For Steven Corsar a childhood fascination with angling has led to him competing on the world stage.
Inverurie’s Corsar is Scotland’s top fly fisherman after success last year made him the first person to win the Scottish National Fly Fishing League three times.
He was Scottish team captain at the World Fly Fishing Championship in Slovakia in September 2023 and will be Scotland’s skipper again at this year’s World Championship in the Czech Republic in May.
While in September the 48-year-old will represent his country on home soil when a Five Nations event is held on the River Don and at Lochter Fishery near Oldmeldrum.
Corsar began fishing the River Don aged six with his grandfather John Runciman and believes angling is a sport that can provide entertainment and enjoyment for people of all ages and abilities.
‘Every person can get what they want to out of fishing’
For some it may be a relaxing pastime, but Corsar says for those who take part in competitions the sport is fast-paced and physically demanding.
Looking back on how he started, he said: “It was something I always wanted to do, I was always keen to go fishing with my granda when I was young.
“He showed me what it was about and I’ve been fishing ever since.
“For a lot of people it’s quite a relaxing thing fishing, but for those of us who compete it’s the opposite of that.
“You’re always trying to catch as much as you can and trying to push yourself as much as you can.
“When you’re fishing rivers you do need to be quite fit because you do a lot of wading and it can be quite hard on you physically.
“We fish in three hour sessions in competitions and you need to catch as much as you can in that time.
“When you’re fishing there’s a controller on the bank who measures and checks your fish.
“When you catch a fish you have to wade to the bank to get the fish to the controller and then wade back out.
“In some of the competitions I’ve fished in you might catch 40 fish in a session so that’s quite tiring, wading in and out 80 times. So that’s where the fitness levels come into it.
“But really every person can get what they want to out of fishing as a sport, you can fish at any age, there are no boundaries.”
Competing on the international stage
In the Scottish League and in the international events like the World Championship and Five Nations anglers compete across a variety of disciplines: rivers, stillwater – which is fishing a lake from the bank – and loch style, which is fishing a lake from a boat.
Corsar’s big breakthrough at international level came in 2013 at the Stillwater International event – where Scotland compete against England, Wales and Ireland – when he helped Scotland win team gold and also secured individual gold.
Since then he has won a further Stillwater International gold and two silver medals as part of the Scottish team, as well as claiming two individual bronze medals.
Meanwhile, at the 2023 World Championship, Corsar was the highest placed British competitor in the individual standings in 25th spot. As a team Scotland finished 13th at the end of five-day event, although they were the top performing side on day two.
Corsar added: “On the second day in Slovakia we were number one in the world which was a good day for us, unfortunately we didn’t manage to stay there.
“In terms of this year we’d like try to get ourselves in the top 10, that would be good. France, Czech Republic, Spain and Italy usually end up being the top four.
“There are normally around 30 countries who compete at the World Championship including the likes of America, Australia, South Africa and Japan so it’s a big event.
“I take a lot of pride in the things I’ve done with Scotland and individually in the Scottish League. The competitive element is what motivates me to keep fishing.”
Bisset remembered at opening of the season
Meanwhile, the Inverurie Angling Association paid tribute to honorary member Raymond Bisset at the opening of the River Don salmon fishing season on Saturday.
To mark the beginning of the 2025 season anglers marched behind a piper from St Andrew’s Church along Inverurie High Street to the Don, before the river was blessed and toasted with a dram of whisky by Reverend Rhona Cathcart, while the Provost of Aberdeenshire Judy Whyte had the first cast.
However, the association also unveiled a plaque and named one of the pools on the river in memory of Raymond, who died aged 81 in November 2023.
Raymond was the last Provost of Gordon District Council and first Provost of Aberdeenshire Council following local government reorganisation in 1996 and also received an OBE for services to public life in 1999.
He was a keen angler and Steven Corsar, president of the Inverurie Angling Association, said: “Raymond was well-known locally as Provost of Gordon District Council and then Aberdeenshire Council and he was also a member of our fishing club.
“He always tried his best to help the club, I knew Raymond from a young age because I fished with him when I was a junior.
“Raymond’s got a special place in the history of our club and it’s nice to have this memorial to him.”
High hopes for 2025
The Inverurie Angling Association fishes the River Don and River Ury at the Inverurie Burghs Fishings as well fishing the Don at their Ardmurdo and Keithhall Fishings.
Corsar is hopeful of another good season ahead and is keen to encourage more people to take up the sport.
He added: “Last year our numbers were very good so hopefully this can be another good season.
“We’ve got good membership and quite a few juniors taking up the sport as well.
“But we’re always happy to welcome new members so if people are interested we’re always willing to show them the river and help them get started.”
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