The Stone Pool on the Spey at Tulchan - Atlantic Salmon Fishing

It’s a beautiful morning here on Speyside; I can never hide my love of being here at this time of the year. The countryside is awash with Spring colors and the scent of the coming summer fills every inch of field and forest. The air is fresh and clean and it encourages my enthusiasm and desire to be here, and I know this is going to be a great day. The river gleams and shimmers in the morning sun as it meanders and tumbles through the surrounding countryside. The reflecting light off the surface hides what lies beneath. It is dark, almost mystical. What secrets does it hold today in its pools and runs?
I am fishing today on the famous Tulchan Estate’s B Beat. The Spey is in fantastic condition for late Spring and the height and clarity are perfect for enticing late running Springers. Tulchan is a middle Spey beat downstream from Grantown on Spey. Despite being someway from the saltwater, the salmon will be running hard through the lower beats in this height of water. Hopefully they will choose to slow to a rest in the pools of Tulchan today and I will have a chance to encourage one to my fly. It can be a fine line between success and failure and, despite my enthusiasm, I am not under any illusion as to what the day may or may not bring. I head up towards the top of the beat to fish from the Northbank of the Stone Pool. It’s a road I’ve taken many times. I’ve a Gledswood Shrimp on a size 12 double on the point. This is a fly I tend to fish a lot at this time of the year. I like yellow flies in the peaty water of the Spey and I’ve had some good success over the years, so I’m fishing it today with a bit of confidence. The pace of the water is picking up and the fly will be darting under the surface. I’m hoping it will prove irresistible to any salmon here in the Stone Pool. One thing for sure is a salmon can’t be rushed. I need to take my time and be ready should an opportunity present itself. My fly has come round and just tailing towards the dangle and there it is, a decent take and I can feel the weight immediately so I know it has turned. What a great start to the day. The simplicity of the Stone pool makes playing a fish relatively easy. There is really nowhere for it to go and the wading is very easy. I can see it on the surface as it twists and turns trying to break free. I’ll just keep guiding it towards me and grab it when it is close enough. It looks to be about the 10lb mark. It is thrashing and turning and I’m really hoping its well hooked. I keep tight into it and give only a little line. I’m pushing it to tire quickly. I keep the line tight and lift the rod to maintain tension. It’s done now and I just need to get hold of it. There it is. I’ll tell you for the size of it that was an unbelievable battle. Let’s get the rod out of the way and get a look at it. You can see where the Gledswood is on the bottom jaw. Now that I see that I know I’ve been lucky to get this fish, I was hoping it was in the scissors but it’s not. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I’ll get a quick photo and keep it in the water. It’s going to be OK. Considering the fight this one put up its not surprising it needs extra time. It seems ready to go now so we point it upstream and feel the power coming back. It won’t be long and it’ll be away.
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[@est9662]

You are a fine storyteller sir! Great vid👍

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks the kind comment! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Labs.Fishing.hunting]

Excellent well done, I enjoyed that 👍

[@FinLineFly]

Glad you enjoyed it! Soon be time for the Spey again!

[@thedoggedangler]

Excellent video and a lovely fish, thank you for sharing.

[@FinLineFly]

First salmon after I managed to get back to the Spey after being in lockdown and stuck overseas. I'd only been fishing a wee while when I got it. Tears in my eyes when I landed it!

[@blottonthelandscape]

Great video. Thanks for that.

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

[@abakerslife]

Top drawer, that's the Spey on my list for nest season then!

[@FinLineFly]

Get up here! Fantastic river to cast a fly!

[@ewanmacgregor3056]

Hi Paul, what a quality film you have produced once again. Great angling and a lovely fish. Well done I look forward to your next production. Keep up the gteat work. 👍😀

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks Ewan! Super appreciate your support!!

[@eamonnpower6981]

Top drawer as usual...... thanks for taking the time to share 🎣

[@FinLineFly]

Glad you enjoyed it! Makes it worthwhile putting them together!

[@jamesfleming5706]

Fantastic footage as always paul keep it coming pal 👏🙏🔥🎣🥃🥃

[@FinLineFly]

Cheers Jim! Good memories from last season and something for us all to look forward to hey! Cannae wait!

[@CadenceFlyFishing]

Lovely video! Just a tiny pity that it wasn't in 4k as an upload or maybe slightly higher bit depth on 1080 render? You tube has made it a bit blocky unfortunately. Top job all the same👍👍

[@FinLineFly]

Hi. Thanks stopping by my channel. Hey KZbin does sometimes have that problem. It was rendered and uploaded in 1080.

[@CadenceFlyFishing]

@@FinLineFly we use 50 mb default on renders and that seems fine when it's reduced to 14 by youtube on 1080 vids. 👍👍

[@CornishChrisTheFish]

Another inspirational video Paul, amazing work, thank you

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks Chris! Tight lines!!

[@chriswright2135]

Brilliant that thank you 👍 hope you had a great season

[@FinLineFly]

Hey thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it! 😉

[@harleyhillgang]

Beauty of a video Paul! I've come to look forward to your adventures and thoroughly enjoyed your presentation! This fish gave you a run for your money! Kudos to you for staying patient as the rookie mistake would have been to "horse" this fish in...Cheers, Mike

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks for feedback as always Mike. Glad you enjoyed this one! Tight lines!

[@mehdila1988]

Fantastic ! Thank you for making that video Paul ! I need to plan a trip with the family to visit Scotland 😊

[@FinLineFly]

Definitely! I'll show you around!

[@johngraham5996]

what a great video paul and very professionally shot, gentle music and your calming commentary make for great viewing, i turn off so many salmon videos because of loud, overpowering music that distract you from the fishing! the music should be in the background! lovely strong fish and exciting fight, you're right in what you say that the take is everything, keep up the good work and fingers crossed for a good season next year 🤞

[@FinLineFly]

Hey thanks your positive comments! It's makes the effort putting this video together worthwhile! Tight lines!!

[@delft72]

Great video. Nicely done.

[@FinLineFly]

Thanks Ian your support is greatly appreciated!

[@josephbrownisky9473]

Excellent video again. Though not an obvious choice the Stone pool was always my favourite on B beat 🎣

[@FinLineFly]

Glad you enjoyed it. To be honest it's not my first choice on the beat but then every pool is fantastic in their way. I'm very happy in any of them!

[@Jim610]

Ever heard of a landing net?

[@FinLineFly]

Yeah but as per my usual mistakes it was high up on the bank out of reach. There are nets provided on all the Tulchan Pools but I forgot to move it down to the rivers edge.

[@Hunt.Tradtv]

This might be a stupid question but are the areas open to the public for access? If not how does one get access?

[@FinLineFly]

Hi. Its really not a daft question :) . I'm not 100% on this but I believe that everywhere in Scotland is open access so I think yes all these areas are open for access to walk around. I'd double check before going though - just message the estate.