Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 14th July 2018.

Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 14th July 2018.

The Tay, Perthshire is now well into July for salmon fishing with disappointing results in recent weeksdue to very hot and bright weather conditions in our current outstanding summer. The hot weather is making life extremely difficult with water temperatures going over 70F/21C daily, although that has started to break down with some cooler days recently and catches are slowly improving. The most positive news this season has been the number of multi sea winter fish landed on the river especially in the spring which has put the Tay again at the centre of everyone’s attention. Hopefully the weather will turn much cooler soon but remain reasonably settled over the coming weeks and give everyone a chance of landing a “Bar of Silver” and even possibly a fish of a lifetime.

Beat catches reported

(week ending 14th July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 3, Lower Redgorton 3, Cargill 2, Islamouth 13, Kercock 2, Delvine Burnbane 1, Murthly 1 3, Dunkeld House 1, Dalmarnock 2, Dalguise 1.
Total: 31 Largest: Islamouth 21lbs
SEA TROUT: Murthly 1 2, Lochlane and Laggan 2.
Total: 4 Largest: Murthly 1 2lbs

Salmon were landed last week in very hot and bright conditions in much smaller numbers in lower levels now due to the lack of rain and far warmer forecasts. The numbers were understandably still low with around 30 fresh salmon recorded making it very disappointing and frustrating however it was a step up on the previous week and hopefully that will continue to build. The spring run is a memory, and frustratingly only small runs are coming into the river until this spell of weather breaks, it seems that there is a start to a summer run with more grilse appearing which hopefully will build, and last but fluctuating weather can make fishing difficult especially in very hot weather. Hopefully there will be a lot more of them to come as we go deeper into the summer period. 

The very lower beats on the river are starting to see more action with Almondmouth and Lower Redgorton both recording 3 fish each and seeing a lot more fish showing. Unfortunately, the immediate stretches above there did not have any luck last week with Cargill the next beat in the system to catch with 2 evening fish on the fly. Islamouth was the stand out beat with 13 in the week which included a 21 pounds fish on the fly for one of beat owner David Mayhews guests, Mr Barraclough on a day of 5 fish. Earlier in the week the Gilles Moffat party enjoyed limited success. The middle beats enjoyed a better week with a spread of catches from Kercock to Dalguise. 

Jim Lamb caught one of the fish from Kercock on the fly where 2 fish were recorded. On Delvine and Burnbane a French guest, Jean-Michael Desnos caught a 10 pounds fish on a flying C. The Lower Murthly beat had 3 fish and Dunkeld House recorded a single fish. Dalmarnock had a couple and on 

Dalguise Gus Briggs caught a 9 pounds fish from the Bridge Stream. 

The Tummel was also seeing sport recently form the Pitlochry Angling Club stretch at Portnacraig however nothing was reported last week but on a positive note there are now around 1700 plus fish through the ladder with temperatures rising. 

The current week has started off well by recent standards with over a dozen fish recorded on Monday up to 15 pounds and reports from the lower river of fresh grilse and summer salmon showing. Let us hope that is a positive sign for this week and the ones to come. 

The Tay is certainly the place to come to for the chance of a fish of a lifetime. The sheer size of the river produces very powerful large salmon and the possibility of a 40 pounds fish must be on the cards now. The food source for Atlantic salmon is moving further away from our shores with sea temperatures rising and salmon are spending longer away in the ocean before they are returning making the possibility of much bigger fish finding its way back. The fish that are being caught now is further evidence of that phenomenon. 

There have been some encouraging signs in the past week or so however the very hot settled summer weather has slowed things down in the meantime, but the sheer class of the fish caught continues to be outstanding and with hopefully a settled river in the coming weeks should see improved catches with a settled forecast as well. 

The Spring Salmon fishing was slow as we saw out May with the end of that run this year. June had picked up probably due to some fresh water and the emergence of some summer fish a couple of weeks ago but we now need the current hot weather to break, let us hope that the summer run builds further in the weeks to come. It has been a quiet start but let us hope the season lives up to every one’s expectations over the coming weeks and months and when you visit the Tay you catch a fish of a lifetime. Tight lines!

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.