Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 1st October 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 1st October 2016.

The salmon fishing season on the Tay in Perthshire has now seen Summer although the weather has not been ideal at times but we are now in Autumn and there has been a weak run in the past few weeks and catches have improved however we are now looking for an increase in runs after another steady September despite some unsettled conditions at times. The river has had fresh water from a reasonable spate last week after some heavy rain giving excellent autumnal conditions for fishing plus cooling temperatures are seeing catches maintained despite the lack of fresh fish. Expectation is high for the last few days plus hopefully settled weather will continue with an improving run in early October to give everyone a chance of landing a Tay Salmon.

A few autumn salmon have been running and landed throughout last week with excellent conditions for autumn fishing and catches have continued to spread with more water and dropping temperatures making the resident salmon more aggressive. It was another steady week despite more turbulent conditions at times with well over 200 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was in the high twenties on Cargill. Spring transferred into summer and steady runs came into the river plus better weather was making fishing easier with lower water however plenty fresh water may have encouraged more fish to run the river with summer disappearing and hopefully an autumn run develops in earnest as temperature start to drop. The fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size overall, Autumn is upon us and traditionally large fish are caught.

On the nature front the Sand Martins, Swifts and Swallows have been all over the skies but departing south one by one, Ospreys have gone off south for the winter, Ducks have broods of mature young, Sand Pipers are on the river banks and Dippers and Kingfishers dart past. We are now seeing the arrival of large skeins of Geese as the temperatures start to drop. Wild flowers are still visible but most are over again for another year, it is truly magical to be salmon fishing in Perthshire on the banks of the silvery Tay. A salmon can be a bonus!!

Beat catches reported (week ending 1st October)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 22, Waulkmill 16, Lower Redgorton 25, Luncarty 7, Upper Redgorton 13, Fishponds 7, Benchil 7, Catholes 1, Upper Scone 6, Burnmouth 2, Stobhall 12, Taymount 15, Ballathie 8, Cargill 24, Islamouth 16, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 12, Kercock 11, Murthly 2 5, Newtyle 3, Dunkeld House 1, Dalguise 3, Lower Kinnaird 6, Upper Kinnaird 2, Edradynate 1, Findynate 1, Farleyer Upper 1, Farleyer Lower 1, Lochlane and Laggan 2, Keithick Mains 1, Portnacraig Pitlochry 1, Loch Faskally 1.
Total: 233 Largest: Cargill 27lbs
SEA TROUT: Waulkmill 2, Lower Redgorton 5, Fishponds 2.
Total: 9 Largest: Lower Redgorton 6lbs

The majority of the salmon were caught in the lower river in early spring, which is understandable with the cold conditions but that has changed with warmer water allowing fish to run further giving improving results up the river including fish from Loch Tay, Loch Faskally and beyond now as fish spread in the system. The lower river is now the barometer for the runs as they enter the river with water temperatures falling to around the low 50’s F, plus fish are now starting to be caught in greater numbers in the lower river with the developing run and the spate should encourage more salmon to run and shake the residents up.

This past week saw a more fish from the lower river scattered throughout the beats encouraging everyone however the summer run seems to have come to an end and we await an autumn run to develop in earnest. The beats at Stanley and below are seeing steady sport with small runs entering the river and now earlier run fish have dropped back towards their final destinations of Almond, Shochie and Ordie which can only help sport in this area. The beats just above the tide continue to produce fish on a regular basis with Almondmouth, Waulkmill and Lower Redgorton catching 63 between them in a better week. Some big fish are being caught there as they await water to run the Almond.

James McKay successfully land a fish on 25 pounds on Monday of this week. Waulkmill saw Arnot McWhinnie, Ian Jardine and Brian Gordon all having success catching fish up to 20 pounds. On Lower Redgorton Gilbert Fenwicks party enjoyed a good week with several fish. Luncarty had a good week with a few fish falling to the Crossland party, Richard Oliver and Donald Hughes all enjoying success.

On Upper Redgorton the Robbins party had success with Sandra landing a superb 14 pounds beauty on the fly from Lodge End on Saturday. Fishponds enjoyed good success with fish up to 24 pounds in the week. Upper Scone had 6 in the week with JCB enjoying the banks of the mighty Tay.

Benchil on the Stanley Fishing beats had 7 with beat owner Tom Jennings landing 2 fish up to 16 pounds. Later in the week Scott Menneer and Antony Glasgow caught their personal bests with fish of 18 and 16 pounds from the beat. Saturday saw Ian Muir land 2 older fish on fly from Long Shot and Lundy. Catholes produced a superb 20 pounds fish for Kerr Maitland on a Devon. Burnmouth had 2 in the week meanwhile Stobhall and Taymount had 27 between them. Ballathie and Cargill had over 30 in the week.

Cargill had a great week with 24 fish landed and Steve Curnow catching a 27 pounds fish and Neil French continued his success with several fish on the fly up to the high teens. Islamouth had a much better week with 16 fish and Meikloeur and Upper Islamouth enjoyed more success with 12.

Mike Brown caught his personal best from the Castle Pool weighing 21 pounds, Welshman Alan Parry had a great day with 3 fish landed, all small grilse, Mike Wojtowicz and Scott Sykes also had good success with memorable fish.

The middle river has slowed down over recent weeks and are praying for rain and a late run to liven things up in the weeks to come.

Kercock had 11 fish which included Jim Dixon catching a good fish. The Murthly area had a few in the week.

Newtyle had the odd fish as well with 12 year old Vittorio Puri from Austria catching his first ever salmon on the fly guided by Jock Monteith.

Dunkeld house had one caught by Richard Goodwin. Dalguise had 3 and the Kinnaird beats accounted for 8.

The upper river was seeing sport with odd fish caught and recent fresh water has improved activities with fish recorded on Edradynate, Findynate and Farleyer beats.

The Tummel is continuing to see limited sport from the Port-na-Craig beat administered by Pitlochry Angling Club and there is now over 6350 fish through the Dam resulting in fish being recorded in Loch Faskally and fish are running the Garry. This is a high figure in recent years caused by the temperature coming up quickly earlier in May and encouraging the fish to run.

The Isla are seeing salmon run up the river and progressing to the Ericht and 1 fish was reported last week from the Keithick Mains.

Fish have been reported running the Lyon however there was no news from that part of the river last week.

Fish have also been running the Earn with Lochlane and Laggan reporting 2. Other fish are being caught now throughout the river but they are not registered on Fishpal.

The Spring and Summer Salmon fishing seasons are over and we are now in Autumn as we see September disappear for the last few days of the season in October with the expectation of a developing late run. Last week’s catches were more encouraging. Let us hope there is a sign of an upturn in catches as we go into the last 2 weeks. Tight lines!

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White