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Descriptions of Fishing Areas
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There are too many waters to adequately describe them all within these pages but the following brief information demonstrates the high quality of angling that is available. Venues are arranged alphabetically.
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Salmon run the Earn system from springtime right through to the closing of the season. The main runs start with the arrival of grilse and continue into the autumn when historically some huge fish weighing over forty pounds have been encountered. September and October tend to be the most prolific salmon fishing months. In addition to salmon, the Earn enjoys excellent runs of sea trout, providing great evening and night sport for the intrepid fly fishermen. Like its salmon the Earn sea trout are known for their decent size, with trout of four and five pounds not being unusual.
Brown trout thrive well in the fertile water and most famous of all are the Earn grayling. This species roams the river in large shoals. It is a grayling anglers dream with lots and lots of excellent quality fish. Loch Earn is about seven miles long and a mile across. It contains good numbers of brown trout, charr and rainbow trout, and some of them weigh several pounds. Fishing is available from bank or boat and fly-fishing, bait and spinning is allowed.
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| River Ericht |
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Blairgowrie Angling Club beats below the town provide some good fishing, especially during the springtime. Come the month of May salmon will have penetrated the upper reaches and the tributaries. This is small river fishing and most sport can be enjoyed with a single-handed rod and small flies. After summer floods the Ericht system enjoys really good grilse runs that continue on any rise of water right to the end of the season.
Whilst the Ericht is now well known for its salmon, it also maintains a very good trout population. A casual glance at the pictures in Kate Fleming’s tackle shop in Blairgowrie and a sight of the 6 lb plus trout caught on a dry fly is convincing. The lower reaches at the Grange of Aberbothrie offer the chance of salmon, trout or grayling. This little known river system offers lots of opportunities along its rich and varied length.
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A glance at an Ordnance Survey Map of the area reveals a number of hill lochs scattered throughout Tayside. Together they represent lots of lovely fishing in magnificent surroundings and provide a uniquely Scottish experience. These are often lonely places where only the sounds of nature disturb the silence. Eagles, ravens, osprey, curlew, red deer, otter and wildcat are just a few of the creatures that break the angler’s concentration as he casts for native brown trout, those colourful survivors that emerge from under the ice in springtime to feast on a diet of insects. Although the legal trout season begins in March it is usually well into May before the warmth of the season reaches higher altitudes and brings the trout to the surface. Picture loch_broom.jpg Boats are available on some of the lochs. Drifting across the waves casting a short line and working a team of three or four wet flies back to the boat is the usual method. If the wind is strong employing a drogue can reduce the speed of the boat giving the anglers a better chance to cover the water.
Without a boat the angler wades or fishes from the bank using a similar technique, casting and working the flies back, walking around likely shores seeking out areas where trout are most likely to feed. Favourite places are where a burn enters bringing with it a supply of insects and rocky outcrops or other features likely to provide shelter and food for the trout. Water depths of between two feet and five are ideal, especially along shelves where the fish can seek protection in the nearby depths. Trout of the hill lochs are typically less than a pound in weight and sometimes only half of that. Some lochs have better quality feeding that sustains trout that are larger than usual, perhaps up to two pounds. However what these fish lack in size, they more than make up for in fighting qualities. Large trout are sometimes caught, occasionally into double figures. These specimens are individuals that have relinquished their customary insect diet for fish and they spend their time feeding upon smaller trout and charr.
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This picturesque stream rises in Glen Isla. The upper reaches have a good population of brown trout that survive on a meagre diet; consequently they are not large but usually free taking. This is an excellent place for the beginner to start river fishing. Further downstream the Isla settles down to a series of lovely pools and runs and becomes an excellent trout and grayling river that produces good fish. It fishes well from early season when hatches of olives and march browns occur. Above its confluence with the Ericht there are occasional salmon. Below the Ericht the Isla acts as a corridor for the larger runs of salmon and grilse that are heading for the tributary and so it becomes a decent salmon river in its own right. There are several oxbows and slow flowing reaches where pike and, more recently, roach have taken up residence. Trout and grayling are present everywhere except in the upper reaches where only trout are present.
Much of the trout fishing on the Isla is administered by the Strathmore Angling Improvement Association who provide fishing at very reasonable cost.
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Loch Leven is Scotland’s most famous trout-fishing loch. The loch has 48 large boats, each of which can take up to three anglers. There is ample parking and a new custom designed Scottish Angling Centre including function rooms, tackle shop, resturant and a bar. Up to 180,000 eggs or small Loch Leven brown trout are stocked each year. In addition to this 35,000 rainbows are being reared to over 1 pound in weight before being released from the Loch’s private rearing facility. Strong, tackle testing rainbow trout of over 10 lbs have been landed since their introduction.
