Mouat’s men pick up silvers in Worlds
FISHING SWANSWATER
In a week that saw almost every type of weather – cold, frost, rain, hail, snow, wind, and warm spring sunshine – the fishing was excellent.
Because of below freezing temperatures overnight, the days started and ended slowly, but conditions in the middle part of the day – from mid-morning to early evening – led to some great sport.
The water temperature dropped from 10oC to 5.5oC but fish were still being seen rising in the middle part of the day. In general, though, they were around four feet deep and were moving around all the ponds.
On the main pond, the Dam, the Island and the boats were the best spots.
Many anglers commented on the quality of the fish, especially in the bait pond where the fish stocked are of the same quality and weight as those going into the fly ponds.
Although most of the fish taken were Rainbows, Blues and Golds, several Browns and a few Tigers were returned.
Favourite fly patterns this week included Dancer, Ally McCoist, Damsel, Cormorant, Hare’s Ear, Buzzer and Kate McLaren, with the most popular colours being black and black and green.
On the bait pond power bait, mouse tails, spinners, worms and maggots were all successful
Amongst the best bags landed on the fly ponds were Willie Nyguist three for 14lb including 8lb 6oz Rainbow; Callum McMillan two for 10lb including 7lb Rainbow.
Joe Woods 5lb 8oz Blue; Kieran Lydon three for 11lb 9oz including 5lb 8oz Rainbow plus six caught and returned; Les Morrow 5lb Rainbow from the Millpond; Alan Evans and Owen five for 13lb plus
The PEAK-based rink of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan won silver in the BKT Tires and OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship after losing to Sweden’s defending champions in a hard fought final.
The scoreline of 10-5 in no way reflected the overall match with the Scottish team needing to take risks with time running out, allowing the opportunity for Niklas Edin to play a well-judged double takeout and claim five shots at the ninth end, doubling his team’s tally to clinch the win. six c/r; Donald McMurchie five for 12lb 4oz; Barry Hamilton four for 13lb 8oz including 5lb Rainbow; Kyle Crossan four for 10lb 8oz; Frank Barr, in two visits, six for 18lb 8oz plus 15 c/r including 8lb Rainbow;.
Tam Baillie three for 9lb plus four c/r; Ricky Goodwin three for 9lb plus one c/r; Eddie McKillop jnr three for 8lb 8oz plus one c/r; Kieron Letford two for 7lb plus three c/r; Norrie Holmes two for 6lb 12oz; George Johnston six c/r in the Meadow Pond; Billy Sweeny four c/r.
The bait pond fished exceptionally well this week. Some of the best bags included William Reid five for 15lb 8oz including 7lb 8oz Rainbow; Nathan Reid five for 11lb including a Gold; John Reid five for 14lb including 6lb 8oz Rainbow and Gold; Charles Reid five for 10lb; James Muir four for 8lb 8oz.
Barry Liddle three for 6lb; Jack Fowles two for 5lb; Caitlyn Tallis and Jordan Solomon shared four for 9lb; Eddie Blair four for 8lb 8oz; Raymond MacIntosh four for 8lb; Gilbert Donnachie four for 9lb.
Aiden Donnachie four for 9lb; Eddie McKenna two for 7lb including 5lb Gold; Andrew Brown three for 6lb 12oz; Ryan Hughes three for 7lb 4oz; Callum Campbell three for 8lb including 3lb 4oz Gold.
The fishery is open from 8am to 7pm every day except Thursday when it closes at 2.30pm.
Please continue to observe all coronavirus restrictions with regard to travel, social distancing and hand hygiene. Face coverings must be worn in reception.
Bookings are not necessary but are really appreciated. Contactless card payment is the preferred option although cash will be accepted if necessary.
LAKE OF MENTEITH
It was a third successive World Championship win for Edin and a fifth title overall for the Swedish skip who has been the dominant figure in the global game since winning his first world title eight years ago.
Skip Mouat and his team, however, had already achieved their priority of earning Winter Olympic qualification for Team GB on the way.
The silver medal at Calgary was an upgrade on their previous best when they lost in the semi-finals, then won their bronze medal play-off, but after a year out of international competition they could draw considerable satisfaction from having gone the distance in the event.
From today (Friday), anglers can travel to the lake from any area within Scotland. Please book on line and pay before arrival at the website payment page.
Payment/booking can also be made by telephoning the fishery or if needs be with cash or card on the day (although prepayment is preferred because of Covid in the meantime).
