ONE OF the best known ghillies on the River Tay, Colin Leslie, has died at Blairgowrie Cottage Hospital aged 84.

Mr Leslie retired at the end of the 1999 salmon season, after 53 years on the river and had taken or helped tenants take 47,000 salmon over the years.

His only break from the river was the war years, which he spent in light naval forces, gun boats and MTBs in the North Sea.

Among his many catches was a 42lb salmon and he fished with many famous visitors to the Tay.

In the 1950s he received what at the time was a huge tip of 10 shillings from Mr Rockefeller, the American millionaire.

Mr Leslie became known to a larger audience following the publication of his autobiography, Scotland’s Salmon King.

It recounted his early rural life in Perthshire, his wartime service and the job which he also enjoyed as a hobby.

One of Mr Leslie’s angling friends, Angus Meldrum, said, “It is an end of another era for the Tay and us all.”

Mr Leslie is survived by his wife Nancy and sons Peter and Morris.