Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 28th July 2018.

Tay Salmon Fishing Scotland Tay, Perthshire Salmon fishing report w/e 28th July 2018.

The Tay, Perthshire has nearly seen out 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 have been slowly improving. This past weekend has seen heavy rain at last and on Sunday the river temperature dropped back as well making a far better prospect for the coming week. 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 28th July)
SALMON & GRILSE: Almondmouth 2, Lower Redgorton 1, Fishponds 1, Upper Scone 1, Stobhall 4, Taymount 2, Ballathie 3, Cargill 6, Islamouth 7, Meikleour and Upper Islamouth 1, Kercock 2, Glendelvine 1, Murthly 2 2, Newtyle 1, Dunkeld House 1, Dalmarnock 1, Lower Kinnaird 1, Keithick Mains 1.
Total: 38 Largest: Almondmouth & Upper Scone 14lbs
SEA TROUT: Stobhall 2.
Total: 2 Largest: Stobhall 3lbs

Salmon were landed last week in more favourable conditions with improving numbers despite lower levels now due to the lack of rain and slightly cooler water temperatures until the very end of the week when they crept back up. The numbers were slightly better but still low with around 40 fresh salmon recorded making it still frustrating however it was a step up on the previous weeks and hopefully that will continue to build especially after the weekends rain as there seems to be a summer run on with improving grilse numbers. The coming week will show how strong a run comes as it will be by far the best conditions we have encountered for weeks. The spring run is a memory, and frustratingly only small runs are still 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. 

On the Lower river most beats have had odd fish but have had to really work for any success. The very lower beats of Almondmouth and Lower Redgorton have had limited success in the past week demonstrating that there are only small runs making it into the river. At Almondmouth David Craig’s party from Sommers Tackle shop in Aberdeen had a couple of fish up to 14 pounds at the start of the week. Matin Ritchie caught a grilse on Fishponds and Steven Watt caught a 14 pounds fish from the Long Shot on Benchil on the fly with Lower Scone. Further upstream of Stanley Taymount and Stobhall had 6 between them. The deeper pools at Ballathie and Cargill were holding fish in the low water and they accounted for 9. At Ballathie William Sinclair and Jen Hughes caught fish in the trying conditions. 

On Cargill Ian Muir managed a couple in a day by going our early in the morning and fishing late at night in the cooler conditions catching a fish of 7 pounds and a grilse on a micro tube fly. Further success was gained by Gavin Mason and Vince Sparrow. Islamouth had 7 in the week up to 12 pounds with Andrew Cairns and James Mayhew’s party’s having the success. Upper Islamouth and Meikleour also caught a fish last week ending a drought of blank weeks. 

The Middle river had a slightly better week but should fare much better with the rain coming at long last as will the whole river. 

Kercock had a couple of fish on Saturday with 

Mark Torrance and Graham Lynn both catching. The Murthly beats featured as well with beat 2 and Glendelvine picking up 3 fish between them. Single fish also came from Newtyle, Dunkled House, Dalmarnock and 

Lower Kinnaird. A further fish was reported from the Isla at Keithick Mains. 

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 1830 fish through the ladder with temperatures rising. 

The current week will start with great expectation after the rain that everyone has been praying for and cooler temperatures. It will be a defining week for the river in an extremely difficult year so far.  

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 and it has so 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.