eyes) will 'correctly' follow suit.