Tay report for week ending 13th February 2010.
The second week of February on the Tay was as disappointing last week’s 18 spring salmon. This week 14 salmon were recorded from all over the district.
The river was running at about 3 foot on Monday on the lower Tay and gradually dropped away as the week went on with good conditions for spring fishing and it remained cold. The river temperature remained at 36F or 2C for the week, which should be good for the coming week especially for the lower Tay.
This week the lower river due to the very cold conditions and also the river level dropping away to below 2 feet by Saturday dominated the catches.
The lower river produced 11 out of the 14 spring salmon caught. The beats around Stanley fared best with Taymount, Burnmouth, Benchil and Pitlochrie and Upper Scone all catching.
Neil Gallacher with a lovely 13 pounds spring salmon from the Upper Scone Benchil beat caught on a Kynoch.
Best spring salmon for the week came from the Benchil beat with a 17 pounds springer caught on a devon from the bank. Tay River Board chairman Bill Jack caught a lovely 16 pounds sea liced salmon on Saturday from the Fishponds beat at Knowes Bank on a harled Tube fly. Burnmouth caught 3 salmon during the week with owner Mick Smith catching 2 lovely 15 pounds springers.
The middle Tay produced only 3 salmon with Kercock catching 1 and Coupar Grange 2.
One spring salmon that was not recorded on the Fishtay site was a superb 28 pounds springer from the Glendelvine beat at Murthly. Gordon Hogg from Bridge of Allan caught this magnificent spring salmon on a small Kynoch from the boat in the famous Boat pool with the aid of Scottish Ghillie Steve McIrvine. The powerful salmon ran 500 meters down river before being landed. Both Salmon and Angler are still recovering! Hopefully I will publish pictures of this fantastic catch soon.
The upper river did not report any this week. I will be getting an up to date report from the Loch soon. They have not had a great start due to the very cold conditions but there have been some good salmon landed.
Many thanks for all the pictures everyone sent me of opening week spring salmon and thanks to all who have sent me their individual fishing experiences over the last season on the river. I would be most grateful if you to do the same this season by emailing stanley.fishing@ukonline.co.uk to be included in this report.
Prospects for the week commencing 15th February 2010.
As of Monday the river is settled and running at a low level after last weeks cold weather.
The weather is to be bit more unsettled this coming week with pressure dropping which may give us some more water however it still looks cold at nights with frost up to Thursday.
The water temperature is 36 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius meaning you have certainly to spin or fish a fly slow and deep.
With very cold water recently it is likely that most springers will have been bottled up in the lower river. If there is a bit of fresh water and milder conditions this may enable some salmon to run further upstream. Hopefully there might be a chance of a fresh fish anywhere in the lower and middle 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. Hopefully the return to higher water conditions will see the spawning season wind up quickly but if you find such fish, please avoid gravelly areas where they might be spawning.
The river is running at a good height and cold, meaning the salmon will be running slowly and should favour the lower Tay beats.
A typical Tay Spring Salmon. Short and very deep.
There is good availability throughout the river so why not have a go.
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 2010 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.
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 stanley.fishing@ukonline.co.uk to be included in this report.
Tight lines.
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