FRANDY
Fishing from the bank Raymond Pirrie eight c/r; Jimmy MacNicoll three c/; Jim Donnelly kept two weighing 4lb 2oz and released eight; Stuart Lowe 12 c/r; Kevin McGuckin kept three weighing 6lb; Brad Cochrane had five c/r.
Boat anglers doing well included Brian Lockie and Malcolm Reese who caught and released 12 and David Anderson and Andy Smart had 40 c/r.
The best catching flies included the Hot Head Damsel, Tequila Fab, Buzzers and the Pink Egg whilst the South Shore continues to be the most productive area.
ORCHILL LOCH
Last week the wind chill has been colder than winter, minus six degrees on Sunday but the sun gave a much needed boost.
Young Michael Robertson had a sevenpounder and 16 c/r on various small flies; Ewan McMeechan four for 10lbs on a Muddler; Scott McMeechan used a Damsel to take four for 8lbs.
B Zarebski five c/r on Buzzers; B Quinn four for 9lbs on Buzzers; P Lassels three for 13lbs on a Yellow Dancer; Brian Logan and John Frampton 10 each c/r on Buzzers; Nick and Connor Finan six for 22lbs - best 6lbs Bloodworm and the Ally McCoist and R Knox had three for 11lbs 8oz on a Pink Bug.
CRICKET
“There was a lot of pressure this week for multiple reasons,” Mouat said afterwards.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to try and get this far and we played so well to get here and I’m sure it’ll feel good in a couple of days that we’ve beaten our own record of a bronze medal.”
They had ensured that earlier in a final day that had involved a compressed schedule as a result of the postponement of matches on Saturday following an outbreak of Covid in the Calgary bubble, by beating RCF 5-3 in a hard-fought semifinal.
“It was a strong performance in the semi-final,” Mouat continued. We controlled the game and forced them
Junior training at Stirling County Cricket Club will begin on Friday, April 23 at 6pm and on every Friday from 6pm onwards
Junior convener Brian Hambly said: “Although last year was a difficult season, we did manage to provide fun fitness activities at our training sessions, good games of cricket and some very interesting competitive matches.
“This year, with restrictions lifting, we should be back on a normal footing, playing in a variety of leagues and festivals.”
TENNIS
The hard work and commitment of the tennis community in the Stirling and Clackmannan area has been acknowledged by the sport’s national governing body.
A coach, official and volunteer have been shortlisted for awards while Stirling University has also been named as a finalist in one of the categories.
The nominations for the Tennis Scotland Awards 2021 has been unveiled, recognising the contribution of individuals, clubs, programmes and competitions which played a key role in helping tennis to thrive last year as participation continued to grow across the nation.
Acknowledging innovative attempts to ensure students of all abilities could continue to develop throughout lockdown in 2020, Stirling University is up for the Education Award.
The university has been commended for online fitness provision and interactive coaching workshops for students, before also establishing a safe process for performance players to return to the into playing better than we did in our round-robin game, so I was very proud of how we all went about that game and came out with the intent of winning both games today.
“I actually feel like we played better than the Swedes for a while and probably feel like we should have had a lead going into the latter half.
“However, they’re so experienced and they made a ton of shots and put us under a lot of pressure, especially in that ninth end and unfortunately we just didn’t make all our shots to make the force we were looking for and they got that big five, which was curtains for the game.”
He went on: “It’s tough to look back on
National Tennis Centre.
James Blair of University of Stirling Tennis Club has also been shortlisted for the Volunteer of the Year Award which recognises an outstanding voluntary contribution made to inspire others to participate in the sport.
As a reward for providing a performance programme which supported players throughout 2020, Adam Brown of Bridge of Allan has earned a place on the prestigious Performance Coach of the Year shortlist.
And Alloa resident Olwyn Roy is in the running for Official of the Year, an award which celebrates referees, umpires and court supervisors who have gone above and beyond their role since Covid-19 restrictions were introduced.
In total, 27 nominees have been announced across 10 separate categories, with the eventual winners subsequently securing a place at the LTA British Tennis Awards.
Winners of the Tennis Scotland Awards will be announced online on April 23 with a ceremony to be held at a later date it right now. Maybe in a couple of days or weeks we’ll maybe be able to look back and be very proud of what we’ve done here, but it’s pretty tough right now.”
He was still able to put the overall week’s performance into proper perspective.
“There’s been a lot of pressure on us in terms of qualifying Great Britain a spot at the Olympics and as much as we really didn’t want to be thinking about that, it’s always in the back of our minds.
“So, to have that on our backs, then get to a world final just shows the strength of this team. I say it a lot, but the guys are amazing players and I’m just really honoured to be able to be part of this team and to skip it is a privilege.”