There has been another successful week completed on the mighty Tay in Perthshire, Scotland with continued cold weather and mostly wall to wall winter sunshine making it a very pleasurable pursuit of that magical spring salmon. The weather was consistent and river levels settled back during the week, the catches continued but not on the same level as the previous week. We have now gone into a slightly milder spell until Friday this coming week which may give us some more water from melting snow and there is the chance of rain but hopefully this will not stop us maintaining good sport.
Currently the river is running at a reasonable level after good cold weather but should rise a bit from melting snow following milder conditions but more colder weather is forecast towards the end of this week (2’5 and rising on the Ballathie gauge). The weather is set to remain milder over the next week and then get colder again which should benefit the river and maintain the chance of producing some sport and some early "Bars of Silver" if you are prepared to brave the elements.
Winter sunset on the Catholes at Stanley.
The weather is settled but milder with no minus temperatures at night forecast until Friday but will get colder at the end of this week, some rain is also predicted which may unsettle the river. Colder conditions certainly benefit the river at this time of year slowing the spring salmon run down and giving everyone a chance to catch as they run up the river slowly. Milder weather this week may give us more water and encourage more salmon to run the river, which will benefit everyone as conditions settle. At the end of the week colder weather is set to return which should settle the river back and give ideal spring fishing conditions. The water temperature is currently around 39 degrees Fahrenheit or 4 degrees Celcius but may drop back. These are typical temperatures for this time of year. The temperature may come back further with the colder forecast at the end of the week ahead but there have been salmon running throughout the system after milder conditions and this resulted in fish being caught well up the system. 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. Should you require guidance on salmon identification at this time of year please see this link for some help.
As to methods, in settled conditions 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.
Catching spring salmon on the Tay in Perthshire, Scotland February 2013 on the Pitlochrie beat at Stanley.
Finally you are reminded that the Tay's policy for January - May 2013 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.
When releasing salmon please try to keep the fish in the water as much as possible to give them every chance to recover prior to release. Releasing fish from boats in the river is not recommended.
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 robert.salmonfishing@googlemail.com to be included in the reports.
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