On some of the big Scottish salmon rivers it is possible to spin fish under certain water conditions. The River Tay allows spin fishing at all times.
Most spinning rods that are used on the bigger River Tay are 10ft in length (give or take a foot). This is your very measure to make life easy for you and moving one rod length with every cast throughout the entire course of the fishing day will allow you to effectively cover a vast amount of water. It is this precise water coverage that will sooner or later on the 'law of averages' position your spinning lure in front of a 'taking' salmon. Many anglers incorrectly think that spinning doesn't require tact & skill with a carefully thought out battle plan but I can assure any fisher that thinks like this is totally wrong if consistently catching salmon with a spinning rod is the real objective. Successful spin fishing for salmon takes skill, perseverance & a solid tactical understanding and make no mistake about that fact. Book a professional River Tay salmon guide who will give you a firm riverbank grasp of exactly how to spin fish for salmon.
A very important aspect to understand when spin fishing for salmon is to know how to set your spinning reel clutch properly. When a salmon attacks a spinning lure it will not hold onto the lure the same way it will do with a lighter and softer salmon fly so an early effective hook set is vital or it will be a quick 'good bye' from the fish. Your spinning reel clutch needs to be set fairly firmly where 'only' a strong pull can remove line from the spool. This tightish initial clutch setting is vitally important for an early effective hook set. Once you know the hook has been set properly via good early pressure when the salmon takes your lure you can then loosen off the clutch a little bit to play the fish. Applying sufficient early hook point pressure via an initial tight clutch setting and bending right into the fish to set the hook is normally always easily achieved within 10 seconds of initial contact before then loosening off the clutch setting before the fireworks begin!
