This shot was taken by professional photographer Louise Bellin on the River Tay's Meetings Pool on the Kinnaird Beat while I was serving as the Upper Kinnaird Beat Head Ghillie. My landing net is over my shoulder in anticipation of a pluck on the salmon fly which often occurs in this perfect salmon pool.

Here's a guided River Tay salmon fishing guest fishing his way methodically down through the Meetings Pool on the Upper Kinnaird salmon beat which is a perfect holding area for salmon in medium to low water levels from mid March through to October each year. Look at the beautiful fully leafed oak trees on the far side of the river.

If you're serious about your salmon fishing you'll learn how to separate each swing of the fly effectively to achieve maximised water coverage over the full course of the fishing day. This lovely shot was taken of a guided salmon fishing guest on right hand bank the River Tay Kinnaird Beat's March pool while learning how to fish for salmon..

A professional salmon guide is best placed to teach you the important salmon fishing skills. Don'y waste your spare time guessing about how to fish for salmon. This angler is out fly fishing the Mike's Run Pool of the River Tummel near Pitlochry following some intensive yet highly effective salmon fly fishing tuition.

Here's another picture postcard shot of the Green Bank Pool of the River Tay's Kinnaird Beat which was taken during the month of July while the riverbanks were in full bloom. This salmon fisher is spinning through the mid point of the pool. This fishing area of the River Tay Valley has some of the most amazing natural beauty and is close to the popular Perthshire towns of Pitlochry & Dunkeld.

This is the beautiful Tail of The Ash Tree Pool on the Kinnaird salmon beat of the River Tay which is a great pool to catch a salmon in. Personally I've hundreds of special memories from the salmon pool over the last several years. This shot took of one of my fishing trip guests while I was serving as his salmon guide for the day. The hills you see in the background are the Dunkeld hills.

Waiting For The Salmon Take

By Jock Monteith 3rd June 2026

The River Tay during the early Spring months has heavyweight fresh run Spring salmon present which often turn up on a daily basis even though the vast majority of anglers don't.

I think it's important to recap on the vital aspect of setting the hook for those who do venture out in the early months for that chance of the 'fish of a lifetime'!

Here's a nice spin fishing shot I took of salmon fishing guest on the River Tay having a serious attempt at catching a salmon while on his fishing break. This slow moving deep pool near the village of Stanley is a great fishing area on the Tay. You can see the salmon fishing hut tucked in below the trees on the far side of the river.

Consistency Of Scottish Salmon Anglers

Most seasons the River Tay usually always produces some seriously heavyweight Spring salmon during the early Spring months even though most Tay salmon beats are hardly fished at all. Imagine if our salmon reversed the illusionary internet 'catch stats' theme into their own version of 'angler stats' and started 'mumbling on' about the lack of salmon fishers present during early Spring on the beautiful pools of the rivers Tay , Spey, Tweed and Dee as they ascended up river!

This is God's finest marine creature in a salmon landing net moments before it was released back to its River Tay habitat. This fine fish was caught during late March near Dunkeld and weight exactly 23lbs. The fish took a pearly pink 4 inch Classic Tomic lure in colour code 341. These lures are ordered from Tomic Lures in Canada especially for use on the River Tay by many professional salmon fishing guides.

Knowing Exactly How To Make The Salmon Take Count

For those of you who are sharp enough to realise there's a great salmon fishing opportunity during early Spring on all of the big 4 Scottish salmon rivers make sure you know exactly how to make a hard earned and possible 'fish of a lifetime' stay on all the way to the landing net. Far too many salmon hooking opportunities are blown by anglers who've not been properly shown how to deal with a take on the fly or even a spinning rod for that matter.

This is the Bridge Pool on the lovely Dalguise salmon beat of the River Tay. Many salmon hold in this deep water pool and especially during lower water conditions.

The Cold Water Salmon Fly Take

The take from a salmon in very cold water conditions can be a slower more drawn out affair. The mantra for your head to brainwash yourself with is 'do nothing' as it's crucial you've got the composure to 'not' react to the first initial bump or tug from a salmon. The problem is that salmon are true masters at knowing when your mind is completely elsewhere therefore the natural instinct and especially for those from a trout fishing background is to react immediately and especially when caught off guard.

