It would be fair to say that the 2024 Scottish salmon run has been nothing short of spectacular on most salmon rivers across Scotland. After a poor spring run many anglers had feared the worst. Indeed it was felt that it could turn out to be the one of the most difficult seasons in recent times. However nature has a great way of surprising us and the Scottish summer salmon run was nothing short of remarkable.
Usually the summer run in Scotland starts in July and goes on through until the beginning of September. Of course this depends on the river that your are fishing. On some rivers the summer salmon and grilse can arrive a little earlier. This year the summer fish seemed to arrive early and they just kept coming. On many rivers the run started in mid to late May and continued all the way through until early September. What was remarkable was not just the numbers of fish that entered the rivers over the summer period but also the size and the quality of fish.
Some of the fish caught on Scottish rivers in June and early July were big and resembled early season springers. They had big spots and massive tails. The power of some of these fish was second to none giving anglers some fantastic sport. When these fish were hooked it felt like you were hooked into a tank! Across Scotland fish of well over twenty pounds were being landed on a regular basis and there were an abundance of these top quality larger summer salmon. Fish were being caught in decent numbers from rivers like the Thurso in the north to the likes of the River Spey, Tay, Tweed and Dee. It was good to see almost every river in Scotland getting its moment in the sun. This meant there were so many happy salmon anglers with big smiles who visited Scotland this summer and have vowed to return next year.
Most of the larger summer salmon seemed to run the Scottish rivers during the first part of the summer and then from August onwards there were good runs of grilse entering the rivers. This ensured that there was good sport to be had until the end of the season. It was good to see so many anglers excited and looking forward to their fishing holiday in Scotland not just hoping to catch the king of fish but also expecting to catch good numbers of large salmon.
So why the sudden increase in the summer run this year? Well everyone has his or her own theories. There is absolutely no doubt that the runs of summer salmon and grilse in Scotland this year were much bigger than normal and of course having more fish in our Scottish rivers always helps catches. However most of the larger salmon run our Scottish rivers in a four-year cycle. This takes us back to 2020, the year of Covid. For a period of time during the first half of 2020 there was no commercial angling in the high seas. This meant that smaller fish that the salmon feed on were not being hovered up by fishing boats and trawlers. In addition to this the adult salmon returning to our Scottish rivers were also not being caught by fishing boats meaning that more adult fish were returning to the rivers to spawn. In essence the lack of commercial fishing pressure may have led to an improved Scottish salmon summer run this year.
With 2024 being the most productive Salmon Fishing Season in Scotland for over 5 years, theres no better time to book you fishing trip to Scotland and experience all that Scotland has to offer.
It is likely that the weather also played a big factor. It has been quite a cool and wet summer in Scotland this year. This has meant there has been regular lifts in water which has definitely helped with the salmon fishing. This has meant that numbers of salmon and grilse entering our rivers have been constant. In addition to this there has been no prolonged heat wave so the water temperature in our rivers has not been too high as is often the case during the summer months. As well all know hot weather and low, warm water conditions are hardly conducive to good salmon fishing.
It may be a combination of all these factors but the truth is that we will never know. With some salmon fishing beats being more than 200% up on catches compared to previous years in the summer this shows the remarkable nature of the Scottish summer salmon run this year. To be honest it really does not matter why the catches have improved so dramatically in Scotland this summer. As anglers we all hope that this is a trend that will continue next year and for future years to come. In addition to this if there is an upturn in the Scottish spring salmon run then there will be many happy anglers salmon fishing in Scotland next year!
