Salmon Fishing Guides

By Jock Monteith 17th May 2019

There's a significant difference between a Scottish beat ghillie's role on the River Tay and that of a personal salmon fishing guide. The next few paragraphs will focus in on exactly what the general roles of each are so you know what to expect and don't turn up on a busy Tay salmon beat with an inaccurate picture of what to expect.

Professional Ghillie Advice

A beat ghillie on any Scottish salmon river will offer all kinds of salmon fishing advice to his daily guests and plan a fair salmon pool rotation for all of his fishers. Throughout the course of the morning and afternoon fishing sessions a professional ghillie will be checking on his fishers usually at least a couple of times to make sure all of his guests are fishing correctly and to offer additional fishing advice when necessary.

The Salmon Beat Ghillie's Role

It is also the professional salmon beat ghillie's duty to keep a clean and well maintained fishing hut for his guests and make sure the floor is swept every day and that the kettle is always boiled for the morning arrival of his guests and at lunchtime too. It is also his responsibility to keep the beat's riverbanks in good shape for ease of fishing purposes.

A Busy Salmon beat Ghillie

The above daily duties of a professional ghillie does not leave much spare time each day if delivered correctly but it is important to know that a professional salmon beat ghillie has the responsibility to look after everyone who is fishing and that means he will usually always be busy and constantly on the move throughout the course of the full salmon fishing day when it's possible for him to do so.

Personal Salmon Fishing Guide Service

A personal salmon fishing guide service offers a more comprehensive service which focusses a professional salmon fishing guide's attention solely on one or more guests. The personal guide will teach all of the salmon fishing tactical approaches from Spey casting techniques to effective riverbank movement and will stick solely with his guests for the full fishing day.

Booking A Personal Tay Salmon Guide

A personal River Tay salmon fishing guide service also provides all the appropriate salmon fishing equipment including waders, waterproof jackets, life jackets and proven salmon fishing flies and lures. A personal guide's skills can go a long way towards the success of your salmon fishing trip and should always be considered especially if you are new to salmon fishing or have new salmon fishers in your party who are in need of tuition and the correct salmon fishing equipment supply.

Qualifying All Salmon Fishers And Venues

If the visiting salmon fishing clients haven't been correctly qualified by their agent with a view to understanding exactly what they need and expect from their salmon fishing trip then issues can and do occur. This industry has been hindered by agents who are only interested in selling a salmon beat permit on its own without any thoughts of what the fishing guests really require through proper basic client qualification. This lack of basis client qualification has cost the industry dearly as for a new comer to salmon fishing who has come to fish with a salmon permit only and no adequate equipment or salmon fishing skills is only likely to only stay in this pursuit for a short time through a general lack of understanding and fishing success.

Professional River Tay Salmon Guides

If you need a more comprehensive salmon fishing service then it's important you consider booking a professional River Tay salmon fishing guide rather than turning up on a Tay salmon fishing beat with a permit thinking that the beat ghillie will be able to provide or offer all of the assistance or proper equipment you or your party requires. On big popular River Tay salmon fishing venues the beat ghillie usually has his work cut out each day in just paying the occasional visit to his fishing guests or if he is trapped on boat duties even that basic level of guest service isn't easily achievable.