Fishing the Dry Fly for Brown Trout – Rivers Tay, Spey, Tweed
Trout angling on the rivers in Scotland, peaks in April. Some of the trout can be found early in the season by targeting on the dry fly. It’s been a cruel winter in Scotland. As a result as we creep into Spring, fishing has been slow and salmon thin on the ground. However, the meagre hatches of fly have produced short concentrated hatches of Olives. and we have caught trout on all three Scottish rivers in early April.
Yesterday we were on the River Tweed with a group of 6 guests. 5 were learning to fly fish for the first time and Dad Harry an experienced trout fisherman. Harry, eventually hooked into a good sized trout and the initial few minutes of the fight were fairly sedate until the trout woke up. I estimate the fish was over 5 pounds and after 3 or 4 acrobatic leaps, it took all the fly line and some of the backing, and then was gone.</p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>
<p><p>Believe me, when a large fish comes off, the guide probably feels as much pain as the client!
Big Brownie caught on the Tweed
Later that day, we did catch and release a lovely brown trout of 3lb 2oz. Matt, who lives in Australia normally enjoys sea fishing had his first encounter with a Scottish Wild Trout. Again a spectacular fight.(photo above)
In mid-April, we were fishing on the Spey for salmon and the fishing was slow. Just after lunch, a prolific hatch of Olives, some of the biggest I’ve seen, came on around 2 pm. There were two or three fish showing on the far shore. has a slack pocket of water and there was more activity over there. Luckily there was a bridge so we swapped to the right bank. As soon as we arrived a big trout was head and tailing, nothing subtle about the rise, you could see this was a big fish, by the size of its tail.
Our guest, a retired Finance Director from Texas, demonstrated some wonderful casting and in no time, his rod was bent
into the trout. This fish was around 3-pound fish and a little lean. Without doubt it would have tipped the scales beyond 4lb, in normal condition.
The River Tay, one of Scotland’s best rivers
The River Tay holds some huge trout. Whilst salmon fishing last week in early April, we stopped for a short while to target trout and grayling. Nothing huge this time, but a nice sea trout, a grayling and a decent trout of about a pound in weight.
Some of the Orvis guides got together for a day of casting practice and fly fishing on the Tay in late March. At 3 pm, there was a small hatch of Olives and I tempted this wee sea trout on a dry. Sea trout rises are usually easy to distinguish, as they can be more gregarious on the surface when taking dries. 
River Tay Sea Trout on a dry fly
In addition a few tasty trout were caught by the guides. One fish tipped the scales at 3lb and another bigger fish was lost, when it shook the hook.
If you are interested trout fishing on these rivers in Scotland, please do get in touch
Alba Game Fishing support and are a Trade Member of the Wild Brown Trout Trust and practice catch and release for all species of fish.
