Corsar skippers Scots in five nations
Steven Corsar is on home turf when he captains Scotland in the up-coming five nations fly fishing international.
The event is centred around his home town of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire.
Scotland host France, Ireland, England and Luxemburg in the tenth match in the series and the dates are Tuesday, September 16 and Wednesday, September 17.
Eight anglers are in each team and Sector One is on the upper beats of the River Don and Sector Two on the lower beats of the river.
Sector three is at Lintrathen Loch at the southern end of Glen Isla, around 13 miles west of Kirriemuir in Angus, and Sector Four at Lochter Trout Fishery near Oldmeldrum, a complex with three fly fishing lochs over 14 acres.
Three debutants are in the Scotland team selected from the Scottish League. They are Bob Robertson from Bridge of Weir, Jason Cruickshank (Inverurie) and Stevie Plank (Stirling).
The others are Mike Cordiner (Aberdeen), Dick Logan (Coldstream), Archie Ferguson (Strathmiglo, Fife), Scott Robertson (Dundee).
Kenny Riddell (Aberdeen) is the reserve with Gillies Breckenridge from Irvine the team manager. His assistant is Ron Chesney (Newmains).
Last year’s event was in Laundry, France, when Ireland won – Campbell Baird (Ireland) was the individual winner - and hopes are high that home advantage will count as the Tartan team bid to win for the first time since 2015 in Ireland.
The high temperatures have affected still waters around Scotland, but Breckenridge said that in a recent league match on the River Tweed more than 150 fish were hooked.
The match was established in 2014 – the first event was in Scotland when England won - to enable multiple teams from the UK and Europe to compete and gain experience in a FIPS-Mouche (French word for fly) style format over boat, bank and river disciplines.
He urged anglers to come forward to help control the event which has been won by Ireland and France on three occasions and England twice and anyone interested should contact Stevie on 07901 532018 or Jason on 078144 440813. You can also get in touch by text or WhatsApp.
Local waters report that temperatures are cooling. Allandale Tarn was due to reopen this week after being temporarily closed due to the high water temperature. The spring fed water is clear.
Also in West Lothian, Kris Radzinsh had four, the biggest at 6lb brown, on FAB and buzzer at Bowden Springs near Linlithgow.
Bosses at the town’s loch report that 35 anglers faced challenging conditions. Blob, diawl bach, cormorant, snake, UV crunchers and UV lures proved the best patterns and Jimmy Russell was top rod with five during a four-hour session.
Lake of Menteith report that their ten fish catch and release limit is still in place because of the high water temperatures and there is still no fly fishing for pike. Glasgow won the inter-cities match in which 78 fish were tempted by 32 anglers. Gus Armour was top rod.
West Lothian Angling Association bosses report that six shopping trollies have been removed from the River Almond - all marked with the same retail outlet name - and that’s despite recent publicity on the clean-up day which attracted 40 volunteers.
Fraser Thomson, chairman, said: “I am angry and frustrated. I believe in the process that will get our river clean in the long term.”
Sea fishing now and Edinburgh-based David Cooper won the Clyde and Western Region Open Shore Sweepstake at Greenock Esplanade.
The Scotland international, totalled 362 points in the pegged, catch and measure, then release match to head the field of nearly 100 anglers.
Cooper was 22 points ahead of Jai McKinney with Colin McGarva third with 161 points.
Fourth was Newcastle-based Stevie Potts with 135 points with Ian Campbell (Falkirk), a Scottish international the organiser of the Edinburgh Winter Shore Angling League, fifth on 236 points.
Chris Horn (Kirkcaldy) was sixth with 193 points with Gordon Currie seventh on 119 and David Neil eighth on 101 points.
Edinburgh schoolboy, Eryk Janik (correct), who won gold with Scotland in the recent Home International, took top spot in the Junior Open Shore Championship with 202 points.
Scott Scholes was second on 128 points, Macie McGarva third on 69 points, Franky Hamilton, another member of the gold medal-winning squad, fourth on 65 points with Dylan Fraser fifth on 63 points.
Hamilton shared the longest fish prize with Iain Graham, a dogfish of 60cm.
Meanwhile, 15 fishermen contested the eighth leg of the summer league organised by the Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club (ELCAC) at Orchil near Auchterarder.
John Perella used his knowledge to easily win his section on Snake Lake and top the podium with an impressive 51lb.
Newcomer Joshua Lloyd weighed-in with 24lb to be second and edge out Simon Clynshaw (Ormiston, East Lothian) who totalled 23lb.
Young Henry Watt hooked into four carp but only one hit the net. Watt took the risk of casting close to the cover and he paid the price as his intended quarry made straight for it and he lost fish on three occasions.
There are several anglers still in contention for the silverware, however, with the fishery unpredictable of late, no one can predict how it will pan out.
The third and final leg of the float only series organised by the Scottish Federation for Coarse Anglers is at Strathclyde Park on Sunday. These are individual open matches so you can still fish even if you have missed previous rounds.
Gus Brindle, the organiser, said fishing is picking up at the loch. The draw is at 9am in Car Park 4 and registration is open from 8.30am.
Mark Lyons, winner of the recent Scottish National title, is in the strong field along with Dunfermline-based Brindle, his fellow Scotland internationals, Colin Hart and Derek Brady, plus Darrin Ferguson, the new Scottish Ladies champion, Rosalind Cassidy and Heather Lauriston, all three are members of the Edinburgh club (ELCAC).