Teenager named in Scotland's first ladies coarse fishing team

Rising star Molly Quinn will be joined by some of Scotland's top anglers in the Celtic Cup to be hosted by Scotland at Strathclyde Park from October 10 to 13.

It's the first time in the history of Scottish coarse angling that a ladies' team has been involved and West Lothian-based Molly, a 17-year-old from Whitburn, has only been fishing for three years.

Heather Lauriston and Roz Cassidy, two members of the Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club, are also in the ladies line-up along with Emily Mather, a 22-year-old who is originally from Dundee.

James Dornan from Currie, Midlothian, along with David Corcoran from Edinburgh are also listed along with experienced internationals James Woodrow, Colin Hart, David McAuley and Josh Trueman.

Molly Quinn with a superb fish

They will assist Gus Brindle, the International Team Manager, in coaching and mentoring the team and then help run the event.Two will be selected to captain the two men's teams of four anglers and the men's squad is Peter Dick, Scott Laird, Mark Lyons, Scott McGhee, Ewan Weed and Barry Young.

Brindle said that Molly is achieving good results in open matches and he added: "I have been very impressed by her commitment to practice and to master new skills."

Brindle said Emily is making a name for herself as one of the most talented young anglers in the North of England and he added: "Molly and Emily are being brought into the squad to help develop their skills and to identify a pathway for them."

The Celtic Cup was resurrected last year to develop new talent for future world and European championships and anglers who have fished in the past three years have been invited to fish.

Brindle said: "Some of the more senior anglers have elected to step back and give the opportunity to the younger anglers coming through.

"At the moment, I have only selected two men's and one ladies' team for the event. Depending on how many teams Wales and Ireland are able to field, there may be the opportunity for us to field a third men's team."

Anybody keen to be considered for the possible additional team should email Brindle at [email protected].

Meanwhile, Jim Walker from Edinburgh, Kenni Hope from Hawick and Stewart Barclay, who lives in Midlothian, have qualified for in Heat 3 of the Scottish National Trout Fly Championship sponsored by Fishers Direct, Vision, 7Plus7 Construction and R&E Hygiene at the Lake of Menteith.

Other East of Scotland qualifers were Scott Pozzi and Rob Maxwell, both North Fife, and John Watt from Dunfermline. The rest were from the West of Scotland, Perthshire and Grampian.

Penicuik-based Tom Mactaggart, secretary of the organisers, the Scottish Anglers National Association Competition Clubs, said that competitors had to contend with a mix of cloud, sun, rain and hail, however, the fishing was good with the 51 anglers netting a total of 414 fish.

"The heaviest four trout at the scales weighed 6lb 13oz, 6lb 4oz, 6lb and 5lb 2oz and a further four were over 4lb. The top 26 qualified for the semi-finals."

Top rod was Gregor Fleming of Albacats FF who had 22 trout for 45lb 1.5oz. Scott Pozzi, who represents Rainbow AC, was second with 18 trout and Calum Clark of Firecats was third with 16 trout.

The top three rods took their fish at Dog Island, Cages Bay, Sams Point, Hotel Bay and the Road Shore fishing cormorants, diawl bachs, fabs and boobies on floating and midge tip lines.

The Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers host an open match at Elliot Beach, Arbroath, on Sunday, May 12. Registration is from 8.30am to 8.45am at the railway car park and fishing is from 10am to 3pm.

Pegs will be from the Bally's End of the venue running south past the pipe towards the river and this is a catch, measure and release match.

Finally, St Serfs Sea Angling Club host their postponed annual general meeting on Wednesday, May 8 (8pm) in the Elbow Room at Kirkcaldy and secretary George Harris said that a list of 19 fixtures will be confirmed for the season, including the new midweek matches. Anybody interested in taking part or joining is invited.