The conditions last week were excellent on the Tay in Perthshire, Scotland with much milder weather, a falling river after the large spate the previous week and a return to superb catches to fill everyone with more optimism for the coming weeks. The weather is now much milder again for this week but hopefully this will continue to give us great prospects and will maintain early spring sport on this marvelous river and spread it throughout the whole river.
The Spring Salmon fishing is never easy but when settled conditions prevail the sport can be magical as has proved this season so far with some outstanding catches and numerous spring salmon registered in the Tay system above expectation. This past week sport was superb as the catches took off again. The catches have been heartening mainly due to the cold weather but there is certainly a feeling now that there has been a far better run. Could this be down to most anglers’ efforts to return spring salmon over the past few seasons? Spring salmon were caught all week up to 23 pounds in weight and throughout the river as temperatures rise, which was tremendous news. The catches for April have increased by 107% on last year and the season catch has increased by 65% with still two days left in April. It is simply amazing news for the river. The Tay is fishing currently very well and is certainly a good destination to catch your first spring salmon of the season. The river offers a variety of possibilities for all standards of anglers with ghillies only too keen to teach the novices and this mighty river can produce a memorable salmon for the keen fly fisher. Levels and temperatures have now risen hopefully to encourage more salmon to run the river and spread out. Pools can be easily covered from bank and boat with modern technology. Why not have a go and sample this magical river. The fishing is supreme and the scenery is not bad either.
Beat catches reported
(week ending 27th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Lower Redgorton 2, Upper Redgorton 1, Fishponds 3, Benchil and Catholes 6, Upper Scone 17, Pitlochrie and Catholes 14, Burnmouth 4, Stobhall 7, Taymount 8, Ballathie 7, Cargill 1, Islamouth 15, Lower and Upper Islamouth 8, Upper Islamouth and Meikleour House 3, Meikleour House 7, Kercock 4, Murthly 1 10, Glendelvine 13, Murthly 2 12, Newtyle 15, Dunkeld House 11, Dalmarnock 5, Dalguise 2, Upper Kinnaird 5, Edradynate 1, Farleyer Upper 3, Keithick Mains 7, Coupar Grange 31, Portnacraig Pitlochry 16.
Total: 238 Largest: Dalguise 23lbs
SEA TROUT: Lower Redgorton 1, Dunkeld House 1.
Total: 2 Largest: Lower Redgorton 3lbs
Spring salmon have been caught throughout the system this past week encouraging everyone and there has also been the emergence of some larger multi sea winter spring salmon up to 20 odd pounds, which is superb news. The Upper reaches are now encountering more fresh salmon as warmer conditions appear. The Upper river registered 9 spring salmon from Upper Kinnaird, Edradynate and Farleyer.
On Upper Kinnaird Jim Andrew landed a couple of good fish during the week.
On Edradynate John Downie landed a 10 pounds beauty on a Toby Salmo.
The Tummel system registered 16 spring salmon. After the spate calmed down the catches on the Tummel soared as expected. All the salmon came from the Pitlochry Angling stretch at the Dam but other spring salmon were caught on the Tummel system but not registered. Early in the week at the Dam Calum McRoberts, Davy Stewart and Jimmy Ross had success with fish up to 18 pounds fly fishing. On Tuesday Perth angler Steven Watt caught salmon up to 21 pounds by various methods as fly fishing was curtailed by severe wind. The wind didn’t stop Iain McLaren catching a 10 pounds springer on the fly. Good salmon were being caught every day with Ross Glover, John Paton, Davy MacPherson and Ally Gowans all catching. Stuart Clements caught a 7 pounds fish at the dam and also had a 16 pounds beauty at West Haugh as well earlier in the week. It was a tremendous week in Pitlochry with Rodger Collins, Davy Stewart, Brian Joseph, Garry Watson, Colin Timmins and Gordon Nichol catching at the end of the week with salmon up to 15 pounds.
On the Middle river 82 spring salmon were caught this past week, which was a marked improvement as temperatures came up and salmon ran after the big water.
