Fishing: Lana McCormack makes her mark in Bass Rock Shore Angling League debut

Lana McCormack made her mark on debut in the seventh round of the Bass Rock Shore Angling League's summer series. The North Berwick-based novice finished sixth after hooking into a 24cm flounder on popular Seacliffe Beach near Dunbar.

Lana came along with member Shaun Gardner who finished in eighth position with a fish of 18cm and she is in-form having landed a treble on her first cast on another local beach at the weekend.

Members were delighted that she made the effort and hope other women anglers can join them in the remaining rounds.

Keith Forbes from Musselburgh comfortably won the event fished in flat calm conditions with just a slight breeze of around 3mph.

Chris Empson, leading the race for the Bass Rock Summer League, fishing on the beach at Musselburgh. Picture: Nigel Duncan

Forbes had ten fish for 235cm with Grant Oleskey second with four fish for 83cms. He is from North Berwick.

Third was Scottish international Chris Empson from Dunbar with two fish for 54cm and fourth Alan Brown (Dunbar) with two fish for 45cm.

James Ogilvie (Haddington) was fifth with a 26cm fish with McCormack seventh and Stewart Fairbairn (Haddington) seventh with a 22cm flounder.

Empson had the biggest fish, a 31cm flounder and James Ogilvie, the organiser, said: "Well done to Lana who is learning fast.

Lana McCormack fishing at East Lothian. Contributed

"She was concerned about her casting, but we all have concerns about that and we do not mind, we are delighted that a women has joined us for a match. We look forward to welcoming her back in a weeks time when our next match is planned. The venue will be confirmed on our Facebook page."

He added: "There must have been around 150 cars in the car park. I've fished this beach for around 50 years and I've never seen it so busy. The good weather must have brought people out."

Empson leads the race for the summer league title with 36 points with Gardner second 13 points adrift and Ogilvie third on 20 points.

William Stafford from Edinburgh is fourth on 17 points and Forbes fifth with 14. Robert Mackness (Edinburgh) is on 11 points and is seventh with Scottish international Barry McEwan (Port Seton) joint eighth along with Oleskey on nine points and Alan Brown ninth on eight points. Stephen Biskup (North Berwick) has two and is tenth with three legs left to fish.

Elsewhere, the popular Clyde and Western Region, in association with Ticklers Tackle of Helensburgh, host an open shore pegged sweepstake and junior shore open on Sunday. August 28.

Fishing is from Greenock Esplanade from 13.00 to 17.00 and registration is at between noon and 1pm at the Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club, Esplanade, Greenock, PA16 7SW.

There are three zones of 50 anglers and pre-booking is strongly advised. The match is three hooks and counts towards the Penn Sea League. Contact Lindsay Wilson on 07751 051782 (after 19.30) for full details.

Other matches scheduled include the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers (SFSA) event at Erskine Walkway on Sunday, September 18, the Loch Ryan Open on Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, and the SFSA Open on Elliot Beach near Arbroath on Sunday, October 9.

The Scott McNicol Memorial Open is at Castle Douglas on Saturday, October 22 and the Iain Reid Memorial open is in the Leven area on Saturday and Sunday November 19 and 20.

Finally, St Serfs host their major annual event on Sunday, December 18 from noon until 6pm.

The Scottish Surfcasting Association are holding a get-together in a field near Dunbar on Sunday (August 21) from 9.30am.

Scottish international Chris Empson, who lives nearby, said all those interested should look for details on the Scottish Surfcasting Association site on Facebook.

Still on sea fishing and Gill Coutts, one of Scotland's silver medal winning squad in the recent Home Internationals at Weymouth, is enthusing about a new rod from manufacturer Akios.

The Airlyte (cor) rod It is claimed to be ideal for ladies and juniors because of its balance and the kit is now in the shops.

It is a two-piece, 11.5ft/3.5m rod made with a high modulus unground carbon blank with hybrid tip which is said to produce a crisp action, said to be ideal for pinging out up to 4oz of lead plus bait with ease.

The PR blurb added: "There is plenty of backbone along the butt and mid-section making way to a sensitive tip offering superb bite detection and feel."

The Airlyte can be fished with a fixed spool or light multiplier and weighs 390g and is suited to fishing in the surf or touch ledgering with a peeler crab close in among the weed beds.

It is also good for fishing worm baits for flounder or bass in a flooding estuary tide or a running rolling lead across sandbanks.

Close-in match fishing, live baiting, float fishing or feathering is also said to be good with this rod which is priced at £199.99 (standalone selling price).

Onto coarse fishing and Darrin (cor) Ferguson is through to the final the Knockout Cup run by the Edinburgh and Lothians coarse angling club after beating John Perella in the semi-final.

Darrin netted 10.lb 6oz and John 8lb 6ox but lost a big carp during the session and Ferguson will meet Stewart Ritchie in the final.

In the summer league, evergreen Tommy Lauriston took top spot in round ten of 12 with 20lb 4oz at Orchill near Auchterarder.

Second was Bruce Lawrie with 16lb 7oz and third Roz Cassidy with 14lb and 8oz.

The match was fished in glorious sunshine with hardly a breath of wind but the fish were nibbling at baits and reticent to feed well and but of the 14 anglers had weights varying from over 8lb to more than 20lbs.

Good catches have been reported from the coarse ponds at Drumtassie near Blackridge with one first time fisher catching 17 in one session and on the nearby trout fishery Derek Paton won last weekend's bait pond competition.

Meanwhile, fly fishing venues affected by the recent hot weather report that water temperatures are dropping.

Allandale Tarn boss Iona Allan hopes to re-open and she continues to monitor the temperature on a regular basis after closing her popular fishery near West Calder.

Air temperatures peaking into the 30c area sparked the closure. Andrew Weir, co-owner at Stenhouse near Burntisland said that the hot and bright weather and the minimal rainfall means they are again fighting an algae bloom. They plan to re-open on Saturday and Sunday to test the water. Best to phone and book. Their diary for 2023 is now open and bookings are said to be coming in fast.

Meanwhile, Billy Wilson netted 17 fish, including a 10lb 20z rainbow, during a session at Bowden Springs near Linlithgow. Black and white buzzer patterns did the trick for the Bowden regular.

Nearby, Linlithgow Loch say fish are taking buzzers, crunchers, sedges, humungous, floating fry patterns and boobies plus diawl bach, FAB and various dries with good bags reported. Nigel Muckle and his partner returned ten fish, a number also recorded by Mr Graham. Bosses are continuing to stock on a regular basis.

Lake of Menteith report that buzzers have proved productive with fish in some parts of the lake sitting between 30ft and 40ft and 20ft in others.

Glencorse in The Pentland Hills above Flotterstone are taking provisional bookings for the 2023 season while Tweeddale Millennium say fishing remains good with a club from Consett in Northumberland achieving their bag limit before lunch. Black mamba is working here along with yellow dancer.

Nearby, Markle manager Jimmy McLachlan said the water is cooling and black pennell and diawl bach patterns are working along with a sink tip line.