Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 15th April 2017.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 15th April 2017.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now in April with improving conditions for fishing in milder weather and settling lower water levels plus catches are improving after a slow start to the season. Expectation is high on the river for 2017 after 4 successful springs and hopefully settled weather will continue with an improving run in April to give everyone a chance of landing a spring “Bar of Silver”.
Beat catches reported
(week ending 15th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Catholes 2, Stobhall 3, Taymount 5, Ballathie 4, Cargill 7, Islamouth 18, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 2, Kercock 1, Delvine Burnbane 1, Murthly 1 2, Glendelvine 3, Murthly 2 8, Newtyle 4, Dunkeld House 6, Dalmarnock 5, Lower Kinnaird 8, Upper Kinnaird 1, Findynate 1, Farleyer Upper 5, Farleyer Lower 1, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 3, Coupar Grange 3, Portnacraig Pitlochry 10, Loch Faskally 1.
Total: 104 Largest: Islamouth 24lbs

March saw improvements with more salmon landed in milder weather and river conditions have improved as the weeks have gone on favouring those who braved the elements in some cases. It is early yet but considering the conditions the results so far have been disappointing as we saw out March but we are seeing an improvement with more consistent catches and settling river levels which hopefully will continue over the next few weeks. Over one hundred fresh spring salmon were recorded last week and the class of fish being caught continues to be outstanding with 20 odd pounds or so being common and even a superb 24 pounder coming from Islamouth on the fly. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and fluctuating weather can make fishing difficult. Some of the fish that have been caught are memorable as typical Tay specimens due to their size and depth. Hopefully there will be a lot more of them to come as the spring run develops further. There seems to be fish already running hard up the river after unseasonably mild weather.

It has been another reasonably productive week on the river with a spring run starting to develop and progress up the river with most beats getting into the action. On the Lower river, it has been a quiet week below Stanley mainly due to the warmer river temperatures. Catholes was the lowest beat to record with a couple of fish caught on fly.

Finnish angler Tuomas Rytkonen caught a small fish from the Catholes stream on a small monkey fly and then on Saturday Catholes regular Danny Fulton caught a superb 18 pounds fish form the Gean Tree after a monumental battle in the fast water. Stobhall had odd fish but again the warmer water is encouraging fish to run hard giving less opportunities on these lower beats. Cargill and Ballathie continue to fish consistently with fish recorded most days and the lower water suiting them.

Angus Johnstone’s party enjoyed success at Ballathie during the week with Edmund Clarke, Jock Miller and Rory MacLachlan all getting onto the score sheet landing fish up to 22 pounds. On the opposite days Cargill enjoyed good success as well with several fish landed up to 20 pounds. Fly fishing proved popular with David Croshaw landing a few over days and Ian Williamson being successful at the Cobblers Croy.

Other fish were landed in the week including first ever fish for Grant Simpson, and there was no stopping for him as he soon landed his second which was an impressive 19 ½ pounds. Islamouth had an excellent week with 18 fish all caught on the fly.

Paul Dolman was one of the successful rods with an 8 pounds fish from Donnits and

Peter Kay caught a superb 23 ½ pounds beauty in the Ash Tree on a Willie Gunn tube.

Upper Islamouth and Meikleour had a couple in the week with Craig Duncan catching a lovely 14 pounds fish from the Castle pool on the fly and Peter Grose landing a 15 pounds fish as well.

The middle river is producing more fish now as the run progresses up river. Larger fish are being caught on a regular basis as these bigger fish have more energy in their tank enabling them to travel further before a rest. This is certainly evident again last week as water temperatures start to climb further. Kercock and Delvine Burnbane had single fish in the week. Neil French caught a 10 pounds fish from Burnbane on a Toby Salmo. The Glendelvine and Murthly beats have been catching more consistently as the run improves on the middle beats of the river. Newtyle had 4 last week with a team of Finnish fly fishers doing well.

Petteri Kauhanen and Frode Olderkjaer both caught good fish up to 20 odd pounds.

Robert Clyde also caught on the beat.

Dunkeld House had 6 in the week with John Cranston landing 2 in a day including a cracking 16 pounds fish on the fly in the Gauge pool. Tom and Roger Wadsworth did well with a Salmo landing fish up to 14 pounds.

On Saturday John Johnston and Richard Hutchinson both caught good fish from the Gauge and Mousetrap pools. Dalmarnock had 5 for the week which included a superb 16 pounds beauty for Ian Willis on the fly from the Clachantaggart pool.

John Cross caught an 8 pounder then 3 were landed on Saturday with Archie Bryden landing a superb 16 pounder on fly and Andrew Whyte and John Cross both being successful as well with fish up to 16 pounds. The Kinnaird beats continue to fare well with 9 fish last week.

The upper river is also seeing a bit of action with the Findynate and Farleyer beats being successful. Alun Williams was again in on the action landing a superb fish from Farleyer.

The Tummel saw some action as well with fish coming off the lower beats but not being reported. At the Dam in Pitlochry fish are starting to ascend the ladder with 120 being the current latest count. Last week saw 10 fish landed on the Portnacraig beat below the dam and further fish landed from the Sawmill Stream at the bottom of the town.

Monday saw an excellent start to the week with Tony Brown enjoying great success landing 3 fish up to 15 pounds on fly. Further fortune was enjoyed by Allan Young and Jim Fisher also on fly.

Callum Imray caught a superb 20 pounds beauty and Andrew Khakoo caught a 6 pounder again all on fly. The fly was proving very effective with further fish up to 19 pounds falling to Thomas Andrew, Jim Fisher, Dean McGowan and Iain McLaren.

Kenny Horne finished a superb week with a stunning 18 pounder on the fly from the town bank at the dam. More should certainly follow in the coming weeks.

Loch Tay continues to fish reasonably well with fish running through the system with Fish n’ Trips recording three fish last week. Other fish are being caught on the loch but not being reported.

Another example of fish running the system has been fish caught on the Isla at Coupar Grange with 3 grassed last week.

The current week has got off to a great start with a good few fish registered on Monday.

The Spring Salmon fishing season has had a quiet start but has started to show signs of picking up with improving catches and some outstanding fish landed so far so let us hope the season lives up to everyone’s expectations over the coming weeks and months. Tight lines!

Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White