Description
The best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland – a sporting challenge
The best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland are the River Tay, River Spey, River Tweed and River Dee. These rivers are known in Scotland as “The Big 4 Rivers”. Scotland has a rich heritage and wealth of choice when it comes to fishing for Atlantic Salmon. Nonetheless, these are rivers that any self respecting salmon angler should include in their bucket list.
Secondly, this fly fishing package gives you and opportunity to fish all four rivers at your own pace. As a result, will be guided by salmon fishing experts. Additionally, your guides will help you learn or fine tune your Spey Casting techniques. Moreover, you will also enjoy fantastic hospitality and accommodation. This is one of the great sporting challenges in Scotland, and a worthy addition to the angling “Bucket List”.
Fishing permit prices on these rivers vary week to week, so to obtain an accurate proposal, please include your fishing dates for each river in your enquiry.
What order should you approach this challenge?
Fish the best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland four rivers in this order. This will minimise travel. First the River Tweed, then the River Tay, Dee and Spey in that order.
Day one – Salmon Fishing River Tweed
Firstly, you will fish the historic and mighty River Tweed. This river is located south of Edinburgh and is 97 miles long. Naturally, depending on the conditions, we will select a beat of the river that offers the best chance. Also prices vary greatly throughout the season. The season on the Tweed runs from 1st February to 30th November. This is one of the best 4 salmon rivers in Europe, let alone Scotland.
To summarise, three of our guides live and breathe the Tweed. The River Tweed guides will help you maximise your enjoyment and chance of a fish.
Salmon fishing River Tay
To begin with The River Tay is Scotland’s largest salmon river. In fact the catchment area stretches over to the West Coast. Secondly, the Tay is 117 miles long and home to the current biggest salmon caught in the UK. Weighing in at 64lbs and caught by Miss Georgina Ballantine in 1922, in the Boatpool in Glendelvine after a 105 minute battle. Also there have been many huge fish since and it’s not unusual to see large salmon of 30lb plus being caught each season. In conclusion, the Tay is a big river, so having a professional guide is essential. In summary, your guide will know yhe best tactics for the Tay at each point in the season.
Salmon fishing on the River Spey
The third river to target, is salmon fishing on the River Spey. Winding its way through the Spey valley past famous distilleries like Glenfarclas and the Macallan, the iconic and magical Spey offer some of the best salmon fly fishing waters in Scotland. Rich in fishing heritage and tradition, the Spey is the home of Spey Casting techniques.
In fact Spey Casting, is thought to have originated on the Wester Elchies and Gordon Castle beats in the mid 1800’s. The techniques for fishing the Spey vary throughout the year and having a professional guide is invaluable to optimize your chances of success. The beats we use vary greatly in price and are spread throughout the middle and lower end of the system.
Finally because of the streamy fast flowing water of the Spey, this makes it one of the Best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland.
Day four – The River Dee, Salmon Fishing
The final river is the wonderful sporting challenge is the mighty River Dee in Aberdeenshire. This river flows from the hills above Total Deeside, towards Aberdeen, where it meets the North Sea.
The Dee is a superb salmon river, offering great variety of fly fishing water and stunning scenery. The best way to catch a salmon on the River Dee, comes down to local knowledge. Being selective about what beat to fish, according to current river levels. Our fishing guides live and work on the River Dee daily. They understand the best flies, techniques and where the salmon lie in different water levels.
River Ness not be overlooked
Despite nt being thought of as one of the Best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland, the River Ness should not be overlooked. Firstly, the Ness flows from Dochfour weir at Loch Ness, 6 miles, through Inverness town centre. Remarkably, the river Ness doesn’t suffer like other Scottish rivers during a drought. Indeed, there is such a vast reserve of water in Loch Ness, it stabilises the flow of the river, even when we go through a prolonged dry spell. It’s a well known fact, that Loch Ness holds more water, than the entire, combined waters of England and Wales.
All of our fly fishing trips in Scotland trips include:
- Salmon Fishing permits on carefully chosen beats of the best 4 salmon rivers in Scotland
- Transport to /from your hotel
- Professional dedicated SGAIC, Sage and Orvis Endorsed guides
- 21 years experience as a guiding outfitter, and most guides over 40 years experience fishing these rivers
- Premium fishing tackle provided – 14ft or 15ft Scott Mackenzie Fly rods and selection of fly lines
- Photographs of the day by Fishing guide, using compact camera or iPhone – link emailed to Dropbox
- Premium Orvis Wading Jackets, Orvis breathable Waders and boot with tungsten studs, spare sunglasses, auto inflate life vests
Optional Extras
- Specialist Box of salmon flies, hand tied by Alba Guides 20 of the best salmon flies for the River Tay, Tweed, Spey and Dee (that work) £80.00
Travel and Logistics
In addition, your choice on the timing of how you want to approach this challenge is entirely up to you. However, fishing the best 4 salmon rivers, 4 days on the trot is a physical marathon and likely to wear you out. Our advice would be to mix the fishing with restful touring days. Our mixed fishing and touring vacations work well with this, as they would allow you some rest in between.
Finally, getting around these best 4 salmon rivers can be challenging. We can work with you to provide travel. However, I would always advise you to check with any company if they have “Hire and Reward” insurance in place (most don’t). Therefore if an accident occurs when transporting guests as part of a package this insurance is the only cover that keeps you covered. Finally the two vehicles we have would either be a Volvo XC90 or Skoda Kodiaq SUV. We use Mercedes V-Class people carriers for larger groups.
Best Accommodation for these salmon rivers
Lastly, there are many great hotels and self catering accommodation option available. Moreover, we have 20 years experience in booking tours and hotels. Therefore, you can leave the hassle to us.
Finally, please take a look at our .Accommodation Page to see a list of our partners.
