Over the past few days, the summer salmon fishing season in Scotland has really gained some momentum. There have been good numbers of hard fighting grilse and larger summer salmon caught from many of Scotland’s rivers. This has been great news for visiting anglers and many have caught there first ever salmon. A moment that will live with them forever.
The weather in the past few weeks has definitely helped with it being such a wet July. This does appear to be the catalyst for the Scottish summer salmon fishing season to be in full swing. There has been no prolonged heatwave (unlike 2022) and this combined with regular showers or longer spells of rain has helped to keep conditions fresh and river levels up. The cooler weather has also meant that water temperatures have not risen too much and so sport has been good on many rivers.
In the Scottish Highlands rivers like the Thurso, Helmsdale and Ness have all been fishing well and producing good numbers of fish. With good water levels there seems a steady stream of fresh salmon entering the rivers on a regular basis and this had lad to consistent catches.
The numbers of fish caught on some of Scotland’s larger salmon rivers has also been impressive. Over the last few weeks on the River Spey there was some excellent sport enjoyed by anglers with no shortage of fresh salmon landed. Most beats caught decent numbers of fish and ghillies on the river seemed to be very optimistic about the salmon fishing prospects in the weeks ahead.
It was not only the River Spey that enjoyed good catches. Last week saw one of the most productive week of the season so far on the River Tay . A number of fish caught were close to the twenty pounds mark and many of the fish were fresh and sea liced. Traditionally, August and September are prime months on the River Tay especially for beats situated on the lower river. This is when large numbers of fish can be caught from these beats. In the not too distant future some of the larger autumn salmon should start running the Tay system and these fish can put up a terrific fight.
August usually sees catches start to pick up on the River Tweed and the last few weeks has been no exception. River levels have been at a good height and in spite of few days being lost due to high water there has been some good sport to be had up and down the river. There have also been some large Sea trout caught some weighing into double figures. The Sea trout fishing on the Tweed can often be a welcome distraction especially if the salmon are not playing ball!
We are now well into the second half of the salmon fishing season in Scotland and it is good to see many anglers with big smiles on their faces. Hopefully this will continue until the end of the season. So, if you are contemplating a salmon fishing holiday in Scotland over the next few weeks don’t hesitate. Conditions are currently excellent on many rivers and their decent numbers of fish around. It is just great to see the Scottish summer salmon fishing season in full swing!
