Mike Connet and Jock Kettles race into Grand Final of the Scierra Pairs

Mike Connet and his partner Jock Kettles, Scotland’s international captain, marched into the Grand Final of the Scierra Pairs with a massive bag of fish in double-quick time at Glencorse.

The Lothians-based duo, who were 12th in the Grand Final last year, took only two hours of the seven-hour event to achieve their limit of eight fish and the trout weighed in at a massive 35lbs.

In second place in Sunday’s heat were Kenny Dickens and Andy Boylan with a great catch of eight fish for 30lbs and, in third place, came Shug Shaw and Stevie Cowan with another outstanding catch of eight fish for 33lbs, but they lost out because of time bonuses.

Several other teams in the field of 11 boats, which included Scotland’s international women’s captain, Liz McLellan from Armadale, had bags which tipped the scales over 20lbs.

The field faced testing, blustery conditions on the popular water which had been fishing well in the build-up. Mike and Jock used their local knowledge to full effect and the pair, who have fished together for years, had netted some fine fish on the water only 24 hours earlier when they had a practice session.

They went into the day with Plan A, to fish the bottom basin at the 100-acre water which was expected to hold the recently stocked fish. It was crowded with other boats and they did not touch a fish for 30 minutes.

Plan B involved a dash to the Loganlea end of the extensive reservoir above Flotterstone.

It was there that they hit fish in a stunning 90-minute spell with 60-year-old Mike, from Edinburgh’s South Side, and Jock, aged 55 from Bonnyrigg, both nailing four fish each on black Cormorant lures.

Jock admitted: “The wind was awkward but we got there in the end.”

The pair have made the final six times and their best finish was eighth. It will be the third time that Mike, a retired Scottish Power worker, and Jock, who still works for the utility company, have fished Lynn Brenig in Wales where the final will be held on Sunday, September 27.

Mike said: “It’s a big water and we’ll be going down ahead of the event and will fish it on the Friday and Saturday. We’d obviously love to win . It’s a prestige event which carries a prize of around £1,500.”

The pair each won Scierra competition fly rods for being top of the podium in the heat and the average weight of the fish caught – 4lbs – will take some beating in the other heats around Britain.

And the catches were all the more commendable as the air pressure had fluctuated dramatically during the lead-up to the day, something trout don’t appreciate.

Meanwhile, Water of Leith Voluntary Fishery Officers have appealed to anglers to take their fishing line home if at all possible.

A walker came across a bat dangling from fishing wire which had got tangled in a tree over the Water of Leith near the Anthony Gormley statue at The Shore.

The person added that the bat did manage to get away but the line is still there.

Finally, plaudits for Fishers of Penicuik from a thankful angler who broke the foot on his reel. The store asked him to bring it in and within minutes a new foot was sourced from spare parts in-store and put in place. No charge.

While there, bosses said that a new fly line with SlickCast coating is “flying off the shelves” and American-based RIO Products told the Evening News that the lines have the lowest amount of friction to have ever been measured in a fly line.

This makes it easier, they said, to shoot line resulting in longer casts and feeding of slack into extended drag-free drifts.

The manufacturers also claim the line is exceptionally durable with lab tests showing the coating to be 33 per cent more resistant to cracking and over 140 per cent more resistant to abrasion than the next toughest fly line available.

They have now upgraded their RIO Gold, RIO Grand, RIO Perception and Technical Trout products with SlickCast coating.

Simon Gawesworth, the company’s brand manager whose casting tutorials are popular on YouTube, said: “Fly fishers around the world will marvel at the performance increase and extended life span that this new coating gives.”