Salmon Season is Open on the River Tay!
The salmon fishing season opened on the River Tay on the 15th January with the traditional celebrations taking place as usual. The 2015 season was officially opened this year by TV actor and keen fisherman Paul Young in the town of Dunkeld. There were good crowds following a bagpiper through the town and along the river with many carrying out the usual toast of “tight lines” followed by the throwing of a glass of whisky. There were similar ceremonies at Kenmore and Meikleour even though the weather conditions were far from pleasant. The Tay is the longest river in Scotland at around 117 miles and originates in western Scotland on the slopes of Ben Lui in the Scottish Highlands. Its mouth is at the Firth of Tay, just south of Dundee and is also the largest river in the UK by volume of discharge. This year also sees the start of the new ‘no kill’ rule which came in to force on the 9th January. The new legislation means that all salmon caught prior to April must be released back into the water unharmed. This will actually make little difference to most of the anglers currently fishing the Tay as the previous conservation code was for 90% of the salmon caught before April was required to be released. Notable improvements in catch numbers have been seen over the last couple of seasons and the changes in legislation have been widely welcomed by anglers. You can find all fly fishing season dates for the rivers across Scotland in our handy guide we posted previously. To book fishing on the Tay go to www.fishpal.com
