Salmon Fishing Scotland Prospects for week commencing 21st January on the Tay, Perthshire, Scotland 2013.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Prospects for week commencing 21st January on the Tay, Perthshire, Scotland 2013.

The Opening week celebrations are now over and we are entering the first complete week of the 2013 season on the mighty Tay in Perthshire, Scotland.
Currently the river is running at lower level (1'11 on the Ballathie gauge) following far colder weather. The cold weather is set to continue for this week but this will still give the river a great chance of producing some good sport and some early "Bars of Silver" if you are prepared to brave the elements.

The Tay at Stanley Mill.

The weather is to remain cold with more snow and get even colder as the week goes in. The water temperature was high for the time year a week ago but has fallen back to below 38 degrees Fahrenheit or 3.5 degrees Celcius, which is more typical for this time of year but this could go lower by the end of this week. The temperature may come back further with the colder forecast during the week ahead, there have been salmon running throughout the system after milder conditions prior to the opening day and resulted in fish being caught well up the system, but now with temperatures plummeting the lower river will have a better chance for the coming week. Hopefully there might be a chance of a fresh fish anywhere in the river. There will no doubt be quite a few kelts about on many beats and possibly some later run fish, which have yet to spawn. Should you require guidance on salmon identification at this time of year please see this link for some help.

Fly fishing from the boat at Stanley.

As to methods, in settled conditions fishing by any method will have to be slow and deep with large lures to catch the elusive Tay Springer. Harling is also a favoured method at this time of year but be warned wrap up well or it will not be a pleasant experience.

Alexis Ward at Dunkeld in the Opening week.

Finally you are reminded that the Tay's policy for January - May 2013 is that all spring salmon should be released, i.e. the Tay has adopted a policy of 100% catch and release for spring salmon. Spring salmon are a scarce and precious resource. Please help preserve both them and the long term future of your sport by following the recommendations.

A first week spring salmon prior to release on the Catholes.

When releasing salmon please try to keep the fish in the water as much as possible to give them every chance to recover prior to release. Releasing fish from boats in the river is not recommended.

If you have any news or pictures of catches or experiences on the Tay and you would like to share them please email me on robert.salmonfishing@googlemail.com to be included in the reports.

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