Here's a salmon fly fisher out in a traditional River Tay coble boat covering the Cathedral Stream salmon pool with a fly rod. This is a great area for a resting salmon to be located that's navigated up through the fast water below the bridge. The Telford Bridge you can see in the shot is over 200 years old and joins the village of Birnam to the town of Dunkeld.

Let The Salmon Take Develop And Keep Calm

It's crucial that while a salmon is investigating your fly you give it enough time to take the fly properly and let it turn and pull away. The initial stages of the salmon take can involve a series of 'tugs & plucks' that can sometimes continue for several seconds. It's crucial you ignore these tugs and wait for a steady draw of line to start being taken off the reel. Once this occurs give it another slowly counted 5 seconds and stop the fish dead by clamping the reel face momentarily with the rod tip down. What you've now done is put only the negligible 'core stretch' of your fly line between the hook point and your fly reel. Enough said!

Here's one of our many guided salmon fishing guest playing 1 or 5 perfect lower River Tay salmon during July. A high rod tip like you see here is important when playing salmon to offset sudden jumps or surges and to keep the fly line high in the water column away from potential snags. Look at the lovely red sandstone cliffs on the far bank of the Tay.

Only Lift The Rod After You've Set The Hook

Unless you're addicted to the anguish and that dreadful hollow gut feeling a slack line creates after the brief contact with a salmon only lift your rod after you've felt the weight of your salmon which ensures the hook is set properly. This 'just lift into it' nonsense might work with a chemically sharpened little Summer grilse salmon fly hook but with a reasonably large early Spring double iron you'll never set it by lifting the rod nor would you set anything other than setting yourself up for disaster! If you're fishing a tube fly with a soft rubber hook sleeve take it off and throw it in the fire then replace it with a more rigid plastic version. The last thing you want is your perfectly timed hook set procedure to be 'null & voided' by a pivoting tube fly hook due to a soft rubber tube fly/hook sleeve.

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.

All Fishing Hooks Require Hook Point Pressure To Be Set

All salmon are masters at shaking out a half set hook and they will usually do that in under 30 seconds following contact if you've not got enough early weight onto the hook points. There's nothing illogical about what I've just stated and thousands more salmon would be landed in Scotland each year if a more logical approach was taken as currently there will at best be a 35% 'take to landed salmon' hooking ratio across all of the Scottish rivers.

Here's my son Johnny spinning the neck of the Rock Pool on Kinnaird with his 10ft spinning rod. The use of a spinning rod is allowed on some of the Scottish rivers such as the River Tay in Perthshire. This lovely upstream shot was taken on the Tay near Logierait which is a salmon fishing hot spot that's close to the River Tay & River Tummel confluence.

Fishing With A Tight Spinning Reel Clutch

With the 'deadly' & popular ABU Toby 30g 'Salmo' spinning lure it is important that you fish initially with a tight enough clutch as early weight onto the hook points within the first 10 seconds of contact is crucial or your salmon will be gone. The big hook on a 'Salmo' is not going home with anything but good firm early pressure when the take occurs. A snatched strike is counter productive as it's likely to whip the lure right out of the salmon's mouth so putting a good steady solid bend on the rod is the best way to set the hook. Once you've put sufficient weight onto the hook then simply loosen off your clutch to play the fish. You've more time than you'll realise to loosen off the clutch (after you've set the hook) before the salmon starts to properly fight.

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.

Get Your Salmon Fishing Tactical Approach Perfected

It's vital for success in this sport that anglers fully understand how to cover a salmon pool properly via well spaced riverbank movement, how to deal effectively with the take from a salmon and how to think 'sub surface' for positioning their lure or fly in the correct area of the water column where salmon are more than likely going to be holding which is always based on the prevailing water temperature. It's consistency of these basics paired with creating your own luck via that consistency that brings success in this business. If one or more of the above basic components are missing then the chance of an encounter with a salmon at any time of year is greatly reduced.