Bass Rock Shore Angling league launches winter league recruitment drive

Bosses of the Bass Rock Shore Angling league have launched a recruitment drive ahead of their winter league season which starts next month.

James Ogilvie with a tope landed during a recent fishing trip.

The group, formed by experienced anglers several years ago to encourage more newcomers in the Lothians into the sport, plan a 12-match series starting on Wednesday, September 8.

The club normally fish twice a month depending on the weather and the entry fee for each event is £10. Memberships are £10 (adult) and £5 (OAP or disabled).

A number of regular sea anglers have already been in touch looking to take part including several from Edinburgh and James Ogilvie, one of the organisers, urged anybody interested to contact the club via their Facebook page.

He said: "We have experienced match fishermen in our ranks as well as those just taking up the sport and the guys are always willing to help and give advice despite the fact that we are in competition.

"The club was set up to bring new people into the sport and we have done that which is encouraging and we would urge anybody thinking of taking part over the winter to get in touch."

You don't have to splash the cash. A beach or pier rod of around 10ft and a fixed spool reel with around 40lb breaking strain nylon and possibly a 60lb shock leader will work on the beach and harbour venues around East Lothian used by the group.

If you tie your own then pennel or paternoster rigs are best for locations other than beach venues when flapper rigs are preferable.

However, if you prefer float fishing - some are available at around the £2 mark - then a hook set around 5ft below would work at high tide and around 3ft at low tide and the bonus here is that you are likely not to loose as much gear as the float generally lets the bait sit above the kelp.

An assortment of baits used by the members on the East Coast include black lugworm, mackerel and peeler crab and species likely to be caught during the winter are cod, codling, rockling, wrasse and pollock plus conger eel.

Meanwhile, the club's eight-match summer series has one leg left over high water on Wednesday, August 25, and the venue will be between Winterfield Golf Club and White Sands, a distance of roughly four miles.

This week's penultimate match was fished in torrential rain which thankfully dried up for last hour of the three-hour event. There was virtually no wind and the sea was calmCod, coley, pollack, wrasse, mackerel, rockling and scorpion but caught but a lot were undersized and not taken to scales.

James Ogilvie from Haddington (pictured) was first with one fish for 3lb 3oz, caught of Dunbar Harbour wall on frozen peeler crab and hooked with his second last cast of the night with 25 minutes left of the competition. He had two other fish, a cod and coley, but both were undersized and put back.

Chris Empson (Dunbar) fished The Battery behind Dunbar Castle and was second with one fish for 2lb 9oz. He lost a big fish with his final cast minutes before the 10pm deadline.Dale McCallum (Prestonpans) was third with two fish for 1lb 13oz with Fraser Munro (Dunbar), making his debut, fourth landing two fish for 1lb 12oz and Neil Anderson (North Berwick) landed one fish for 1lb 3oz for fifth spot.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers (SFSA) are assisting in the promotion the Clyde and Western Region open shore pegged event in association with Ticklers Tackle on Sunday, September 12.

A junior open shore competition will be held in conjunction and fishing is at Greenock Esplanade from 1pm to 6pm with high water at 5.08pm.

Registration is from 11am to 12.30pm at the Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club, Esplanade, Greenock PA16 7SE and there will be three zones of 50 anglers.

Fish should be measured and released and there is no size limit for the adult and junior events. Juniors entry is free with a participating adult.

The organisers say that pre-booking is strongly advised for this popular event which counts towards the Penn Sea League and for further details contact Lindsay Wilson on 07751 051782 after 7.30pm.

It was a tough day for all at the SFSA individual members event at Monreith. Weed made fishing extremely difficult, not to mention the lack of fish, and the organisers said "well done everyone" for sticking at it.

The winner was Kirkcaldy-based Alan Combe who managed seven fish and the runner-up was Chris Horn, also from Kirkcaldy, with eight fish.

The longest fish was caught by David Neil, a dogfish of 57cm.

On to coarse fishing and stalwart Tommy Lauriston won the eighth round of the Summer Series organised by Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club.

Experienced Lauriston drew Peg 22 and walked slowly to the mark as it is traditionally poor. He started slowly with a few silver fish then the carp arrived.

The angler netted nine for a bag of 16lb 14oz to win the match, around 2lb ahead of John Parella who netted five carp and silver fish in his bag of 14lb 5oz.

Third was Martin Pearson with 9lb and the match was fished in overcast conditions with an occasional breeze and one, 15-minute shower despite rain being forecast.

Bruce Lawrie was fourth with 8lb 8oz, mostly skimmers, and he also defeated Chris Sloss in the Knockout Cup. Chris netted 3lb 10oz.

The provisional date for the Pairs event is Saturday, August 21.

Remember, the Scottish Canal Championships are on Sunday, August 29, on the Forth & Clyde Canal at The Stables Pub, Kirkintilloch and the match will be combined with the Angling Trust & Canal River Trust Canal Pairs qualifier if there is sufficient interest.

A minimum of ten pairs are required for the pairs to go ahead and the entry fee is £20 per person.

Entry to the canal championships is free for members of the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling (SFCA) and the draw for the canal championship will be at 9am in the car park at JB Angling Centre, 37 Eastside, Kirkintilloch G66 1QA and fishing is from 11.30am to 4.30pm. Results will be confirmed at 5.30pm in the lay-by opposite The Stables Pub.Gus Brindle, chairman of the SFCA, said that to ensure enough pegs are cleared anglers should book their slot by Sunday, August 15.

Finally, fly fishing and Robert Ross, company secretary of Malleny Angling, who administer Harlaw and a part of Threipmuir, said: "Like all local fisheries, Harlaw has suffered from the warm water temperature. This pushed the stressed fish into deeper water and seemed to stop any active feeding.

"The water has begun to recover, the water temperature is down, water clarity is good and the water level is good.

He fished successfully on a size 10 rainbow dancer fished on a sink tip line at about 3ft down.

Other anglers were equally successful on buzzers fished on a washing line with a blob on the point or deeper using an indicator with a hook.

Ross added: "The resident shoals of sticklebacks are back into shallow water and the rainbows will not be far behind. The continued cooler weather, combined with the fresh water, should see a return to the excellent fishing at Harlaw."

In West Lothian, Iona Allan, owner of Allandale Tarn, confirms that her opening times are 9am to 9pm and closed every Tuesday.

To Midlothian, and Nicola Perfect, owner of Rosslynlee, near Penicuik, reports that the water temperature is coming down there and a lot of fish are showing on the surface but have been proving difficult to hook. However, David Bullen had nine on a CDC pattern.

And in West Lothian, Jim Gargaro, owner of Bowden Springs, said he is still open despite road closed signs for repair works on the main road.

His two-acre fly pond and five-acre bait pond are both fishing well and toast of the anglers on the fly was Jimmy Bryce with 12 netted including a 6.5lb rainbow. His pattern? Squirmy wormy. R Sanders landed a 8lb rainbow on a purple buzzer.

Other anglers have enjoyed success with dries plus Ally McCoist and other lures. Worm and Powerbait have worked best on the bait pond with three and four-fish bags recorded regularly.

Linlithgow Loch will hold another inspection this weekend after being closed for nearly three weeks because of algae problems.