Polly Murray makes the first cast on the opening day of the salmon fishing season on the river Tay near Meikleour, Scotland, Britain January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
MEIKLEOUR, Scotland (Reuters) – The salmon-fishing season got under way on the banks of Scotland’s River Tay on Tuesday with a whisky toast and pipe band and, more unusually, hopes of rain.
Fishermen and women sporting tweed, Scotland’s traditional woven fabric, lined the river in the northeastern tip of Britain as boats were blessed and some made praying gestures after last year’s long, dry summer.
“The 2018 season was particularly challenging, with disappointing runs and, with the almost unbroken three-month summer heatwave, very difficult fishing conditions,” said Iain McLaren, Chairman of the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board
The fisheries board said it hoped for a return to a more normal pattern of weather and rainfall this year to replenish fishing stocks.
Reporting by Russell Cheyne in Meikleour; Writing by Elisabeth O’Leary in Edinburgh; editing by Stephen Addison