On Dalguise Mike Stanners caught a cracking 23 pounds spring salmon fly fishing in the Guay pool and Kenny Tragham caught a 10 pounds fish on a Toby from the Bridge pool.
On Dalmarnock the Pollock family were catching. Firstly Sandra caught a superb 11 pounds springer then Gordon landed an 8 pounds fish on the fly. Dunkeld House had a good week catching 11 salmon. Leun Howie had a superb 17 pounds salmon from the Cathedral stream from the boat courtesy of the Game Conervancy auction. Paul Gamba also caught landing a 15 pounds beauty in the Rock Pool on the fly.
Newtyle also had an excellent week with salmon up to 17 pounds caught on fly and spinner. Allan Rennie started the week off well landing 2 from the boat with also Martin Moran and Jennifer Ramsay being successful. Robert Moore caught a cracking 12 pounds fish and Jon Wood landed 2 in a day. Norrie McLeod also caught 2 in a day on Tuesday. Alistair Ferguson caught the superb 17 pounds salmon from the boat. On Friday Paul Chisolm caught 3 fish up to 13 pounds also in the boat. The Murthly and Glendelvine beats had a superb week with Glendelvine having a red letter day on Monday landing 9 for the day. Ian Scruton’s party enjoyed good success fishing on Murthly 1 and on Murthly 2 the Fotheringham family landed good salmon up to 23 pounds. Down at Kercock Jim McEwan, Billy McInnes and Paul Jack all had fish up to 17 pounds.
The Lower River had good catches as the tremendous run continued through the beats with 93 spring salmon for the week. Hopefully the catches will be maintained these coming weeks as most of the boats come off the river below Stanley for the summer. Islamouth had a good week as salmon hesitate at the mouth of the Isla.
John McElroy’s party enjoyed good success at the end of the week with 8 salmon landed on Friday mostly on Fly. The middle beats at Ballathie, Cargill, Stobhall and Taymount caught during the week but not so prolifically as in previous weeks as water levels didn’t seem to suit.
The best fish of the week fell to Roy Swift in the boat at Taymount weighing 21 pounds. Burnmouth and Catholes also struggled but reported several lost as water levels dropped rapidly during the week. The Pitlochrie beat had a tremendous week landing over 20 salmon with the Daves having a brilliant day on Friday with 8 fish on Upper Scone. There were some superb stories from the beat as well with 3 first salmon catches.
Alan McNeill caught his first ever salmon in the minister on the fly from the boat with his wife Alison weighing 12 pounds courtesy of the Action Medical Research auction. David Urgias caught his first salmon on Benchil at Aitken Head from the boat then promptly caught another off the bank later in the day. James McLay had never landed a salmon in his life before until he came to Stanley where he caught his first fish with Davie Seaton in Pitlochrie pool. He then went on to land another two in the same day. Just fantastic for the river.
During the week Jason Stratton, Euan Clark, Alan McCaig, Dougie Wangert, William Haggis, Simon Harrop, Arnot McWhinnie, John lessels and John Jarvie all caught superb spring salmon up to 20 pounds.
On Upper Redgorton Sandy Nicol caught a good fish and on Fishponds Mr McGinty caught an 11 pounds fish.
The Isla registered 38 salmon mostly from Coupar Grange with 31 for the week. The largest fish caught was on Thursday, a superb 20 pounds caught on the fly out of the White House Pool by Tim Ben. Steven Gamlin managed to land 5 for his three days, 3 of them on the fly. Jim Hunters group managed to get 6 on Thursday. Mark Humble had good sport on Saturday landing 4 fish, with Craig Masson landing 2. Out of the 31 fish caught 20 were caught on the fly with the others on the spinner. A superb week all told. Keithick Mains also had fish with 7 landed by various methods.
David Finlay caught 2 for his day up to 9 pounds from the beat.
It was certainly another superb spring week to remember with some great stories, at last some warmer weather and springers caught with good conditions but now as we entering May with warmer weather and good river levels the spring catches will hopefully be maintained over the coming weeks assuming the run continues and spread throughout the entire system. Please maintain the Catch and Release code for the river to protect our sport for the future.
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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