The smile was as wide as the Clyde. Steve Clarke was savouring a moment on the Tay.
‘This is not good for my reputation,’ he said as his grin was captured for posterity by a succession of anglers and camp followers keen to capture the Scotland manager at play. It is fair to say Clarke is noted for smiling in the same way that David Beckham is famous for craving privacy.
Clarke, garbed in waders and carrying a 15ft rod, was casting the first fly in the Tay salmon season at Meikleour Fishings. It was a gently revelatory day for those of us who love Scotland and the national team.
The sun casting down on the Kinclaven Bridge showed Perthshire in breathtaking light and Clarke, a character who is determined only to reveal name, rank and serial number to inquisitive journalists at press conferences, was eloquent on what the day represented for him.
The Saltcoats boy was the celebrity chosen to start a season that will bring people from all over the world to stand on banks, or in the water, or be borne by boat on the Tay.
Clarke has a well-earned reputation for a solidity that can be mistaken for dourness. However, a flick of his arm not only sends a cast over the water but signals that cares have been lifted from his shoulders.
Clarke is clearly enjoying the opening day of the salmon fishing season on the River Tay
The Scotland boss is in his element as he spirals his line from rod to water
Claire Mercer Nairne of Tay District Salmon Fisheries sounds the horn declaring the season officially opened, while Clarke looks on approvingly
‘Fishing is a mind game,’ he said after he had disembarked from the rowing boat. ‘Perhaps not so much for a player, when you are only thinking about the next game and the next opponent. But, as a coach or a manager, you can go fishing and your head is just full of everything.
‘When you are fishing you are only thinking about catching a fish, so the rest of that stuff goes away. You get a little bit of relief from thoughts about who are you going to play, who are you going to pick, what your problems are…’
His major problem on the Tay was how to conduct his cast from the boat. A specialist on my shoulder said that Clarke was a trout angler who might find the different technique and the larger rod used for salmon a bit awkward.
As the line spiralled from rod to water, though, the expert murmured: ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’ The praise was genuine, albeit expressed in that Caledonian staple of caution. The execution from Clarke came after 40 years of angling.
‘My dad and younger brother used to fish a lot and in my late teens and early 20s I got involved,’ said Clarke, now 62.
‘As a professional footballer you have a lot of free time and you can abuse that by going to the wrong places, but fishing became a good way to spend five or six hours out in the fresh air without it being too strenuous. A lot of footballers play golf, but that drives you nuts. I find fishing is a nice, calm day.’
It was somewhat more than that on the banks of the Tay. Clarke was piped in by the Perth and District Pipe band, there was a speech by the provost and there were also more than 100 anglers on hand to follow the cast of the Scotland manager.
‘This setting here is fantastic,’ said Clarke, releasing another smile into the wild. ‘You see all the people here, all the anglers. This is normally a beat for eight anglers. Today the anglers can make a little donation and fish on a wonderful spot.’
Clarke leads from the front as the opening ceremony takes place on the picturesque banks of the Tay
Clarke shares a joke with Calum Innes, chairman of the Tay Rivers Trust, as he holds aloft the Malloch Trophy which is presented to the angler who catches the best salmon every year
The donations go to Salmon in the Classroom. ‘We raise money for the river,’ said Claire Mercer Nairne, who is on the board of Tay District Salmon Fisheries and runs the beat which is part of the family estate. ‘It is important that our rivers are healthy.’
Pupils are also educated in the life of a salmon from egg to life in the Tay. All this effort is to sustain a natural wonder that enhances Scotland and beyond.
There was a distinct feeling that Clarke would rather have been nowhere else than on the confluence of the rivers Tay and Isla. There were attempts by journalists to lure him into the eddies of whether he could hook Newcastle forward Harvey Barnes for World Cup duty, or whether he would place Craig Gordon in the net, or how he plans to land success in the dangerous waters of the World Cup finals.
Clarke spun a traditional line. He talked, but revealed little. It would have been more productive asking a poacher in a pub precisely where he had obtained such a fine specimen of salmon.
He was more open in conversation with Daily Mail Sport on other expeditions, particularly to the USA. ‘I would like to fish in Montana and in the lakes in the Midwest,’ said Clarke. ‘But one of my best experiences was bonefishing in the Bahamas. I did that about 10 years ago and would love another go at that. That was spectacular.’
He was more than content to leave that for the future and reflect on the waters of the Tay. He was taken out by ghillie Calum McRoberts, who has more than 40 years of experience of angling and a specific knowledge of the Tay beat. ‘It is a perfect day for fishing,’ he said.
‘We suit higher water here. The fish are looking to save energy at this time of the year, so sit across under that bank.’ He was motioning to the far side of the river but Clarke’s adventure was brief and ceremonial.
Ghillie Ian Jones told of a day of wonder when his party caught 16 excellent salmon in one day. ‘A 25lb salmon is the best I have managed on this beat,’ he said.
A salmon of 31lbs was caught in February 2024 by John Craig, who won the John Moses Trophy, in memory of an angler and ‘beloved friend of the estate’, and won by the fisherman who had caught the best salmon.
Scotland boss Clarke addresses the gathering at the opening ceremony
Clarke described his participation in the ceremony as a great honour, as the salmon fishing season was declared open
It was presented to Melanie Craig, who is John’s widow.
‘We are based in Newcastle but John had Scottish roots and loved his trips to the Tweed and the Tay,’ she said. ‘This is very special, We appreciate being involved in it. It is sad that John passed without confirmation that he would win the trophy but he knew he was well considered for it and likely to win. He was a Scotsman by birth and fished from being a boy on the isle of Arran.’
Across a stretch of water, Steve Clarke was growing up in Saltcoats. The tides of life brought the memory of John Craig to the shade of Kinclaven Bridge – and the Scotland manager to what he considered one of the great days of his life.
‘Life is very strange,’ he said. ‘You never know what is next. It is a journey of decisions. I didn’t go into football by the popular route. I did my apprenticeship in a factory for four years — Beechams in Irvine. But then made the decision to be a full-time professional and suddenly I was off and away on another journey.
‘To first manage my country and then to be the man who has managed it for most matches, well, that is just incredible. Now I am standing on the bank of the River Tay, having been granted a great honour. How did I get here? Wow.’
Clarke broke into another grin. He was becoming a serial offender.
