Angling: Clean sweep for Scots girls

With temperatures up in the 80s, bright sunshine and mirror-like calms, fish were still taking off the surface at Lake of Menteith.

Without giving too much away because of forthcoming competitions, I could not believe the quality of the fish in certain areas during a week of fishing and supporting the Scottish ladies in their international who went on to lift gold medals in a magnificent manner.

Scottish fishing is generally pulling at a rate of knots and the ladies showed just how adaptable they are under the joint leadership of John Buchanan and coach John Ross.

Match day was a scorcher and water was handed out to the ladies in desert-like conditions.

The Scottish team was well up in the early stages with fish being taken close in around the various reed beds. The tactic was to let the fish take static rather than pull, and it worked a treat.

The English ladies found the ideal conditions for their type of fishing, but failed to meet the mark. The Welsh team put in a fair performance, but it was the Irish lassies who deserve credit as they turned up two short in their squad but put up a brave fight going down by only a small margin. In the end, Scotland had a clean sweep and picked up top rod, heaviest fish and gold medal team winners.