Salmon Fishing Scotland River Tay Salmon Fishing Prospects for Opening Day 2012.

Salmon Fishing Scotland River Tay Salmon Fishing Prospects for Opening Day 2012.

The river Tay Salmon fishing season 2012 Opening day is now fast approaching with a week to go to the first day and the magical first cast. The excitement is building to the opening day ceremonies up and down the river.

High water at Stanley Mills on the lower Tay.

Currently the river is running very high with heights of 4 feet at Kenmore, 6 feet at Caputh and 9 feet at Ballathie after all the heavy rain and unseasonal high temperatures melting the snow in the hills.

The weather is to remain mild until Thursday but then get much colder which should help the river drop back down to a more realistic level for the opening day. The water temperature is 41 degrees Fahrenheit or 5 degrees Celcius which is high for this time of year. The temperature may come back with the colder forecast for the end of the week but any salmon that are running may be spread throughout the system giving everyone a good chance on the first day. 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.

As to methods, once the river settles 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.

Finally you are reminded that the Tay's policy for January - May 2012 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.


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Salmon Fishing Scotland Sun Set on the Tay in Perthshire, Scotland.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Sun Set on the Tay in Perthshire, Scotland.

Sun set over the Tay in Perthshire, Scotland. In a weeks time the sun will be rising on the 2012 Salmon fishing season.

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Salmon Fishing Scotland Driven Pheasant Shooting Perthshire, Scotland 2012.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Driven Pheasant Shooting Perthshire, Scotland 2012.

These are some images from the Dungarthill Pheasant shoot at Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland in January 2012.


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Salmon Fishing Scotland January 2012 Flood on the Tay, Perthshire, Scotland.

Salmon Fishing Scotland January 2012 Flood on the Tay, Perthshire, Scotland.

This is the mighty river Tay in full flood today at Stanley, Perthshire, Scotland.

The river went up to over 4 metres at its height which is in the region of 13 or 14 feet above summer level.

The river never seems to settle for more than a couple of days before there is another spate.

The country continues to take a battering with yet more severe weather. Wind and rain, the next thing will be the snow!

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Salmon Fishing Scotland River Tay Fishing Extention October 2011.

Salmon Fishing Scotland River Tay Fishing Extention October 2011.

Weather means Tay Salmon Fisheries Board learned little from extended season.

Published in the Courier : 03.01.12 By Richard Burdge

The first year of an experiment carried out on the River Tay was hampered by poor weather.
Anglers on the Tay were granted an extended season in 2011 with the start of a three-year trial. Instead of closing on October 15, the season continued to October 31.

The idea was to give anglers the opportunity to continue fishing when catches are peaking but far from ideal weather conditions did little to encourage the angling fraternity to take advantage of a couple of weeks of extra fishing.

When the experiment was announced, the Tay Salmon Fisheries Board explained their thinking saying: ''Given that the best catches of the season are often made in the last two weeks of the season and against this background of seemingly later runs, it has been decided to review the closing and opening dates of the Tay season.

''As part of this process it is necessary to obtain information about the types and numbers of fish which might be expected to be caught if the season was extended permanently.''

Board director Dr David Summers said they were still analysing the statistics but it was unlikely much could be learnt from the first year of the trial.

''I would say that the catches were not particularly high. Conditions during the extension were poor,'' Dr Summers said. ''It was very wet so the fishing conditions were not conducive (to fishing), none of the beats were particularly heavily fished.''

He said it would appear the situation on the Tay in 2011 mirrored that of the Tweed — the biggest runs of fish were in August into September.

''Our intention is to try it for three years but from the first year's results it does not look that there was a large run (during the trial),'' he said.

Restricted to the main stem of the Tay, not the upper Tay or tributaries, the trial was limited to the river from Perth to Dalguise and catches were released after statistics were recorded.

During the extension it was a legal requirement that all salmon caught were released and barbless hooks were used with no bait.

Looking ahead to the new season, which begins on the Tay on Monday January 16, Dr Summers said he was loath to make specific prophecies.

''What can we expect next year? In truth we have no idea,'' he said. ''I would not like to make predictions.''

He said what happened out in the Atlantic was in many ways ''a lottery'' but they hoped to see a continuation of recent trends which have seen a number of large fish taken from the river.

''Historically the big fish are caught early in the season,'' he said. ''We are hoping there will be more of them next year but only time will tell, there is no predicting.''

In April last year a novice angler caught a massive 38lb salmon on the Tay, the biggest spring fish for a number of years. Around the same time a number of large fish in the 25lb to 35lb range were landed on the Tay.

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Salmon Fishing Scotland First Snow of 2012.

Salmon Fishing Scotland First Snow of 2012.


Video of the first snowfall of 2012.

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Salmon Fishing Scotland Happy New Year 2012.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Happy New Year 2012.


A good New Year 2012 to one and all.

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