Mike Connet and Jock Kettles qualified for the final of the Scierra Pairs following victory in the latest heat of one of Britain’s leading fly fishing competitions.
Gracemount-based Connet, a retired metering worker with Scottish Power, and Kettles from Lasswade, who still works for the utilities company, beat off a strong field at Glencorse to claim a place in the final at Grafham Water near Huntingdon on September 8.
Both men fish the water regularly and used that knowledge to bring eight fine fish to the boat.
They picked a spot near the middle of the 100-plus acre reservoir in the Pentland Hills above Flotterstone.
And they hit fish on their first drift with Cormorant and FAB patterns doing the damage.
Seven fish were in the bag quickly but it took over 30 minutes to land the eighth and final fish for over 29lbs.
Second were Kenny Dickens from Irvine and Andy Boyne from Kilwinning who bagged eight fish for over 31 pounds but they lost out on time bonus points as they came into dock after the Lothians duo.
Liz McLellan from Armadale, a member of the Scottish Ladies Fly Fishing squad, landed the best fish of the day, a hard-fighting 5lb 4oz rainbow.
She pipped her boat partner, Liz Frazer from Ardrossan, a fellow member of the Scotland squad, by two ounces for the best fish in a joint bag of five fish for over 19lbs.
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
