Newhaylie Trout Fishery, Largs, Scotland

1. Scotland 112 pts
2. Ireland 135 pts
3. Wales 170 pts
4. England 176 pts

Top Individual: Sean Kirwan (Ireland) 13 fish

Although practice sessions had seen cold easterlies blast across this fishery, which is sited 400ft above the town of Largs, less than half a mile from the Irish sea, match day saw a flat calm, with gin clear water, in the morning session.

Nigel Duncan, The Edinburgh Reporter: ‘Then the wind got up in the post-lunch session, making it difficult to cast and to find the right tactics. Roly-poly in one section of the lake, slow retrieve in others. Even fast retrieve was tried as the clock ticked down.
The fickle wind, which kept changing direction, also made it difficult. Finding the right pattern was crucial to find fish who were generally thought to be around 5ft under the surface.
Slow glass lines and floating lines were used as was the controversial bung.’

Scottish Captain David Lynch: “I am over the moon, brilliant, and I am very pleased for the boys who have had a tough week. The weather conditions have not been great but we got gold. The boys were inexperienced and I am the only man in the team with a previous bank cap. They have worked hard and we have worked well as a team.”
He revealed that the ‘hot’ pegs on practice did not produce and he added: “We were lucky that we picked up fish on the very hard pegs. The conditions were different, morning and afternoon, and there was a bitter, cold wind after lunch.
“This morning was good and it was fishing better but the wind killed it. We were winning at lunchtime and we held on to it. We told the guys to keep at it, we had the flies and we knew the tactics and we didn’t change anything, we just kept going.”

Content & Images courtesy of Nigel Duncan Media, The Edinburgh Reporter