As I sit down to write this post, I find it hard to believe we are in the middle of May already! The Scottish spring weather has been nothing short of terrible up until recent weeks! Two weeks ago I was fishing in five inches of snow on a hill loch, today we are in 20 degree celsius heats and getting tans! You certainly don’t come to Scotland for the weather…
Our season so far has been fantastic. We’ve had many clients from all over the globe and most have caught fish in tough conditions with the odd red letter day here and there. The cold spring has definitely halted dry fly sport on our rivers with hatches sporadic and the fish rising sporadically also.
But with the warmer weather we can only see positives for the coming months.
The Grayling fishing earlier this year was nothing short of exceptional! We had numerous big fish for clients and even managed a few ourselves during quiet spells.
Oh yes, she’s good…
The Chen family from Singapore had a great day in early spring, enduring temperatures more akin to winter, but that didn’t stop the fish feeding and they had a great introduction to fly fishing on the river landing, a few brown trout and grayling on the much talked about Squirmie Wormie…
All smiles in the cold for this Singaporean family of professional fishers!
Ed from the U.S managed a stunning little Rainbow Trout on the River Tay. Rainbow Trout are not indigenous to Scotland and this was likely an escapee from a nearby trout fishery. By law we had to dispatch this fish, but it did not go to waste and I enjoyed it for my tea!
An unusual catch but welcome on a hard day, gave a great account of itself and tasted darn good!
I managed to get out for a few days myself for Trout and managed this beauty at the end of March. I had to take a video on my phone to get a photo – the joys of fishing solo without a skilled photographer/guide…
Taken on a mobile phone so apologies for poor quality..
Matt from South Africa had a great day’s sport with plenty of Grayling and Trout fishing March Brown’s down and across – everyday is learning day folks!
Matt with a nice wild river brown.
The Trout dry fly fishing hasn’t really ever kicked of like it did last year. I remember guiding Bud from the U.S in April last year (see below) and the surface activity was unreal! Olive Uprights, March Brown’s and Large Dark Olives had the fish going crazy.
Dr. Robertson in April 2015 nailing browns left right and centre during a huge fly hatch…
This year so far I can only recall one day similar, when I was guiding James and his father in mid April. We picked up numerous Grayling in the morning on nymphs then in the afternoon the Large Dark Olives started to hatch and the fish came on, big style!
James had lots of action with fishein in this size bracket on the famous Olive Jingler!
They continued to land over a dozen trout between them – no monsters but all on the dry. A great day’s sport.
The father and son duo also had a great day later in the week fishing for Pike and managed two nice fish, however one slipped out of the weigh sling before we could photograph but we did manage to snap this fella…
Nice 17lb pike for James on a small soft plastic lure and 7ft spinning rod
The Pike fishing in general has been consistently good and living up to our thoughts of them being the most reliable species to fish for here in Scotland. Since April we have been focusing on the Trout rivers allowing the Pike to spawn in peace.
I had a great time with local father and son teaching them how to fly fish on the River Tay. This youngster managed his first ever fish on the fly – you can see his excitement. It is hard to beat watching young anglers catch their first fish on the fly!
Well done young man!
The Salmon fishing this spring has been slow to start but the Tay has been pretty consistent since April. The low water is making things a little interesting and the fish are running very hard at the minute. The Tummel was bouncing with fish earlier this week with many running up the Salmon Ladder into Loch Faskally.
Fishing a very low River Earn in Spring…
I have personally managed three days of Salmon fishing and have landed two so far. I had one on the fly from the River Tay last week, with the ghillie releasing before I could get a photo with it! 🙂
And this beauty below at the end of March spinning on a tributary of the River Tay.
Head Guide Callum Conner with a gracious selfie…
Our guests have hooked three and landed only one so far this spring! Raphael from Quebec had one day of guided fishing with Callum and managed this beauty on his fourth cast then later lost another one in the afternoon.
Fourth cast, bang… That’s the way to do it!
This gave Raph an unbelievable fight, snagging us up twice. He done really well to land it.
This is just a taster of many jobs we’ve had so far this season.
All fishing prospects for the remainder of May look good, the water temps have finally risen, fly life has increased, the Pike have finished spawning and are now on the feed – big time. The central belt rivers are incredibly low at the minute for this time of year and a splash of rain wouldn’t do us any harm just to top up the levels.
It is now peak season for us and we are out every other day on the water. We are super excited to see what the remainder of spring and the summer fishing has to offer our clients in 2016!
Tight lines!