Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 12th March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 12th March 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now in March with excellent conditions for fishing in colder weather and settling water levels plus catches are improving. Expectation is high on the river for 2016 after successful springs in 2015, 2014 and 2013 and hopefully settled weather will continue with an improving run in February to give everyone a chance of landing a spring “Bar of Silver”.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 12th March)
SALMON & GRILSE: Waulkmill 1, Benchil 1, Catholes 4, Upper Scone 5, Pitlochrie 3, Burnmouth 6, Stobhall 2, Taymount 3, Ballathie 5, Cargill 4, Islamouth 5, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 4, Delvine Burnbane 1, Glendelvine 1, Murthly 2 8, Dunkeld House 4, Lower Kinnaird 1, Edradynate 1, Farleyer Upper 1, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 2, Portnacraig Pitlochry 1.
Total: 63 Largest: Murthly 2 22lbs

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with colder weather and fortune favoured those who braved the elements in some cases. The week produced the best catch of the season so far with 63 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was a 22 pounds fish from Murthly 2. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and very cold weather is not making fishing easy but milder weather in the coming week may encourage more fish to run the river. The spring fish that have been caught so far have been superb quality and of a good size.

The majority of the salmon have been caught in the lower river, which is understandable with the cold conditions and a few fish have been running giving improving results further up the river including odd fish from Loch Tay now. The beats around Stanley traditionally lead the way in these conditions in early spring and should be a barometer for the runs. Waulkmill produced their first fish of the season on Saturday.

Benchil caught a couple of fish in the week with Upper Scone landing a 14 pounds fish on Friday then Danny Fulton caught a 10 pounds fish from Aitken Head on Saturday on the fly from the bank. The Pitlochrie beat fished well throughout the week with Upper Scone landing 3 fish on Thursday for a French party from the boat.

Sam Robinson caught a superb 16 pounds springer from Pitlochrie pool earlier in the week from the boat and

Mark Tyndall caught a lovely fish casting the fly from the boat in the Wash House.

Charlie Martin also landed a small springer casting a Devon in the Wash House from the boat. Catholes also produced fish throughout the week with Danny Fulton landing a cracker on the fly from the Slap.

Johnson Stewart also had a good fish from the Slap on a Devon weighing 15 pounds. Taymount and Stobhall had quieter weeks with falling river heights not suiting the Linn pool. The Robbins party did enjoy success on Taymount with Gina Jones catching her first ever springer weighing 7 pounds from the Majors cast. Ballathie and Cargill had much better weeks with a few fish landed. Ballathie landed 4 in the week with George McInnes and Gary McErlain doing well earlier in the week. Cargill enjoyed success on Saturday with 3 fish.

Steve Curnow caught a couple of fish from the boat on a Toby and David Harrington caught also on a Toby Salmo. Islamouth are starting to enjoy better success with 5 fish landed in the week.

Upper Islamouth and Meikleour caught a couple of fish on Saturday with Chris Plank and Mark McGillvray landing fish from the boat up to 13 pounds.

The middle river has been enjoying more success this past week as fish start to spread in the system. Delvine and Burnmouth caught an 8 pounds fish on Saturday with Jim Lapsey landing the fish on a Vison 110. Glendelvine had a fish in the week. Murthly 2 had an excellent week with 8 fish weighing up to 22 pounds.

Dunkeld House had a reasonable week with a few fish, Duncan Goodwin caught a fish on his first ever days’ salmon fishing weighing 7 pounds then promptly caught another the same weight. Not a bad start.

Lower Kinnaird had their first salmon which was caught on the fly and further fish came from Edradynate and Upper Farleyer. A couple of fish were reported from Loch Tay on Saturday up to 20 pounds from Fish n’ Trips.

On the Tummel Martin Wilson caught a superb 13 pounds fish from the Green Bank on the Port-na-Craig bank on the fly.

The Spring Salmon fishing season is now in March and expectation remains very high after previous good springs. Last weeks catches continued to be heartening after the slow start and bad weather. Let us hope this is a sign of an upturn in catches as last March proved. It has been a reasonable start so let us hope the season lives up to every one’s expectations over the coming weeks and months. Tight lines!
Salmon Fishing Scotland - By Robert White