Pitlochry Dam & Fish Ladder

Run by Scottish and Southern Energy, the Pitlochry Dam is still in full working use today, also the famous fish ladder is operational, allowing the famous Tay salmon to make there way to the spawning grounds situated in Highland Perthshire.

Visitors to Pitlochry must visit the famous Pitlochry Dam and Fish Ladder. The fish ladder was built at the Pitlochry Dam to allow the salmon to travel up and over the 86 meter high dam to get upstream to their spawning grounds.

At the Pitlochry Dam & Fish Ladder Visitor centre you can look in the observation room at the salmon negotiating their way up the particularly constructed ladder and bypassing the Pitlochry Dam into Loch Faskally, which was created when the Tummel River was dammed.

The best times to view salmon traveling up the fish ladder are between April and late September each year – it is estimated that some 5,000 salmon pass through the ladder each year.