The Lyon is of course not as productive as its parent river the Tay, but being the main tributary of the upper Tay means it receives decent quantities of running salmon throughout the season, particularly in medium and high water.  It is also a fun river to fish, with great variety in depth and size of pools many of which have easy to identify areas where salmon lie, and long trout stretches.

Across Scotland, this has been a very disappointing year for salmon fishing with exceptionally low rainfall in the summer months.  The chart below shows that our catch of 31 is well below the five year average of 73.  Positive for the future is that many fish have been seen since late October around their “redds” (spawning nests in gravely stretches and burns), suggesting a late run of fish.  Factors that affect the number of fish in the river include the Catch & Release arrangements (thank you for your help with this), the hatchery programme (ongoing, operated by the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board), seasonal conditions (floods can wash out the redds), and commercial fishing activities in the Atlantic (particularly around the Faroe Islands and Greenland).  Whilst commercial fishing activities continue to cause problems, we are more confident about local conditions and that things are on the up overall, so aim to beat the 5 year average next year.

Guests have enjoyed trout fishing on the river and in our the loch at the top of Croftgarrow where a five year old caught his first fish this summer (a 1.5lb brown trout – below).  Due to the fun that has been enjoyed on the loch this year, we will be restocking the loch with a healthy number of 1lb trout for next season, and we are planning a new bothy by the loch for shelter and BBQs.

Fishing on Chesthill or Inverinain beats is sometimes available, when it is not let with the accommodation.  Prices from £10-£15 per day for trout fishing and £15 – £35 per day for salmon fishing. For more information please refer to our Fishing pages.

We have also published annual reviews for stalking and grouse shooting.