Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 21st July 2018.

Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 21st 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. Despite the low water levels and lack of rain there are still salmon running due to the rivers size and that makes it a premier destination even in current conditions giving you a great chance of landing a “Bar of Silver” and even possibly a fish of a lifetime with some of the multi sea winter fish currently being caught in recent weeks.

Beat catches reported

(week ending 21st July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 6, Waulkmill 3, Lower Redgorton 3, Fishponds 1, Benchil 4, Upper Scone 2, Pitlochrie 1, Stobhall 2, Taymount 4, Ballathie 3, Cargill 6, Islamouth 15, Kercock 1, Dunkeld House 1, Dalmarnock 4, Lower Kinnaird 2, Keithick Mains 1.
Total: 59 Largest: Upper Scone 21lbs
SEA TROUT: Fishponds 1, Newtyle 1.
Total: 2 Largest: Newtyle 2lbs

Salmon were landed last week in more favourable conditions with improving numbers despite lower levels now due to the lack of rain but slightly cooler water temperatures. The numbers were better but still low with around 60 fresh salmon recorded making it more heartening but still frustrating however it was a step up on the previous week and hopefully that will continue to build as there seems to be a summer run on with improving grilse numbers. 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 far more action with Almondmouth, Waulkmill and Lower Redgorton recording a dozen fish and seeing a lot more fish showing. 

Fishponds had a 12 pounds fish caught in the Fireshot landed by an American guest from Boston. Upper Scone recorded a superb fish of 21pounds caught by Steven Bruce caught on the Pitlochrie beat at Stanley. Tim Greenfields party enjoyed a hard week on the Stanley water with 5 fish landed throughout the week. John Colin nearly got the week off with a bang losing a good fish in the Woodside on the fly after 10 minutes however Tim caught a 10 pounds fish the next day on Benchil from the Skellies. 

Further fish came from the same area with Gary Westwood landing his first ever fish weighing 14 pounds and Simon Smedley catching a grilse on Saturday. Further upstream Taymount and Stobhall had 6 between them throughout the week. Ballathie and Cargill fared a bit better with 9. George Lamberti, Nick Baird and Peter Ayton all caught on the Ballathie rotation by various methods. 

On Cargill Jannet Hird caught a small grilse and Steven Carter caught his first ever salmon on the fly from the Bridge Stream then caught another later in the week. Further were landed including a 10 pounder for Graham Raffin. Islamouth performed best of all with 15 grilse in the week with the Keith Skeoch and Dan Rix parties enjoying similar totals all on fly. Up in the middle river life has been a struggle with only odd fish recorded. 

Kercock had a single fish caught by George Hunter on the fly from the Cottage pool. Dunkled House had a grilse however Dalmarnock had a better week with 4 fish and Lower Kinnaird caught a couple. On the Isla Keithick Mains recorded a single fish.  

The Tummel was also seeing sport until fairly recently form the Pitlochry Angling Club stretch at Portnacraig however nothing was reported last week but on a positive note there are now around 1800 plus fish through the ladder with temperatures rising. 

The current week has started off reasonably well with a good few 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.