River Tay- Kercock 2nd Trip
It was early October and the sun was setting on another Tay season. The river was in need of a good spate but in spite of the difficult conditions, fish were still being caught in decent numbers. I had one last day on the river before the season came to a close and was lucky enough to be fishing the stunning Kercock beat on the middle Tay. The beat had been productive for both my wife and I throughout the course of the season, so hopes were high that I could finish the season with a flourish.
Monday morning dawned cool and cloudy. The weather was set to be fair for the day, with a light westerly breeze. All in all, it seemed to be a perfect fishing day. I got a great feeling of anticipation while driving down the track to the beat. I think this stems from the fact that Kercock has a reputation for producing big fish. Indeed, around the same time two years ago a fish of well over forty pounds was landed. It was great to chat with some of the other anglers over a coffee at the hut. There was quite an international flavour to proceedings. There were anglers from England, Scotland and Spain fishing that day. Gary Harkin, the ghillie on the beat was as usual on great form. He was entertaining us with his stories and it was nice to reflect with him on what had been a decent season. Gary felt that prospects for the day were good as there were copious amounts of fish in the pools. Gary suggested that I fished the Cottage Stream in the morning. I was over the moon as this is my favourite pool on the beat. The Cottage Stream is very “Spey like” in character and always holds a decent head of fish. I decided to set up both my fly and spinning rods. On the fly rod, I had a sink tip line partnered with a three-quarter inch black and red bottle tube. On spinning rod, I opted to use a ruby and black coloured Vision 110. This colour has proved to be successful for me in the past, especially in the autumn months. Gary advised that I should start high up in the run with the fly first, as the water was low. I have learned very quickly to follow Gary’s advice when it comes to salmon fishing as invariably he is right and you would be a fool not to do so.
The Cottage Stream pool
I drove down to the Cottage Stream from the hut. My arrival at the pool was greeted by the stunning sight of large fresh autumn salmon leaping well up in the run. My heart started beating faster and I could feel the perspiration on the palms of my hands as I bristled with anticipation. The Cottage Stream in my eyes is one of the finest pools on entire Tay system. It is a joy to fish with the fly rod and catching a salmon from it is always a bonus. The pool has a fast run at the head of the pool where fish often lie, especially in the summer months when the water is low. As you move down the pool, the run narrows and deepens, meandering over towards the far bank. The fish often lie in the middle of the river just off the current, so a long cast is not required. The pool is quite narrow by middle Tay standards, but the main body of the pool widens. The tail of the pool is very deep and can often hold big fish. It looks very enticing, especially in high water.
I decided to take Gary’s advice and start well up in the run. This was roughly the area where I saw the fresh fish. I have learned over the years that one of the worst things you can do in the Cottage Stream is wade too far. I therefore kept wading to a minimum, only shin depth. I covered every inch of the run and saw plenty of fish, but they were proving hard to tempt. I was just coming into the main body of the pool when Gary came down. It was great to hear that a fish of around twenty pounds had already been caught from the beat by one of my fellow anglers. This gave me added confidence. As the current was getting slower, I was thinking about starting to hand line on alternate casts just to give the fly some added movement. I cast my fly over towards the far bank and was about to start hand lining when then line tightened gently. I lifted the rod and I was into a fish. The take was the only thing that was gentle about the fight. As soon as the fish was hooked it tore line from the reel heading downstream. At one point I thought I would have to chase after it. Thankfully it turned and made its way upstream. It did not feel a particularly heavy fish. I was so glad that Gary was by my side giving me some advice while I was playing the fish. As the fish came in towards the shallower water, I caught my first glimpse of it. It was a nice clean fish of around eight pounds. The fish then decided to shoot off towards the far bank. It obviously did not like being in the shallow water. After two further runs and some head shaking Gary expertly netted the fish. I was lucky, as the fly fell out from the fish’s mouth as soon as it hit the net. After a quick picture, the fish was released unharmed. It was a great reward for my perseverance. Gary suggested that I should give my Vision a try before lunch. It was now midday and so I had an hour left. I covered the entire pool but did not even get a pull. There was still plenty of fish showing, but it was now time for lunch.
