Time bonuses tip scales in pairs final qualifier heat at Glencorse - Nigel Duncan
Jock Kettles and Mike Connet were among the last to leave Glencorse on Sunday. The reservoir high in the Pentland Hills was a picture, but, try as they might, they were subdued after failing to qualify for the prestige Fastmail Pairs final at a water they know well. It just did not happen on the day.
The pair had done their homework. Indeed, they cast a line the day before, but the weather changed, throwing previous plans up in the air.
The pair pledged, however, to pick themselves up and go again at the second Glencorse heat on Sunday, July 19, and Connet conceded: “That’s fishing.”
Plan B did not click well enough. Their tactics did, however, produce a bag of 26lb 2oz of trout. However, they did not return to harbour until ten minutes before the deadline. No time bonus points for them.
Different story last year when the pair had to twiddle their thumbs when they won the first heat only 30 minutes after the 9am start having hooked into eight fish. In the second qualifier at the Midlothian venue, they were docked by 10.45am, again with eight fish.
Kettles, one of Scotland’s most experienced anglers, agreed it had been a challenging day and said: “It did not go to plan this time. We will go again.”
For the record, they came fourth on the day, using minkies, cormorant and booby combinations, and their seven fish were spread out during the seven-hour event fished in pleasant conditions. The wind did vary, from the east in the morning and the west in the afternoon.
Kettles and Connet were not the only anglers to struggle. Another pair who know Glencorse well, fishing it regularly, were Eck Moffat (Bonnyrigg) and Andy Hamlyn from Roslin. They toiled all day, using midge tip lines, at different depths and in different parts of the extensive water, and bagged only two fish for 6lb 9oz. They downed tools and headed for harbour before the 4pm deadline.
Watching them tie-up were Dave Moody and Jeff McDonald from Norham near Berwick. Dave’s first fish arrived at 9.15am and he thought he was into something, but it took him until 1pm to land his last and the pair from Northumbria docked at 14.25 with a commendable bag of 24lb 4oz. With time bonuses they eventually totalled 27lb 4oz.
Dave used an 18ft leader on a floating line and favoured hooks sized ten and 12. He varied his retrieve and it worked. They then had an anxious two-hour wait to find out if they had qualified for the final. They did, in third place.
Second were Peebles-based duo, Nathan Johnston and Scott Mathieson, who celebrated when they looked at the scales to find they had hauled in eight fish for 29lb 2oz, the biggest bag of the day. They reached harbour at 15.24 and their time bonuses took their tally to 30lb 2oz.
The pair have been fourth in the heat at Glencorse in the last two years and their perseverance was rewarded this time. Lemon, orange and pink sorbet patterns did the trick for them, but the magic did not really happen until the last hour of the match in which they netted five hard-fighting fish.
The winners were Kelty-based Owen Cook and Blaine O’Donnell from Cumbernauld. They hooked into 24lb 10oz of fish to which were added extensive time bonuses taking them to 31lb 6oz. Asked what the secret was to their success, O’Donnell said: “People were fishing too deep.”
Owen agreed: “Watching the other anglers set-up [before the match], everybody was on a sinking line and I we set up a lot higher in the water with FAB patterns. Two buzzers, size 12, and a FAB on the point.”
His theory and tactics worked a treat and buzzers and FAB patterns found fish at between three and four feet. Cook said: “Once you found them you were in.”
O’Donnell has been making a name for himself. He won the Allandale Tarn heat of the Scottish Stillwater Bank Championship earlier this season in atrocious conditions but failed to make the Scotland team after a disappointing final.
This win helped make up for that disappointment and the pair have a big date before the Fastmail Final. They are in the final of the Airflow Championships and are members of the fast-rising and highly-competitive Balfron Piscatorials fly-fishing team.
Looking back over the Glencorse event, Cook revealed that he had a really good morning at Glencorse, but he could not get fish to stick on his hook, a frustration, but he and O’Donnell persevered and they docked at 12.40. Once the fish were checked-in, they went back out for leisure fishing.
O’Donnell said: “We did all right here [at Glencorse], now we are looking forward to the final. Yes, there will be some heavyweights in there, but we will see what happens.
“It is the first time I have been to the final and I am looking forward to it.”
Cook is a veteran. This will be his third final.