A former angling champion who taught John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Jack Nicklaus how to fish has opened the fishing season on the River Forth.
Peter Anderson, 86, was once the British, European and world casting champion and taught some famous men during tours of the US.
He raised a glass of whisky to toast the Teith and Forth rivers before the first lines were cast in what he hopes will be a good season for fishing.
"It looks promising, we want big waters to let the fish up," Mr Anderson said. "Last year the water started at summer levels and it was a bit hopeless-looking, but today it's almost in the car park."
The fisherman, from Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, has launched seasons all over the world, passing on his expertise.
"I've travelled the world since I was 30 as a champion caster. I've touched on most parts but spent a lot of time in the US. I used to go there four or five times a year for demonstration shows that attracted one million people during their run.
"The Cow Palace show in San Francisco was great and they loved the tricks I could do with a rod, like slicing cigars in two. They used to call me the 'Kilted Kingfisher'."
It was also during his visits to San Francisco that Mr Anderson started to rub shoulders with some famous faces.
"Every year they would have a different celebrity at the Cow Palace show and I would give personal demonstrations. Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Jack Nicklaus: I gave lessons to them all. I've fished a lot with Jack and I gave Sinatra and the Rat Pack a lesson at the Beverley Hilton in LA. I had John Wayne for an afternoon as well.
"Some of the guys like Wayne and Sinatra were trying fishing for the first time when I met them at the shows in the 60s and 70s and I could see that the American casting instructors were teaching them wrong, so I decided to show them how it should be done."
