Good catches continue as water levels ease further.
The river Tay in Perthshire Scotland continued to catch spring salmon last week as water levels eased at long last. Catches improved further as the river dropped steadily and we had the best week of the season so far. A strong run of spring salmon continued on the river as the water cleared and eased a bit and there was the continued sign of some more bigger multi sea winter fish with more mid twenty pounds salmon landed. There were again good catches from around Stanley upwards but there were continued signs of fish spreading up river as catches improved in the middle and Upper River giving renewed optimism for the coming week. The catches were especially heartening after the prolonged bad weather but were also better than last year for the time so hopefully it is a sign of another great spring for the river as the weather relents.
This past week saw water levels ease most of the week due to better weather and improved conditions and over 120 spring salmon were registered from the river with others caught as well but not registered.
Beat catches reported
(week ending 5th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Catholes Stanley 1, Upper Scone 1, Pitlochrie 1, Catholes Campsie 1, Stobhall 9, Taymount 16, Ballathie 4, Cargill 14, Islamouth 15, Upper Islamouth and Meikleour 3, Kercock 5, Murthly 1 11, Glendelvine 4, Murthly 2 5, Newtyle 2, Dunkeld House 2, Dalmarnock 1, Upper Kinnaird 1, Findynate 2, Farleyer Upper 2, Keithick Mains 1, Coupar Grange 12, Portnacraig Pitlochry 7.
Total: 120 Largest: Taymount 24lbs
Lower Tay.
The lower from Islamouth to Stanley again fished well all week. All these beats are registering a higher catch than last year, which is very encouraging for the river. The Stanley beats seem to be struggling now with higher water temperatures as fish can run a longer distance to get above the Catholes Weir. Rupert Abbott caught a superb 15 pounds springer on the fly from Horsey earlier in the week on the Pitlochrie beat. The beats below Stanley have also found life extremely difficult over the past month or so with a few unwelcome visitors. Just above Stanley Stobhall and Taymount continue to fish very well with good catches and some tremendous fish. Both beats are now fishing well as salmon run the river in slowly rising temperatures. Taymount have now reached 100 fish for the season that is away ahead of last year.
They had another superb week with Andrew Spencer steeling the show with a magnificent 24 pounds spring salmon on the fly from the Linn Pool. Other successful anglers included Simon Marriott, Peter Chapman with 2 in a day, Andrew Spencer with a 12 pounds fish, Stephen Wilson, David Chapman landing an 18 pounds fish, Graeme Brooks landing a good fish on the fly and David Cameron completing a superb week with a 22 pounds beauty from the Linn Pool, his biggest fish to date. Ballathie and Cargill continue to have better weeks with fish running freely. Successful rods on Cargill included Jamie Walker with a 17 pounds fish, Justin Symborski, James Miller, Stewart Scott, Graeme Guest with his first ever fish at 9 pounds followed by a 16 pounds beauty soon after and
Rachel Symborski with a lovely springer on the fly. Islamouth had a great week as well with local rods doing well.
Jim and Allan Ferrie had some great sport on Saturday with the beat landing 5 fish.
Middle Tay.
The catches further upstream have continued to improve this past week as conditions have eased and the water temperature has climbed up a bit. Over the weeks to come this will inevitably improve further as the salmon run freely up the river with water levels easing. The Dunkeld House beat had a quieter week but Jim McDonald caught a superb 18 pounds fish from the Gauge pool.
Newtyle had a couple with Graham Guest catching a cracking 16 pounds fish. The Murthly and Glendelvine beats are now catching on a regular basis, which will only improve over the weeks to come. Kercock managed 4 fish on Monday with another on Wednesday as they start to do much better after a lean start. Meikelour also did well on Monday with 3 fish but found it hard for the rest of the week.
Upper Tay.
This area is starting to see fish with Farleyer, Findynate and Upper Kinnaird catching.
Tummel.
It has just been a matter of time before the Tummel featured in the catches but it kicked off this week with a few fish appearing at the Pitlochry Dam. The beats below have been catching as well but they do not register their fish on fishpal unfortunately to see the true picture.
Steven Watt and Gordon Nichol were successful on the Club water landing 6 spring salmon up to 16 pounds and the first fish of 2014 ascended the fish ladder this week as well.
Isla.
Salmon are now freely running the Isla with rising water temperatures and nosing up into the Ericht. Coupar Grange had a good week with 12 spring salmon.
The Tay Ghillies Association has launched a FISH OF THE MONTH AWARD to encourage good catch and release practice on the Tay. Each month the winner will receive 2 personalised crystal Whisky glasses engraved with details of the catch and they will automatically be entered into the fish of the year competition for a Stylish Crystal Engraved Decanter.
• Catch a good Tay Salmon
• Weigh it carefully and photograph it with as little handling as possible.
• Verify with Ghillie
• Safely return the fish with a minimum of handling
• TGA Committee decision is final
Send entries with a photo and verification details to:-
Mike Hay, Sec of Tay Ghillies Assoc.
Mobile: 07762 464407
Email: tayhayurg@gmail.com
The Spring Salmon fishing has been excellent so far despite the big water levels with some notable catches, let us hope this is a taste of what is to come and the weather settles down further to maintain it all.
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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