HOPE SPRINGS

It’s still early days, but all the indications point to the new season’s salmon fishing being very promising

Jon Gibb has high hopes for Scotland’s 2015 salmon fishing season

With another salmon fishing season already upon us, there seems to be cautious optimism stirring along the riverbanks of Scotland. If the opening of the Tweed is anything to go by, the horrors of last year’s dismal catches are behind us: runs of early fish look to be significantly better so far.

The famous Junction Pool at Kelso had its best opening day since 1976, with ten sea-liced springers landed. A further six spring fish up to 19lbs were also taken that day by a party of Swedes on the Floors beat just upstream. Junction scored a highly impressive 33 for the first full week of fishing. Last year, by contrast, saw just six fish for the entire month of February.

The Dee, meanwhile, often viewed as the premier spring river in the country, had a less impressive start. With over 100 rods fishing on opening day, less was caught than the four rods managed at Junction. It just goes to show that, in this game, you need a lot of luck to be in the right place at the right time.

The other major Scottish spring salmon river that has had a solid start is the Tay. This mighty stream has been making a slow and steady comeback over the last few seasons, particularly in the early months.

Last year the Tay’s Burnmouth beat had its best March since 1980 and landed 140 salmon during the spring period. Just a few years ago such returns would have been unthinkable.

It is perhaps relevant that the Tay management has been undertaking a comprehensive ova stocking programme in the headwaters close to where spring salmon are known to spawn. In January, Tay fisheries manager David Summers felt that the decent early start on the river might mean that the lack of grilse in 2014 has resulted in a better run of fish this spring – fish that have stayed the extra year at sea and returned as full-grown salmon. Certainly the current scientific thinking from the North Atlantic would seem to suggest that the oceanic conditions are favouring those fish that spend longer at sea.

This season I’ve decided to give the Tay more of my (sadly limited) fishing time. Like many people, the daunting size of the Tay has rather discouraged me from putting it on my destination list. But, as one ghillie pointed out to me, a salmon pool on the Tay has to be divided into manageable fishing chunks.

Nowhere is this more so than on the 125 ft-deep Linn Pool on the famous Stobhall beat near Stanley. This massive swirling chasm of a pool, which acts as a resting place and temperature barrier to spring fish, is really four salmon pools in one, and forms the heart of this tremendously productive yet easily accessible lower Tay beat.

Bob Campbell has been looking after Stobhall for more than 30 years and knows exactly how to put his guests over the lies and break down the sheer size of the river into fishable sections. Six rods cover two and a half miles of single bank and boat fishing, and a warm fishing hut with a roaring wood-burner is a welcome addition during the cold spring months.

But for those who really can’t get their heads round the volume of the lower Tay, there’s a well-known beat further upstream that is far more intimate and gentle yet has also been scoring well in the early months.

Dunkeld House has two miles of stunning river set in beautiful Perthshire countryside. It has had a great start to 2015, kicked off by Stirlingshire’s Willie Cummings landing a spanking fresh 19lbs fish in deep snow on opening day and winning the coveted Redford Trophy.

The Dunkeld House pools offer a mix of choppy runs, deep holding water and gravelly glides, perfect for swimming a fly. Both boat and bank tickets are available, and the beat is serviced by head ghillie Gordon Pollock, who is great company both in and out of the boat.

It is becoming clear that the early part of the season now offers some of the best sport of the year. So it is wonderful to discover that some of the very best spring fishing available in the country is readily accessible at a reasonable price – both the Stobhall and Dunkeld House beats can be booked for £30 to £50 per day on www.fishpal.com

‘In this game, you need a lot of luck to be in the right place at the right time’