The River Tay is one of UK’s top rivers, internationally renowned for its salmon fishing. It is one of the best salmon rivers in the UK, indeed in the European Union. Anglers come from all over the world to fish it. Some of them are clients of Angling Club Lax-á, as we have aquired rods on some of the finest beats on the river.
The Tay also has many smaller tributaries which are also excellent salmon fisheries. It is set amid the splendid scenery of Perthshire, one of Scotland's most beautiful and enchanting counties..
The River Tay is in the centre of Scotland, and is the largest river in Britain. Two of its branches, the Dochart and the Tummel rise only miles from the the heads of lochs Fyne and Etive on Scotland's west coast and travel over 100 miles to empty into the North Sea at Dundee on Scotland's east coast. The river and its many large tributaries drain an area of 3,000 square miles giving an average flow of about 200 cubic metres per second, the greatest flow of any river in the country..
The river runs through very varied country. The various headwaters rise in the Grampian Mountains and the spectacular and wild Western Highlands, but by the time the Tay reaches the estuary at Perth the country is gently rolling fertile farmland..
There are many large lochs on its way, some of which have been harnessed to produce electricity. This helps to regulate the flow in the Tay, dampening out big floods but maintaining a sufficient flow to allow salmon to enter the river even in the worst droughts.
The Tay is perhaps the most famous salmon river in the British Isles. Until recently catches were higher than any other river. In the past many of the salmon entering the Tay were caught by nets. In 1969 for example over 90,000 salmon were netted from the river.
However, in 1997 the last of the commercial nets were bought out by the Tay Foundation for conservation purposes and have been closed down. Angling has long been popular on the Tay and it was famed for producing big salmon. No other river in Scotland could equal it. The British record salmon of 64lbs was caught on the Glendelvine beat by Miss Georgina Ballantine in 1922 and many other fish over 40lbs have been caught..
Nowadays such fish are very rare but many more fish return as grilse than was the case in those days. Within the last decade rod catches have twice exceeded 14,000 and the record catch of over 15,000 was made only in 1989. No other British river has ever been able to boast such productivity. It is perhaps a little unfair however to ascribe all the glory to the Tay, but in fact many of the fish caught are actually landed in its many tributaries like the Isla, Tummel, Lyon, Dochart and Earn, all fine salmon rivers in their own right..
