Salmon Fishing in Scotland River Tay
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O.S. Map 53
The largest of
Scotland’s salmon rivers, the Tay drains an area of about 2500
square miles and is approximately 120 miles long. It is a big river,
particularly in its middle and lower course below its confluence
with the River Tummel. The Tay fishing is not what it once was but
can still produce somewhere in the region of 10,000 salmon in a
season.
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Interactive Map of the River Tay
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Salmon Fishing on the River Tay
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Much of the fishing,
on the middle and lower beats in particular, is done with the spinning
rod. An alternative to spinning is harling, a method involving the use
of a boat to swing large flies on sinking lines across the wide Tay
pools. Some of the lower pools might be covered, in lower water in
summer and autumn, by a competent fly fisherman wading deep and
speycasting a long line on a seventeen foot rod. The upper river, above
Ballinluig, is naturally smaller and more suited to the fly rod and
might be covered effectively with a fifteen footer. Traditionally The
Tay spring salmon run was renowned wordwide, for numbers and size of
fish. Loch Tay fished well from January to March, as did the upper
river, which also fished well in the autumn months of September and
October. The middle river produced fish from January to March and again
in September and October, while the lower Tay produced spring fish from
January to May and again at the back end. Sadly, the spring fishing
throughout the system is a shadow of its former self and by far the bulk
of the salmon are taken at the back end of the year, with August to
October the best months. In recent years the netting operations on the
river have been bought out and there are hopes that the Tay fishing,
particularly the spring fishing, will improve after many years of
decline. |
River Tay at Grantully
River Tay at Logierait |
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For more information see
Salmon Fishing on the Tay |
Upper River Tay - Fishing Map
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To view a larger scale map of a particular
section of the River Tay, click on a selected area of the maps below. |
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enlarge
Middle River Tay - Fishing Map
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enlarge
Lower River Tay - Fishing Map
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enlarge
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The maps on this website have been
reproduced with the permission of Collins Bartholomew.
Please note that these maps may date back several decades.
Much of the human detail will have changed but the character of the rivers and
lochs, and the trout and salmon in them, will be much the same as they have
always been.
In addition to the information provided
here, I would recommend that anyone planning a fishing or
walking trip in Scotland should equip themselves with a compass
and the appropriate Ordnance Survey map. The most useful of the
O.S. maps for the fisherman is the Landranger series, scale
1:50,000. For each of the lochs and rivers listed here, I have given the
relevant O.S. Map number. See Ordnance
Survey Maps |
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