Sea anglers wanted to try out exciting sport

Bass Rock Shore Angling League invite sea anglers to join them in the hunt for cod this coming Wednesday and they are particularly targeting newcomers to the sport.

Chairman Craig Ogilvie has provisionally earmarked Dunbar Harbour wall as the venue but that will depend on the weather with calm conditions favoured.

Confirmation of the location will come tomorrowon the club’s Facebook page but he stressed that wherever the match is they will exercise social distancing. He guarantees that members will providing assistance to newcomers where needed.

The match is part of their pre-winter series which starts in September and there is a sweepstake but that is optional and registration will be 6.20pm with the three-hour match starting at 7pm.

If the match is at Dunbar Harbour wall then 20 anglers can be onsite comfortably.

Craig won the last match and is looking to repeat that this time but he is more concerned about encouraging newcomers and suggests peeler crab as the best bait on the night. Alternatives are lugworm or mussel with mackerel an outside bet.

Craig recommends a single flapper rig or a pennel rig with a rotten bottom (lead attached to lower breaking strain line) with between 2/0 and 4/0 hooks on a minimum of 30lbs breaking strain main line loaded on to a fixed spool reel. A beachcaster rod is best.

Craig uses braided line on his fixed spool reel as it has a smaller diameter and for those not used to casting he said: “We’ll be fishing over rough ground and cod can be caught at the base of the wall so there is no requirement to cast long distances.

“There are species including cod, wrasse and pollock in that area and that is why have provisionally earmarked the wall but everything depends on the weather.”

He added: “The whole ethos of the club is to promote sea fishing and bring new people in and we will be delighted to see new faces and we’ll be more than happy to help them to develop their skills.”

Offshore, Derek Anderson of Aquamarine Charters said it has been tough going recently and no mackerel had been landed but anglers had hooked into quality pollock and cod.

On to coarse fishing, and John Perella holds a narrow lead going into round four of the Summer Series organised by Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club.

The angler has 71 points so far but Bill Hamilton is only a point adrift with Darrin Ferguson on 64 points in third spot.

Four points behind Darin are Heather Lauriston with Roz Cassidy fifth on 59 points with Heather’s father Tommy sixth also on 59 points.

The next outing is on Saturday, August 22, at Orchill near Braco and Hamilton will be looking for a hat-trick having won two of the first three meetings.

He weighed-in a bag of 21lb 9oz in the latest match which also saw the preliminary round of the club’s Knockout Cup. Bill got off to a slow start fishing in the margin. Around 1pm he saw movement over in the hole in the far bank and was right into it. He teased out a great net of chub to go alongside other smaller fish.

Darrin Ferguson landed five fine carp fishing across to the far banking along with silvers to weigh in 17lbs 4ozs to take second place and John Parella was third place with 12lbs 10ozs.

Wayne Henly was fourth with 5lbs 14ozs and chairman Geoffrey Lowe said: “It was a hard day on the bank with the top three using their skills to the maximum. Bill has two first places and the venue expert will be hard to beat having two results to drop.”

The first round of the club’s Knockout Cup will also be fished on August 22 and any member unable or not wishing to fish any round forfeits their place in the next round.

Meanwhile, Rosebery Reservoir near Carrington, Midlothian, have pledged to re-open today and fishery manager Dave Picken asked fishermen to book well in advance with a 24-hour minimum as numbers are restricted. The water has been re-stocked and it is currently bank fishing only.

Rio Products recently released a new coating technology, SlickCast, now they are promoting an Elite tier of fly lines worldwide which are claimed to be the most technically advanced fly lines created. They are built on a low-stretch core.

Simon Gawesworth, the American-based company’s brand manager, said: “Fly lines built on this core are ultra-smooth, have exceptionally durability and the added benefits of incredible levels of sensitivity when casting and fishing.”

Every Elite fly line is manufactured with SlickCast which, they claim, produces the least amount of friction measured on a fly line and there are four key trout tapers, the Elite RIO Gold (WF4 to WF8), Elite RIO Grand (WF4 to WF8), Elite RIO Perception (WF3 to WF8) and Elite Technical Trout (WF3 to WF6).

Lines are also built with triple colour line marking system that helps to gauge distances and load. They are not cheap with an Manufacturer’s Recommended Retail Price (MSRP) of $119.99 (US dollars).