Fly fishing styles here have changed over the years. Traditionally a slow sink line with four wet flies would be used. These flies still work on occasions but nowadays anglers go afloat with selections ranging from delicate dry flies and buzzers to brightly coloured lures that resemble paintbrushes or dusting mops more than real insects. Whatever fly you choose a casual day in a drifting boat upon Loch Leven is highly recommended. Anglers hold the loch in high esteem and deservedly so, here you have a combination of history, heritage and great fly fishing opportunities that are second to none.
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Glen Lyon is a particularly beautiful place and through it runs the river of that name like a silver ribbon. Sometimes it runs broken and shallow interspersed by deep pools, other parts open out to form slow loch-like reaches. Further downstream the river tumbles energetically through rocky gorges. The river has some excellent trout fishing throughout its length. Fine wild brown trout of 2 pounds or more are occasionally caught, especially in the late spring when the flies are hatching profusely. Olives and caddis provide the bulk of the feeding.
There are several good salmon beats on the Lyon. The river fishes best when there is a drop of water in it and since most the flow is controlled by dams, artificial freshets are the favourite time to be on stream because the extra water entices the fish to move upstream and provide sport. The Lyon is a comfortable river to fish. Most of it can be easily covered with a single handed rod during normal conditions but a double handed salmon rod is useful for controlling the fly in some of the more difficult water.
Loch Faskally is artificial, created to stabilise river flows below the dam at Pitlochry. This town is a major angling centre. Salmon, brown trout, pike, perch and grayling are caught in the loch.
Below Faskally, the river is known as the Lower Tummel and here at last it assumes its rightful proportions. It is a large fast flowing river, running over a cobbled bed that contains excellent feeding for large numbers of brown trout and grayling. These fish thrive in the fast water and this combined with excellent access has lead to the Lower Tummel being recognised as one of the best trout rivers in Scotland. Huge hatches of olives and caddis occur at times. Spring salmon fishing is good here also, April and May being the hot months. Water permitting, good runs of grilse also occur as they head towards the Rivers Garry and Tilt.
Dunmore Loch close to Pitlochry offers the coarse angler fishing for a variety of species including tench, roach, perch & pike.
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| River Tummel |
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The headwaters drain Loch Laidon at the eastern end of Rannoch Moor to the west, and extend via Lochs Errochty and Garry to the River Tilt in the east, a vast area of the highlands. The River Gaur leaves Rannoch moor and heads east through Loch Eigheach before ending its course at Loch Rannoch, the home of charr, ferrox trout, brown trout and mighty pike. The infant River Tummel leaves the loch at Kinloch Rannoch and continues its eastward journey through Dunalastair Reservoir. This shallow loch was created by the hydro scheme and it has a huge variety of insect life that sustains some very large brown trout. They are not easy to catch but well worth the effort. Its root-infested waters are also the home to some enormous pike. From Dunalastair the River Tummel continues through some beautiful pine forest and a series of cascades until it reaches Loch Tummel, a natural loch that was increased 18 feet in depth by the hydro scheme. Below Clunie Dam at the east end of the loch the River Tummel again emerges, to flow in much diminished volume towards Loch Faskally at Pitlochry. This is a dramatic stretch of river, rock worn into amazing sculptures over millions of years by the water and it contains some very interesting trout fishing.
Loch Faskally is fed by two rivers the Tummel as mentioned and the Garry that enters from the north. Most of the Garry and its tributaries the Bruar and Errochty are affected by abstraction but the beats up to Blair Atholl where the River Tilt enters offer some good salmon fishing. Practically all of the fish are heading for the Tilt, a tumultuous stream that issues from the dramatic landscape of Glen Tilt. It fishes well on a falling spate.
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| River Tay (Islamouth to Perth) |
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Now swelled by the waters of the Isla, the Tay becomes a truly mighty and magnificent river. There are a number opportunities to fish famous beats during spring and early summer when the fishing is not usually at its best but given the right conditions great fishing can be picked up at very reasonable prices. Less well known is the lower Tay’s excellent trout fishing. Overshadowed by its salmon fishing many visiting anglers never think of the opportunities for brown trout and grayling that exist here. Good numbers of specimen fish of both species inhabit these large dark pools. April and May are the best months for predictable fly hatches. Large dark olives start the rises, march browns usually emerge in April and then the medium olives and BWOs appear as the season progresses. Through the summer months evening fishing is by far the best opportunity.
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| River Tay (Ballinluig to Islamouth) |
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At the confluence with the River Tummel the Tay becomes a large and powerful river, big enough to use boats for salmon fishing in all but the lowest of levels. Immediately below the junction is Lower Kinnaird a picturesque salmon beat that is characterised by gravel runs and good fly fishing water. From here down there are a number of famous salmon beats including Murthly and Glendelvine. It was here on Saturday 7th October 1922 a young lass by the name of Miss Georgina Ballantine made history by landing the current UK record rod caught salmon weighing 64 pounds. Once through the bridge at Caputh the river pace slackens a little as it meanders towards Islamouth.
