Brian Quinn, the organiser, was one of the eight qualifiers from the fourth Scottish Stillwater Bank Championship qualifier held at sun-kissed Millhall near Polmont.
The Glasgow-based landscape gardener came second on the day with 24 fish, three behind the winner, Brian Brown (Ayrshire), who hooked a trout on one of his first casts on the day.
Third was Stephen Cowan with 21 fish and the Linwood-based angler has had a busy week having been in the Scotland team which finished second in the Home International at Ellerdine Lakes at Telford in England.
Cowan actually won the Rose Bowl for being the top angler in the event.
The international was postponed from last Autumn because of accommodation difficulties and all anglers have to re-qualify for this year’s team which will travel to Ireland in the Autumn for the match.
Bathgate angler John Johnson also qualified in fourth position with 19 fish on the day and Sean Wilson (18 fish) from Whitburn, Ricky Martin (Barrhead, 18 fish), Mark Wellman (Motherwell, 17 fish) and Falkirk fisherman Richard Gray (16 fish) will also cast a line in one of the two semi-finals.
The first is at Skelmorlie near Wemyss Bay in North Ayrshire on Saturday, March 29, and the second at Loch Insch near Inverurie on Sunday, March 30 with the final at Drumtassie near Blackridge in West Lothian on Sunday, April 13.
Gregor Fitzcharles from Millhall said that the 28 anglers who took part returned 355 fish on the day for an excellent rod average of just under 13 trout.
He added: “It was also nice to see a good number of top quality brown trout up to 5lbs featuring amongst the catch returns.”
Incidentally, two members of the Scotland team who competed at Telford, John Donaldson from Port Seton in East Lothian, and Greg Hoggan (Stirling), were among the bank side officials for the event at Millhall along with Chris Mulholland, a regular at Drumtassie and who finished in second position in the recent Scottish Disabled Fly Fishing Association fund-raiser at Millhall.
Meanwhile, Fife-based Scott Pozzi (Glenrothes) was one of the eight qualifiers from the heat at Kingennie near Broughty Ferry on Tayside with six fish. Second was Tam Jarvie (Auchinleck) with five trout and third Iain Lyndsay (Inverurie) with four.
Robbie Birrell (Thornton) also had four fish for fourth with Kyle Courtney (Ayrshire) and Scott Mudie (Kirkcaldy) both on three and fifth and sixth respectively with Alan Paterson (Inverurie) and David Marfizo (Brechin) also making the semi-final with two fish each.
Organiser Brian Quinn said there was bright sunshine and a flat calm for most of the day making all anglers work hard for their catch.
The last qualifier is at Kinross Activity Centre on Saturday, March 15 and spaces are available at the time of writing this story.
IN THE NET: Brian Quinn returns one of his 24 fish caught on the day. Other pictures of the event are below and all pictures are by Nigel Duncan
FOCUSED: Stephen Cowan on The Dam Wall at Millhall during the match. Picture by Nigel Duncan
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