Edinburgh Coarse Angling Club seek new members

Ferguson, the club president and current league champion by landing a fish in the final minutes of the last match aims to retain the title .

The angler plans to post this year’s match dates, and the remaining winter league dates, in the next few days.

The friendly club are likely to return to Orchil near Auchterarder for their matches and Ferguson confirmed they are looking for new members to boost match day numbers which peaked at 30 last season and dropped off during the summer.

Anglers fishing at match at Orchil

If you are interested contact the club on their Facebook page and, currently, anglers travel from East Lothian, Perth, Lanarkshire and even Aberdeen to fish.

Sea fishing now and Ian Campbell (Falkirk) and Edinburgh fisherman, Gordon McLeod, are the joint leaders after Match 2 of the popular Edinburgh New Year Shore Fishing League.

Falkirk-based Campbell was fifth in the latest event while McLeod was second putting them both on 15 points at the top of the pile with the Match 2 winner, Chris Cooper, in third spot overall with 11 points.

Cooper hooked into 26 fish in Match 2 at Newhaven Breakwater with McLeod second with 25 fish and Billy Buckley from Uddingston, a Scotland international, third with 22 fish.

A total of 21 anglers caught 242 fish including whiting, dabs and codling and the match began with lots of fish being temped in the first hour before the action slowed as the tide dropped.

The lower pegs seemed to hold onto fish longer and the top three in the competition sponsored by the Edinburgh Angling Centre, The Fishing Megastore and Cox & Rawle, all came from the first four pegs.

The longest fish was a 41cm cod hooked by Chris Barrett and Match 3 will be fished on Friday, January 31 at Newhaven (east) with registration from 6pm to 6.15pm at Western Harbour View EH6 6PG and fishing from 7pm to 10pm

Campbell, the organiser, confirmed that he would post on social media asking for names early next week.

For the record the top 12 in Match 2 were: Chris Cooper; 2, Gordon McLeod; 3, Billy Buckley; 4, Scott Emmerson 18 fish; 5, Ian Campbell 16 fish; 6, Eryk Janik 15 fish; 7, Stevie Burns 14 fish, Stevie Souter 15 fish; 9, Gordon Lyall 13 fish; 10, Gus Brindle 14 fish; 11, David Cooper 12 fish; 12, Dave McKervail 11 fish.

The league placings so far are: 1, Ian Campbell 15 points; 2, Gordon McLeod 15 points; 3, Chris Cooper 11 points; 4, Stevie Souter 10 points; 5, Stevie Burns 8 points; 6, Gus Brindle 7 points; 7, Scott Emmerson 7 points; 8, Billy Buckley 7 points; 9, Michael Gilbertson 4 points; 10, Gordon Lyall, 4 points; 11, Eryk Janik 4 points; 12, Chris Barrett 3 points.

The first Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers (SFSA) open pegged match is on Saturday (January 25) at Newhaven Breakwater with registration from 14.15 to 14.45 at EH6 6PG with fishing from 16.00 to 21.00.

It is a three-hook, catch and release match with a 15cm minimum and it is pre-booking only to Chris Horn on 07872 944807.

Entry is £20 and juniors can enter for £5 and the match is sponsored by Tronixpro. All competitors are asked to bring a bucket to place the fish in before being measured and nearly 40 anglers have already intimated they will attend.

Tronixpro are also backing the SFSA species hunt 2025. There is a £5 entry and the first prize is a Tronixpro Banzai multi-tip rod with the runner-up receiving a Penn Wrath, two-reel, and Tronixpro cool bag.

The company’s luggage will be handed over to those who finish third, four and fifth. Details on the Scottish Shore Angling Match Group page on Facebook.

Allan Saunders is hosting an end of season cod competition on Saturday, January 25 with registration from 1.30pm to 2.15pm at the end of Victoria Park in Arbroath.

Seniors are £15 and juniors £5 and you pay and leave to your favourite mark. Fishing is 3pm to 8pm and the weigh-in is back at the Victoria Park from 8pm to 9pm. Low water is 17.20pm and high water 11.33pm. Minimum size for weigh-in is 40cm. Contact [email protected] for details.

Elsewhere, Drumtassie near Blackridge are hosting a fly fishing event from 9am to 3pm on Sunday, January 26, weather permitting, with a first prize of £200. Entry is £35 and lunch is included.

The Scottish Ladies Fly Fishing team have confirmed a fund-raiser on Saturday, April 12 at Burnhouse Lochan near Bonnybridge and there is a £40 entry fee which includes a lunch and prizes. A total of 24 names are already pencilled in. A reserve list is being organised.