There is some excellent trout and grayling fishing available throughout this portion of the river that extends to a length of about 18 miles. It probably holds some of the largest river brown trout in the country. Every year several specimens around the five-pound mark are landed. Like the upper river it is the skilled dry fly and nymph angler who is most likely to succeed. Just upstream of Dunkeld the Tay is joined by the River Braan that flows from Loch Freuchie down Strathbraan and through “The Hermitage” a local beauty spot with it’s fine woods and waterfall. The Braan is well known for excellent traditional brown trout river fishing.
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| River Tay (Kenmore to Ballinluig) |
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From its gentle birth below the Kenmore Bridge the infant River Tay flows eastwards picking up the River Lyon en route to Aberfeldy. Continuing in the same direction it meets its main tributary, the River Tummel at Ballinluig, a total distance of around twenty miles as the river flows. There are several interesting salmon beats in the first few miles of its journey, the best pools being around its junction with the River Lyon. Trout fishing in the Upper Tay can be excellent at times. Several of the angling clubs that oversee the fishing have encouraged conservation and catch and release, measures that are obviously paying off handsomely. Dry fly fishing is particularly effective during olive and caddis hatches, at other times nymphs and wet flies are best.
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This is a big loch, some sixteen miles long and a mile in breadth. Parts of it are deep and most of its fishing potential is around its wooded shoreline. The loch acts like a giant reservoir for the River Tay that exits from its eastern end at the village of Kenmore. Salmon fishing on the loch produces a few monsters between twenty and thirty pounds each year. Trolling using Rapala plugs, Kynoch Killers, spoons and minnows is the most effective methods for salmon fishing. In addition to salmon there are goodly numbers of trout, charr, pike and roach. This latter fish appeared in numbers only recently and concentrates with the pike at the Killin end of the loch. Trout can be caught by bait or fly all around the loch. Several operators offer boats for hire for trout and salmon fishing.
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| River Tay - General |
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This is a vast system that carries the largest volume of freshwater in Britain. To simplify matters the Tay is described in sections that relate to the major tributaries and divide the river into upper, middle and lower sections.
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| River South Esk |
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Salmon are present in the river when the season opens but they are slow to pass upstream in low temperatures. Once the temperature rises to 6 degrees C and the water levels are suitable fresh fish quickly run upstream. The middle reaches usually enjoy their first sport around the middle of March. In a normal year the second week of April will see the arrival of fresh springers in Glen Clova. May is the best month for spring salmon fishing. Given water, grilse can be expected on summer floods from June onwards and later in the season fresh fish continue to arrive in the lower beats until the close.
River South Esk is best known for its runs of sea trout. Some years huge numbers of sea trout pack into its pools and provide fantastic fly fishing opportunities, especially during the hours of darkness and when the river is fining down after a spate. Loch Brandy and Loch Wharral are reached by fairly steep hikes from the road in Glen Clova. The trout they contain are not large, but they are numerous, wild and beautiful.
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| Rescobie Loch and River Lunan |
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From its marshy beginning the infant Lunan flows into Rescobie Loch, a shallow, fertile basin extending to 200 acres that provides excellent fishing. The records stand at 7lb 4oz for brown trout, 11lb 3oz for rainbow and no doubt there are bigger specimens in the loch. Rainbows put on weight quickly with the rich feeding and a four-pound trout that fights like crazy is not exceptional. Average weights are an impressive 2lbs for brown trout and 2lb 4oz for rainbows. The fishing is run from the boathouse on the B9113 Forfar – Montrose Road, which is manned each day between 0830 and 1000 hrs. Out with these hours an honesty system operates to allow anglers to obtain permits.
From Rescobie the Lunan continues its journey towards the coast via Balgavies Loch, a nature reserve where angling is not allowed. Then the river flows towards the village of Froickhiem at leisurely pace and continues onwards to reach the sea over the lovely sandy beach at Lunan Bay, a total distance of about 20 miles.
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| River North Esk |
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This varied and beautiful river system is well known for the excellent fishing that it provides for salmon, sea trout, brown trout and charr. Salmon are expected at the beginning of the season from the lowest pools at Kinnaber to the Loups at Gannochy, upstream of Edzell. During February and March the lower river will produce good sport as many fish hold below Morphie Dyke until the temperature is six degrees C or higher. Once the water temperature rises fish move quickly upstream towards Gannochy but they will not ascend into the upper reaches until the water temperature is around 8 degrees C. Usually fish reach Glen Esk by the middle of May. Sea trout can be caught anywhere in the system and large numbers of them run the River Westwater rather than the main stem. This river also enjoys a good run of grilse and salmon but it is truly a spate river and needs water to fish at its best. Loch Lee is the source of the North Esk and it fishes exactly like any other highland loch, with the added attraction that it contains large numbers of artic charr, relics of the last ice age. These gorgeous creatures occasionally gather in the shallows to provide good sport.
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| Trout Fishery |
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| Loch Rannoch |
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| Loch Tummel |
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| Sea Fishing |
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