The Best Salmon and trout fishing near St Andrews
The Dundee, Perth and St Andrews areas have some of our best rivers and lochs for salmon and trout fishing in Scotland. The River Tay is less than an hour away and is one of Scotland’s big 4 rivers. The Tay River runs for 117 miles and its source is on the West coast of Scotland. The fishing season runs from 15th January to 15th October, and salmon can be caught all year.
A typical fly fishing day for salmon on the River Tay runs like this. Alba Game Fishing collect you from your hotel. Perth is 10 minutes from the river, Dundee 35 minutes away and St Andrews 50 minutes from the beat we use. We work closely with Pittormie Castle, Fairmont St Andrews and The Old Course and regularly pick guests up for trout and salmon days.
What is a river ghillie?
On arrival at the riverside, you will be given a warm welcome, and offered tea or coffee. This is a chance to chat with the resident ghillie. For the record, a ghillie is responsible for the day to day running of the beat, your safety and for ensuring you have a memorable day. It so happens that the beat we use for salmon fishing on the River Tay has one of the River Tays best ghillie’s and he is also a professional casting instructor. The ghillie would also be responsible for the other anglers fishing on the beat that day. Therefore that’s where the fishing guide comes in. Working as a team, your Alba Game Fishing guide will be on your shoulder all day assisting you, pointing out salmon lies, giving casing tips and ensuring your safety.
Trout Fishing Lochs (Lakes) near St Andrews
There are a number of great stillwaters near St Andrews and in the Perth and Dundee area. Lochs are more productive than rivers in this area for catching wild brown?trout and rainbow trout. The trout lochs are all fly fishing method only. There is a loch near Dundee which makes the perfect trout fishery for a half-day excursion from St Andrews. Its located in the hills and we took the Formula One racing driver David Coulthard there once for a day and he really enjoyed the experience.
Guests who want to try different fly rod and line combinations can enjoy a selection of Orvis, Clearwater, Helios 2 and 3 rods, as well as Sage LL trout rods and single weight spey rods.
If guests do not want to bring waterproof jackets and trousers, we are happy to supply them, simply let us know sizes beforehand.
Many of these fishing spots are close to the film locations for the popular TV series “Outlander”. We would be happy to detour en-route to let you visit them.