A good start to the morning
Lunch was a jovial affair and spirits were high among us anglers. There had been a total of four fish caught in the morning including the twenty pounder. This filled us with optimism for the afternoon ahead. I had brought a rather large tasty looking toffee cake for everyone to share, which Gary insisted on cutting. Now you might think what a nice gesture it was for Gary to volunteer and cut the cake. However, when it comes to cakes and Gary there is always an ulterior motive and I am sure he cut himself a slice that was twice the size of anybody else’s!
With the cake shenanigans over, we turned our attention to the serious business of the afternoons fishing. Gary suggested that I fished the Lower Gean Tree pool. This was the pool in which the fish of over forty pounds was caught, two years prior. The Lower Gean Tree is a lovely deep pool. It has a steady current at the head of the pool. As you move further down the pool, the current picks up in pace. There is a deep channel that runs close to the near bank where most of the fish lie. I decided to continue using my spinning rod and persevered with my Vision lure. While fishing down the pool, I saw a number of fish show. I was just coming to the tail of the pool when I got a sharp, savage take. The rod was nearly wrenched out of my hand. As soon as the fish took, it ran towards the far bank. It then decided to come close to my feet and bore deeply. I managed to get a glimpse of the fish when it first broke the surface. It was not huge fish but looked fresh. I looked upstream to see Gary coming down with the boat after dropping guests off at the top of the beat. He could see that I was playing a fish. By the time Gary had come down with the net, the fish was almost beaten. It had one last run left before I managed to steer it into the net. The fish was a lovely fresh fish of around six pounds.
A nice fish caught from the Lower Gean Tree pool
I had just started to retie my lure as my nylon had got frayed through the course of the fight when both Gary and I saw a colossal silver fish jump downstream from us. It looked like a dolphin exiting the water. For a second we were both speechless, which is quite unusual! We felt that the fish was close to forty pounds. Gary suggested that we went out in the boat for half an hour and covered it by harling.
After a quick coffee, we jumped in the boat and started harling. Gary decided to use three rods. His weapons of choice were a Vision 110 on the outside rod, a Pink and Pearly Tomic on the inside rod and a two toned black and red Tay lure which was fished on a long line behind the boat. We had got the rods out and were chatting away in warm the afternoon autumn sunshine. There were fishing jumping all around the boat but proving to be quite elusive. We had fished down most of the Gean Tree pool and had now reached the tail, where we had seen the monster. I was just asking Gary about his plans for the close season when I spotted the rod at the back of the boat bent double as if the lure was stuck on the bottom. I shouted to Gary and lifted the rod. It felt like a dead lead weight, but this was not the bottom. Gary expertly manoeuvred the boat towards the far bank. The fish behaved itself remarkably well, just following like a well-trained dog. As soon as the boat hit dry land, things changed fast. The fish slowly moved into the middle of the river sitting in the strong current and began to pull line off the reel at will. It then just sat in the current and I could not move it. We both quickly realised it was a decent fish, but was it the monster that we had seen? I caught my first glimpse of the fish around ten minutes into the fight. A massive tail broke the surface of the water and I started to shake. Gary telling me that the fish was a “biggie” did not help my nerves. When the fish came into close quarters, I could see the lure hanging perilously from its mouth. As soon as the fish got into the shallow water it made a long surging run towards the middle of the river again and sat there for what felt like an eternity. Finally, I managed to coax the fish towards the net. I thought the fish was beaten but I was wrong. The fish turned over on the surface of the water and made one last run downstream. However, this was brief and after turning the fish, I inched it back towards the boat. After a few nervous seconds, I managed to guide the fish over the net and Gary made no mistake.
A Kercock cracker!
The fish was a cracking fresh salmon, which tipped the scales at twenty-four pounds. It was my joint biggest salmon and I was over the moon. We managed to get a couple of nice photos before returning the fish to carry on its onward journey. Gary was proved right again as his hunch of harling had paid off. This was not the big fish that we both saw but it was not a bad substitute.
Relase of the twenty-four pound Kercock cracker
We got back to the hut and it was great to hear that a total of eight fish had been caught from the beat for the day. It was now just after five so I decided to have a final few casts from the bank using my Vision 110 at the tail of the Gean Tree pool where we had both seen the big fish. I was just hoping that I would make contact with it. There was still plenty of fish showing but they did not seem to be playing. The sun was now beginning to dip below the Perthshire hills and the temperature was dropping. This was a fitting cue for me to make my final cast of the season on the River Tay. The final cast yielded the same result as the first cast of the season on opening day, a blank. However, in the ten months in between, the mighty River Tay had been very good to me.