(River Tay weekly report week ending 15th October 2022)
The River Tay finally closed its banks to anglers on Saturday. The weather was typical autumn fare last week for mid-October with frequent showers and some longer spells of rain from time to time. River levels were reasonably settled on most days.
Catches held up well on the mighty River Tay last week as the curtains were finally drawn on another season. There were several larger fish landed with numerous fish weighing in excess of twenty pounds caught which was great to see. Indeed, it turned out to be the most productive week of the season with well over four hundred fish caught. Unfortunately, the vast majority of fish caught were older and coloured and it has sadly been another season when there has been no real genuine autumn run on the Tay. This mirrors the picture on most of the other rivers across Scotland over the past few weeks.
On the upper river, there were fish caught on the Upper Bolfracks and Upper Kinnaird beats last week. It was a great end to the season at Edradynate when Mr Petri Haataja from Finland caught a nice nine pounder from the Church Pool on Saturday. Mr Paul Carter caught a nice grilse from the Ruan Ruarie Beat on the River Gary on Wednesday. The fish was caught on the fly.
It was nice to see catches on the Dalguise Beat last week and there were fish caught at Dalmarnock on Monday and a couple on Thursday. At Dunkeld there were four fish landed on Monday and a couple more on Wednesday. On Thursday Mr Billy Marsden had a day to remember on the beat. He was fishing the Gauge Pool when he hooked a hefty fish. After a great fight, Mr Marsden went on to land a twenty six pounder. This just goes to show what the Tay system is capable of producing on a regular basis.
It was a family affair at Newtyle for the Felders on Tuesday. Father and son Michael and Dario were fishing the beat and had an afternoon to remember. Both father and son caught fish within minutes of each other from the Plain Tree Pool weighing fifteen and six pounds respectively. Well done to both Michael and Dario on an afternoon they will never forget!
It was a fantastic Friday for Mr Kyle Forbes who was fishing the Newtyle Beat. Mr Forbes was fishing the Boil in the afternoon when the fly rod almost got ripped out of his hand after a savage take. What ensued was a terrific battle and after several long powerful runs, Mr Forbes landed a cracking twenty pounder. It was a great end to the season at Newtyle with six fish landed from the beat on Saturday.
The Murthly 2 Beat produced some nice fish over the course of last week. There was success at Glendelvine on Thursday when a fine brace was landed. It was great to see five fish landed from the Delvine & Burnbane Beat on Tuesday and the good sport continued for anglers as the week progressed. On Saturday Mr Stan Nicol with his son, Callum landed his first ever salmon. Well done young man! Other successful anglers last week at Delvine included Mr George Bailey amongst others.
It was a productive final week of the season at Kercock with decent numbers of fish caught on most days. Mr & Mrs Creswick landed ten salmon for their week. Other lucky anglers to name just a couple were John Layborn who caught two, eighteen pounders on the fly and Darren Kaye who finished with four salmon to his rod.
At Meikleour it was a magical Monday with nine fish landed from the beat including a cracking twenty two pounder. The good sport continued at Meikleour as the week progressed.
At Islamouth Mr David Mayhew and his party were fishing all week. There was some good sport to be had with fish caught up to nineteen pounds. Mr John Hewitt landed beat’s 400th fish of the season on Tuesday from the Longhead Pool which was just great to see.
Anglers fishing at Ballathie and Cargill enjoyed some great sport last week. Good numbers of fish were caught from both beats. At Cargill it was also a momentous week with the beat’s 400th fish of the season landed on Tuesday by Mr George Baines. Other successful anglers at Cargill during the final week of the season included Mr Barry Ward and Ms Melanie James amongst others.
There was some good sport to be had last week on both the Stobhall and Taymount beats. Anglers enjoyed some great rod bending action on most days with several larger fish landed. Stobhall and Taymount finished with thirty and thirty eight fish for the week respectively.
It was good to see fish caught at both Catholes and Pitlochrie on Monday. There were eight fish caught from the Upper Scone Beat during the first half of the week.
Mr Steve Crossland caught a nice fish from the White Craigs at Benchil on Tuesday. The fish gave a great account of itself. There were three more fish caught at Benchil on Thursday.
The Upper Redgorton Beat produced a few fish last week and there were three fish landed at Fishponds on Tuesday and Thursday. On Saturday Mr Robert Stirling landed a sparkling fresh autumn salmon at Fishponds which was great to see. The fish was caught from the Shockie Mouth on a Kynoch.
There was some decent sport to be had at Luncarty on Wednesday with three fish landed from the beat. Mr John Norcliffe was one of the successful anglers landing a lively sixteen pounder. The Waulkmill and Almondmouth beats finished with thirty and five fish respectively for the final week of the season.
It has been productive final few weeks of the season on the Tay system with certain beats doing particularly well. If truth be told most of the fish caught have been older and there continues to be a lack of genuine fresh autumn fish which has been a worrying trend not only on the Tay but also on almost every other river across Scotland. Let us hope that there will good numbers of fresh running the Tay system throughout next year so anglers fishing can experience the wonderful delights the mighty silvery River Tay has to offer.
We would like to thank all the ghillies and beat owners on the River Tay system who have contributed to this report throughout the season by providing their time and information as the weekly report would not be possible without your help and support. The next weekly report will be published in mid-January 2023.
Tight lines,
Samantha & Sandy Datta
Beat catches reported
(week ending 15th October)
SALMON & GRILSE:
Upper Farleyer 1, Lower Bolfracks 4, Edradyante 2, Upper Kinnaird 2, Ruan Ruarie 1, East Haugh 1, 6, Lower Kinnaird 6, Dalguise 4, Dalmarnock 4, Dunkeld 14, Newtyle 12, Murthly 2, 10, Glendelvine 2, Delvine & Burnbane 16, Kercock 28, Meikleour & Upper Islamouth 28, West Grange 5, Islamouth 23, Ballathie 39, Cargill 45, Stobhall 38, Taymount 30, Catholes 1, Upper Scone 16, Pitlochrie 1, Benchil 5, Upper Redgorton 3, Fishponds 11, Luncarty 7, Waulkmill 30, Almondmouth 5, Crieff AC 7, Lochlane & Laggan 7.
Total: 415 Largest: Lower Kinnaird & Stobhall 26lbs