Bakerboy,
Sorry to hear that.
I am a regular trout man on the local lochs and occasionaly on the Don but would love to try Salmon fishing.....I have got all the gear but am at a loss as to how to go about getting started and would like some advice on how to overcome this snobbery.
I can't help with the snobbery but I can offer you a little 'starting out' advice as I was pretty much where you are but a few months ago.
Firstly go and get a two hour lesson from Tom Marshall - he is located down your neck of the woods (between Brechin and Montrose), with access to beats on both the North and South Esk - trust me it's money well spent (£25 hour). I can get his phone number or you can look it up on the net. Tom has many contacts and I'm sure can offer you the best advice on the Esks.
As I said I'm a relative novice but you pick up a feeling for things quite quickly and I'd say that the ability to drop a fly off of the other bank, without too much disturbance, without too much concern about wind direction, from either bank & regardless of bankside vegitation, line density and fly size is a major bonus and all of these can be dealt with by learning the various casts from a qualified instructor. This can then leave you to concentrate on the actual fishing which is the next stage on the journey and something I'll be working on for the next 20 years.
One more thing, nothing annoys the snobs more than a novice that floggs a pool (I guess they were born with a rod in their hands!) but nothing breaks their aggression more than someone casting gracefully, so go on take lessons and get it up 'em!
Good Luck
Iain