Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 19th March 2016.

Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Report for W/E 19th March 2016.

Spring salmon fishing on the Tay in Perthshire is now well into March with excellent conditions for fishing in milder 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”.

Spring salmon were landed throughout last week with much milder weather and catches have spread with higher river temperatures. The week produced the best catch of the season so far with 77 fish landed and the biggest one recorded was a 25 pounds fish from Islamouth. It is early yet with only small runs coming into the river and very cold weather is not making fishing easy but continued 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.

Beat catches reported
(week ending 19th March)
SALMON & GRILSE: Benchil 1, Catholes 6, Upper Scone 5, Pitlochrie 4, Burnmouth 4, Stobhall 5, Taymount 10, Ballathie 2, Cargill 4, Islamouth 7, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 2, Delvine Burnbane 1, Glendelvine 2, Murthly 2 7, Newtyle 3, Dunkeld House 2, Dalguise 3, Upper Kinnaird 1, Farleyer Upper 1, Loch Tay Fish n' Trips 1, Coupar Grange 2, Ericht Fishing 2, Portnacraig Pitlochry 2.
Total: 77 Largest: Islamouth 25lbs
SEA TROUT: Delvine Burnbane 2.
Total: 2 Largest: Delvine Burnbane 4lbs

The majority of the salmon continue to be 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 as fish start to spread in the system. The beats around Stanley traditionally lead the way in these conditions in early spring and should be a barometer for the runs. Benchil was the lowest beat on the river to produce with Alex Graham landing a lovely 8 pounds fish on a Toby from the Boat Hole. The Pitlochrie beat proved fruitful for Upper Scone and Stanley Fishings. Earlier in the week Pitlochrie pool was productive for Ian Kettles who landed a 17 pounds salmon on a Toby,

Later Brian Fratel from Farlows in London caught a 15 pounds fish on a Toby while on Saturday

Jamie and Andrew McCaig caught caught a couple of fish of 20 seconds of each other weighing up to 14 pounds. Later that day Jamie also landed a lovely fish on the fly from Horsey. The Wash House pool was also a good spot this past week with fish being landed on fly and spinner.

John Milligan from Ballathie House caught a superb 10 pounds fish casting the fly from the anchored boat as did top fashion designer

John Rocha later in the week. Catholes continued to produce spring salmon on a regular basis with

James Holder landing a cracking 14 pounds fish casting the fly from the boat in the Little Head. Simon Brown and Mark Taylor also caught from the beat on Devons up to 13 pounds.

Peter Scott also landed a good spring fish from the beat on a Devon in the Little Head casting from the boat. Burnmouth caught 4 fish in the week. Taymount and Stobhall continue to catch on a regular basis. At the end of the week fish were caught by Danny Fulton, Dougie Wangert and Brian Stobie.

Earlier Terry Booth and John Hutcheon landed fish up to 13 pounds taking the beat to over 50 fish for the season so far. Ballathie and Cargill continued to catch fish in the week.

Earlier in the week Ballathie had a couple of fish with Doug Reilly and Derek Strachan both catching fish up to 12 pounds on Devons.

Cargil had a good week with 4 fish caught up to 19 pounds by Neil French.

Islamouth did a bit better with 7 fish in the week up to 25 pounds in weight as water levels dropped and suited the beat much better for fly fishing. Alan Fraser was amongst the successful rods landing a 10 pounds fish casting from the boat.

Meikleour and Upper Islamouth caught a couple in the week up to 14 pounds.

The middle river catches are improving with rising water temperatures.

Delvine and Burnbane had a cracking 19 pounds fish caught by Mike Elgie under the stewardship of Jimmy Lapsey. Glendelvine landed a couple and the Murthly beats continued to do well with 7 coming from Murthly 2. Mark Findlay, a Perth & District member caught a lovely fish about 12 pounds from the lower Murthly beat earlier in the week. Newtyle landed 3 in the week with Colin Halliday catching a 9 pounds fish from the Lairds Cast on a Toby Salmo. Dunkeld House had a couple in the week up to 19 pounds from the boat. Dalguise got their season well and truly off the mark with 3 fish in the week. Fish were caught on the fly from the Guay pools and the Bridge pool. There was a fish from Upper Kinnaird in the week as well as Upper Farleyer. Stuart Lang had a 12 pounds fish from Loch Tay at Fish n Trips.

A couple of fish came from Pitlochry Dam in the week with Saul MacKay landing a fresh run 12 pounds fish from the Port-na-Craig beat then on Saturday Alistair Hamilton caught a superb fish estimated at 24 pounds from the town bank on the fly.

Fish have started to run up the Isla and even nose into the Ericht with fish registered in both rivers. Coupar Grange had a fish and Dougie Morrison reported 3 fish from his syndicate beats lower down the Isla.

The current week has got off to a flying start with 18 springers registered on Monday with the Stanley beats doing well. Hamish Murray from the Borders caught 3 salmon from the Pitlochrie beat on a Devon and other good catches were reported from Catholes, Burnmouth, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth. Could it be an even better week? Let us hope so as we go into Easter.

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