A SCOTS angler thought he had bagged the catch of the day – only to discover he had reeled in a soggy sporran full of cash lost a few days earlier.
Jamie McCulloch was fishing in the River Dee in Banchory, Aberdeenshire yesterday when his line went tight.
After a five minute battle with what he thought might be a feisty salmon, he was finally able to reel his catch in – to discover he had actually found a sealskin sporran.
Inside the sporran, the baffled Scot discovered a wad of cash, an iPhone, keys and a wallet.
Jamie decided to put out a plea on social media to find the owner after I.D inside revealed the owner as being an Arran Grieg from Peterculter, a suburb of Aberdeen.
Within 24 hours, Jamie tracked down Arran and reunited him with the family heirloom which he had lost at the weekend after wading into the river in his full Scottish get-up for a photo.
Jamie’s Facebook post after discovering the sporran, read: “An absolute first for me, believe this if you will.
“Fishing the Banchory beat on the river Dee, I was just approaching the hot spot and bang, the line went tight.”
Referring to the fly fishing hook he was using, Jamie added: “After a bizarre five minute battle, this is what took my red Francis cone head.
“If anyone knows a Arran Grieg from Peterculter, feel free to let him know that his sporran, his phone and his wallet full of cash is in safe hands.”
Following his appeal, not only was Arran tracked down but hilarious video emerged showing how the sporran was lost.
Drone footage from the wedding showed wedding guests watch as Arran, 28, walked into the river for a photo opportunity, wading until the water was up to his waist.
After a few minutes in the freezing cold water, Arran is then shown trying to get back to dry land as he clutches onto his sporran and his modesty.
But soon enough, the chef takes a slip and trips in the water before bursting out laughing as he frantically tries to get out of the river.
At this point, Arran’s arms are up in the air and no sporran can be seen as he crawls over rocks to get out.
Arran revealed today that Neil Selbie Kilt Hire, who he had rented his full outfit from, had called him to let him know the sporran had been found.
Speaking today, Jamie, 28, from Carluke, South Lanarkshire said: “Basically me and my friend come from just outside Glasgow and we fish all around Scotland.
“We decided it would be a good idea to drive up at 5 in the morning to go fishing. My friend Ryan was talking about this area which was renowned for finding really good salmon so we went by.
“When we got there, my line totally went dead. I said ‘I don’t know what I’ve got at the end of this but it’s definitely not a salmon. Every time I was trying to reel it in, the water was pulling it back down the river so for about five or ten minutes I was battling trying to pull it out.
“When I pulled it out and found that it was sporran I said to my friend ‘You will never guess in a million years what I’ve caught”. It was hilarious. It had all of Arran’s I.D in it, his phone, his keys, about £50 of cash.
“At first we thought ‘s**t, has someone fell in’ but no one in the area had heard of that happening. It didn’t look like it had been there long either, it looked pretty new.
“I put a post on Facebook in a group which specialises in fishing and within minutes it blew up and was being shared in various groups.
“As the afternoon went on I got a message from the guy saying ‘I heard you had a good caught this morning’.
“We were still there so he said we met at dinner time and he told us he went in the river to get a picture and turned around and hundreds of people were watching him on and cheering so he kept going.
“The water got deeper and as he went to come back he tripped and lost the sporran.
“He told me to keep the money and get some beers for finding it but I said no, don’t be daft, I just found it.
“He was more concerned about his cards and his keys. I think he was still recovering from the wedding.”
Speaking to his local newspaper today, Arran said: “I was at a wedding, and I thought that the river looked rather shallow and the spot across the river would make a fantastic photo opportunity.
“My kilt was already wet from the rain earlier that day, so I thought, what the hell.
“Everyone was cheering me on, so I just went for it.
“As I was going across, I started to stumble a little bit, and I managed to catch myself but ripped the sporran off with my knee – and it had my phone, my bank card, my keys for my house and all my cash.
“But the main thing was the sporran itself – it has been in the family quite a while, so I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that someone had found it.”
Jamie’s post about the sporran attracted hundreds of shares and comments online.
Laura Bremner wrote: “That must have been some wedding.”
Justin Lawrie said: “His dignity might be floating in there also. Mines usually ends up in the gutter so he’s done not to badly.”
John Morrison wrote: “Why did it take a five minute battle? Was the sporran alive to begin with?
“Good on you for being honest. A rare commodity nowadays.”
And Susan Dempster said: “That’s amazing someone will be happy good on you for being so honest.”
