Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 22nd April 2017.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 22nd April 2017.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now in late 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 22nd April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Pitlochrie 1, Stobhall 4, Ballathie 6, Cargill 3, Islamouth 24, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 5, Kercock 2, Murthly 1 5, Glendelvine 2, Murthly 2 8, Newtyle 9, Dunkeld House 2, Dalmarnock 3, Dalguise 2, Lower Kinnaird 5, Upper Kinnaird 2, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 1, Keithick Mains 2, Coupar Grange 4, Portnacraig Pitlochry 6, Loch Faskally 2.
Total: 98 Largest: Dalguise 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Stobhall 1.
Total: 1 Largest: Stobhall 3lbs

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. Around 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 25 pounder coming from Dalguise. 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 continuing 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. Ian Jardine defied the odds and landed a fish on the Pitlochrie beat on the fly from the Woodside. Other fish have been showing but extremely hard to stop as they progress upstream rapidly. Other fish were hooked on fly but managed to throw the hook unfortunately. Stobhall managed 4 in the week but Ballathie had 6 successful encounters and Cargill 3.

The rods on Ballathie had an enjoyable weeks fishing with Freddie Harrison having a tremendous morning with George McInnes landing 3 salmon up to 11 pounds.

Other fish were landed by Neil Sollis who caught his first ever salmon then proceded to catch another a few days later. Dougy MacAdam had an 8 pounder from the Bridge Stream on the fly.

Cargill had a quieter week however that didn’t stop Steve Robbins landing a lovely fish from the Pot shot on the fly. Tony Sheenan also had a superb fish on the fly from the Cradle weighing 16 pounds. Islamouth had another outstanding week with 24 fish all caught fly fishing. Greg Smiths party enjoyed the first part of the week with 12 fish landed then Patrick Gordons party had the same success in the later part of the week with Patrick and John Rich landing 18 pounders.

Meikleour and Upper Islamouth had 5 for the week with Dr Owen catching the largest at 16 pounds. Messer’s Grant, Hood, Brown and Taylor all had success 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 Glendelvine had 2 fish in the week. Finnish Angler Olli Rautiainen enjoyed a recent fly fishing trip to Scotland which took in Kercock, unfortunately no captures but a lot of fun on various beats. Haste ye back soon. The Murthly beats continue to fish well with Ian Scrutons party enjoying success on Murthly 1 with Ian landing a 15 pounder on the fly. Newtyle had a far better week with 9 fish grassed.

The week got off to a great start with Ken O’Donnell landing a superb 18 pounds fish from the Steps then beat regular Ronnie Fraser landed 3 fish of the beat on the fly.

Further fish were successfully landed by Neil French and Nikkii O’Donnell.

Later in the week Chris Hall had an 11 pounder from the Boil.

Dunkled House had 2 for the week with Peter Sproston landing a couple including an 8 pounds beauty form the Cathedral stream on the fly.

Dalmarnock had 3 in the week with Mike Skenes starting the week off with a lovely fish on the fly. Andrew Whyte had a 14 pounder and then a smaller fish the following day. Dalguise had 2 for the week including 25 pounder.

Further upstream Kinnaird had 7 with Ian Jardine being successful on the fly from the Guay pool.

The upper river is also seeing a bit of action however nothing was reported last week possibly due to the lower water levels.

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 over 200 being the current latest count and fish are now being caught in Loch Faskally. Last week saw 6 fish landed on the Portnacraig beat below the dam and further fish landed from the Sawmill Stream at the bottom of the town.

The week got off to a flyer with Neil Tong landing a superb 16 pounds fish and Alley Gowans landing a brace. Later in the week John Simpson and Danny Docherty both had fish on the fly up to 9 pounds.

Finally, Neill Sproull caught a lovely fish on the fly from the Pitlochry bank. 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 a 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 and Keithick Mains with 6 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