Another good week for the Tay.
The river Tay in Perthshire Scotland continued to catch spring salmon last week as water levels eased further and in superb spring weather. Catches were maintained as the river dropped steadily and the weather improved however the catches were spoiled at the end of the week with heavy rain and a rising river on Saturday. A strong run of spring salmon continued on the river 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 heartening and also better than last year for the time so hopefully it is a sign of another great spring for the river as the weather improves.
This past week saw water levels ease most of the week due to better weather and improved conditions and over 110 spring salmon were registered from the river with others caught as well but not registered.
Beat catches reported
(week ending 26th April)
SALMON & GRILSE: Fishponds 1, Catholes Stanley 1, Stobhall 8, Taymount 11, Ballathie 5, Cargill 5, Islamouth 18, Upper Islamouth and Meikleour 7, Kercock 6, Murthly 1 5, Glendelvine 3, Murthly 2 7, Newtyle 11, Dunkeld House 5, Dalmarnock 1, Lower Kinnaird 4, Farleyer Upper 2, Coupar Grange 1, Portnacraig Pitlochry 10.
Total: 111 Largest: Lower Kinnaird 24lbs
SEA TROUT: Fishponds 1.
Total: 1 Largest: Fishponds 2lbs
Lower Tay.
The lower river from Islamouth to just above 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 and area below continued to struggle with higher water temperatures as fish can run a longer distance to get above the Catholes Weir.
The Catholes beat produced a lovely 9 pounds sea liced salmon for Peter Forster fishing from the bank in the Black Stones. Fishponds also had success. Stobhall and Taymount continued their good season so far with fish on most days.
On Taymount Phil Walkers party enjoyed a good week catching mainly on Fly. Successful rods included Alistair Sheach with 3 in a morning from Stank End, Mark Emms with fish up to 15 pounds on the fly and a 16.5 pounds beauty
shared with Alistair Sheach and Rupert Guy landing a 14 pounds beauty from the boat in Upper Eels Brig. Ballathie and Cargill had reasonable weeks but ideally would want the river to drop further. Cargill was visited by Paul Worsteling from Ifish Australia and was successful landing a 15 pounds spring salmon.
Neil French was also fishing on the beat last week and enjoyed a good bit of success landing fish up to 13 pounds on the fly. The Islamouth beat enjoyed a tremendous week catching 18 spring salmon that included 9 fish off the beat on Thursday to a regular party. Successful anglers included
Allan and Jim Ferrie,
Neil Tong, John McElroy and
Rodger Moore.
The Meikleour beats had success as well during the week on most days with Andrew McWhirter and Mark Sutherland landing a fish a piece.
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. Kercock are now having better success with more fish being seen and caught with the water dropping. Anglers catching on the beat included Mark Sabido,
Brian Taylor with 2 fish up to 15 pounds, Adrian Parry and Andy Kerr. Glendelvine and the Murthly beats continue to do well with Ian Scrutons party enjoying success at the start of the week on Murthly and
Jamie White landing a superb 22 pounds fish on Glendelvine. Newtyle started to fare much better last week catching several salmon with Allan Rennie getting the week underway with an 18 pounds cracker, a supremely delighted
Ron Fraser catching 6 beauties on the fly during the week, Paul Worsteling having more success on the river with fish up to 14 pounds and David Fraser with a 12 pounds fish on a Toby.
Dunkeld House also had a good week with a few fish. Richard Hutchinson landed a superb 18 pounds fish, Peter Sproston enjoyed a superb day landing 3 salmon up to 17 pounds and Ian Pollock caught a 14 pounds fish from the Rock Pool.
On Dalmarnock Andrew Cowan caught an 11 pounds fish on a Vision. Dalguise did not enjoy any success last week but that will be short lived as fish run the river. The Kinnaird beats enjoyed limited success last week but watch this space in weeks to come!
Upper Tay.
This area is starting to see fish with Farleyer beats picking up odd fish last week.
Tummel.
It has just been a matter of time before the Tummel featured in the catches and that is certainly the case now with a few fish appearing at the Pitlochry Dam and 10 fish were caught last week. Successful anglers included Iain McLaren with fish up to 12 pounds on the fly,
Steven Watt landing several fish during the week up to 19 pounds, Callum Imray with a fish weighing 18 pounds, George Renwick catching on fly, Calum McRoberts with a vision and Roger Collins landing a 12 pounder on the Fly. Further downstream the Clubs Sawmill Stream beat is producing as well to club members with Duncan Webster and Gordon Hanslip doing well. The beats below have been catching as well but they do not register their fish on fishpal unfortunately to see the true picture.
Isla & Ericht.
Salmon are now freely running the Isla with rising water temperatures and nosing up into the Ericht. Coupar Grange had 1 fish for their week.
The Ericht is also seeing fish running now and Adam Reynolds enjoyed success with a 6 pounds fish with the help of Dougie Morison.
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 continues to 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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