Fishing bosses make appeal for more talent for the team
ANGLING BOSS Archie Ferguson
urged more anglers to put their names down for the Scottish National Fly Fishing League (SNFFL) to increase competition for places in the international team.
The Scottish Anglers National Association (SANA), who administer the SNFFL league, have a waiting list for the First Division and Ferguson, who is in charge of media for the leagues, said the system is in place to encourage domestic competition.
He added: “We have 18 in the Premier League and the same number in the First Division, but we would love to form a Third Division and so we ask any anglers out there who have ever dreamed about angling for Scotland to come forward.”
Ferguson admitted that it was difficult trying to raise Scotland’s status in world fishing due to a number of issues.
One of them is climate. Domestic league matches include loch, small stillwater and river fishing in waters including the Don, the Urie, a tributary which meets the Don at the south edge of Inverurie, and the Tummel or Tweed.
However, conditions can be so different from Europe, said Ferguson, who explained: “Our guys can drive into a car park at the Tummel and pick out the tackle and patterns they need. Going into the world and European scene is completely different.
“Technical skill is not an issue as our guys carry all the requisite skills, and they can cast, but you could be faced with a 30 ° C heat, you could have to crawl to find the best eddy to fish in and you could be facing low river levels. There are all sorts of things you need to be aware of in fishing abroad.”
SANA would love to send somebody over to recce venues * abroad, but that raises another issue, finance. Money is in short-supply and Ferguson said: “Most of the angling has to be self-financed by the anglers. Of course. we desperately want to be a bigger force in the world, we want to make a mark in Europe, and we want to compete strongly in the Five Nations, so we have to have a strong Scottish league.
“However, we also want to develop a pathway so that if an angler sitting at home, even if they are a beginner, can look at the progression and say: ‘I want to give that a go.’We would be delighted to hear from them.”
Last year’s Premier League included anglers from: Aberdeenshire: Steve Corsar, Mike Cordiner, Kenny Riddell; Fife/Central, David Chalmers, Fred McDonald, Steven Livingstone,
Robert Maxwell, Archie Ferguson; Borders: Cuillin Rae, Keith Renton, Derick Logan, Jake Harvey; Glasgow/ West: Jim Kyle, Greg Forrest, Michael Ward, Craig Brown: Tayside/North East: Ian Runcie, Kathleen Shepherd.
The 2023 program for the
Premier and First Division is over ten sessions and five dates:
March 11: Loch style, Harelaw.
March 25: small stillwater, Ledyatt; June 11: River, Don/Urie ; August 13: River Tweed; September 3: River Tweed.
Scotland’s new fly fishing champion, Steven Corsar, leads Team Scotland in the
World Championships in Slovakia next year, after winning the Premier League after a hard season over three disciplines, stillwater, loch style and rivers. The next four anglers in the rankings will accompany him to Liptov. The next five in the 18-strong Premier League will carry Scotland’s hopes in the European Championships next year and the four newly-promoted anglers from the First Division will take part in the Five Nations which normally features England, Ireland, France, Norway, Scotland and sometimes Belgium.
Corsar, aged 46, will prepare for the world event by defending his title in the Premier League next year and the squad are likely to fly to Poland and then drive over the Tatra Mountains, which form a natural border between