Tay

[johnmac]

hard lines! another day maybe..... hopefully the lost fish is heading my way.... up the River Ericht!!

[iainjay]

Have booked a day at Catholes & Pitlochrie in a couple of weeks.Any tips would be most welcome.I understand that on a Friday it's Pitlochrie that you fish.Never been before but get the impression it's a BIG piece of river,(scary)

Cheers

[Fruin]

Iainjay,

Don't be put off by the size of the Tay. Just fish within your capabilities. If you are casting from the bank just ignore everything outwith your effective casting range. Most fish will run close to the banks. Even the boats, when harling, rarely stray far from one of the banks.

Good Luck

[iainjay]

Thanks Fruin,sound advice.Still a bit nervous at turning up somewhere new.not knowing anyone and making a complete @rse of myself.

Cheers

[tyneandrew]

I was fishing on the Pitlochry beat for three days last week. We had a 22lb'er there just below the old mill. Harling offers the best chance of fish, but the bank fishing is still good. Spinning, no prob's from bank. Fly fishing, as long as you can get 30yds of line out then you will be fine with it. Lots of good water to go at at the bottom of the beat.

The top half is the Pitlochry Pool, otherwise known as The Pool. Think it deserves that name! Mainly a harling pool though.

[iainjay]

Thanks Tyneandrew,will stick to fly from the bank,don't want to spin and know nuttin' about harling.Sink tip-biggish fly maybe?

[tyneandrew]

It depends on the height and temp as usual. If it is running around the 2ft mark then an intermediate will be best, but you could get away with a floater and sink tip. The water is not amazingly deep to be honest, so there is not much need for a full sinker. Unless the water is really up of course.

Best bets are opposite the Mill from the black and white post down. And also right at the bottom of the beat in Horsey and at the tail end before it goes don into the Skellies (big set of rapids).

[macsalmo]

Does anybody know what the average temp is on the Tay/Isla at the moment. I am going up in a couple of weeks and wondered if I need to tie some big flies or not ?

Macsalmo

[Fruin]

The temprature on the middle Tay on Monday morning was 42F but we are due a cold snap.

[kercock]

And it was 42 f this morning too, (Thursday), and the air was as cold as a witches tit.

[johnmac]

thats 5.5oC in new money!! The Ericht was a balmy 6.7oC by the end of today.....there were certainly a few guys out.... but i dont know how they faired!

[Fruin]

kercock said:

....and the air was as cold as a witches tit.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[macsalmo]

Thats a good one.

Thanks for the info lads.
Would you up date me for the 27th please

[wilbert]

Coupar Grange has had an excellent week with no fewer than 65 fish reported on the fish Tay site.
www.fishtay.co.uk/pages/catches.asp?dom=FishTay

[tynetraveller]

Yeah, I've just come back from two and a half days on the Isla at Islabank, a few fish running through, but none stopping- All headed for Coupar Grange no doubt. I managed a few kelts on the fly, but no fresh fish. every one else was chucking cutlery around, but fared no better if not worse..

Fished the Tyne yesterday afternoon at Bywell quarry, but no sign of fish.

[kercock]

Tynetraveller,a good mate of mine was fishing the left bank (Coupar Angus )Keithock Angling Clubwater,opposite Islabank,Chatting to an Islabank rod,was told that they had had at least six fish today,one guy had five to his own rod,all on the worm, all executed.

[johnmac]

five fish to one rod?? i thought you were only allowed one fish taken per day on the Tay? or is that just an Ericht thing? Coupar Grange continues to do well........ there must be a mass of fish held up there! sod's law the next bit of rain will bring the mother of all spated and they'll all bugger off through! Or even more likely, the river will rise this weekend, and be fishing great....seeing as i'm working! typical!

[kercock]

John,the ericht was full of fish on saturday, ALL the pools had numbers of fish in them, they would look at FA. Several mates were down,all of them saw fish,none of them caught any, as I said before,once they are in the river there are always fish lurking somewhere,try a full floater and a smaller fly perhaps.
Nobody needs five fish . For some,the only way to prove they had five fish is to show five bodies. These people should not be allowed back on any beat,but then perhaps Islabank is the only beat they are allowed on !

[tynetraveller]

Yeah, I did get the impression that they were not at all worried about the catch and release regulations. They were talking about some heavy fish they had caught and I mentioned that I have a ruler marked on to my rod for estimating weight and they said 'don't worry about that, we have scales in the hut'- I told them the fish would be going back!

It was also mentioned that very few of the Coupar Grange fish were put back into the river..

[tyneandrew]

Coupar Grange sounds horrendous from what i've heard.

A constant army of metal throwers armed with priests going through some major holding pools below the Erict Junction?

Someone please correct me if this is not the case?