Tyneside-based Neil Cutler won the seven-leg Edinburgh Winter Shore League by a point from Edinburgh-based Gordon Lyall who made a late charge, winning three of the last four matches. Ian Campbell, the event organiser, was third.
Cutler, who won the recent Colin McEwan Memorial at Ravensheugh Beach, East Lothian (pictured by Nigel Duncan), did not win any of the legs but was consistent throughout with high finishes in three matches to total 36 points, with the best five of seven legs counting.
Lyall won three of the final four legs to finish on 35 points with Campbell from Falkirk third on 30 points.
Fourth was Dunfermline-based, Gus Brindle, chairman of the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling, on 27 points and this high finish followed up on Brindle’s gold medal win in the recent Civil Service match.
He was also team manager as Scotland won gold in the recent Celtic Cup coarse fishing event held at Strathclyde Loch in Lanarkshire.
Another Tyneside-based fisherman, Steve Potts, was fifth on 21 points along with local angler Stevie Souter who was sixth while Edinburgh schoolboy, Eryk Janik, was a highly-creditable seventh with ten of his 19 points arriving on match day one which he won.
Janik has already fished for Scotland but Robbie Slow, a newcomer to competition angling, and also from the Capital, finished in 12th position after earning ten points from winning Match 5.
The final match was held at Newhaven in breezy conditions with 21 in the field. They recorded 280 fish with Lyall taking top spot with what Campbell said was “a brilliant performance” in hooking into 38 fish for 870 points
Brindle was second with 25 fish and 559 points and Souter third on 23 fish for 506 points with Cutler fourth on 22 fish and on 505 points.
The remainder of the top ten placings were: 5, Stephen Barrett 18 fish for 449 points; 6, Eryk Janik 17 fish for 390 points; 7, Scott Emmerson, 15 fish for 341 points and Stevie Burns, 15 fish for 341 points; 9, Ian Campbell 15 fish for 335 points; 10, Mike Kyle (Easthouses), 13 fish for 295 points. Barrett caught the longest fish, a 50cm cod.
Campbell said: “The league has been incredibly competitive again this year with the final place undecided until the very end. It has been great to see some new faces and two of the matches have been won by junior anglers, Eryk Janik, and Robbie Slow. Hopefully, the trend will continue.”
Lyall and Campbell are both employees of the event sponsors, The Edinbugh Angling Centre, and are ineligible for the prizes. The other sponsors are Cox & Rawle.
The voucher for second place therefore fell to the angler finishing overall fourth, Brindle, and the voucher for third went to Potts who finished fifth.
Overall, 41 anglers took part in the popular event and Campbell confirmed that 1,821 fish were landed over the seven legs, an average of 260 per match.
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