On Saturday 1 April the fishing conditions at Corbet Lough were good with an overcast sky and a nice breeze. There was a good turn out of anglers. The Club’s adult anglers were fishing for the Bruce Carson Trophy and the juvenile anglers were fishing for the Carson Cup. There were also a number of pleasure anglers on the Lough with many taking advantage of the season’s first day’s boat fishing at the Corbet. It was a great day for the Curran family on the competition scene. Joe Curran had three great fish all over 3lbs by lunchtime and he won the Bruce Carson Trophy with a fantastic Rainbow of 4lbs 2ozs. Andrew Rea caught a good number of fish and took 2nd place with a Rainbow of 3lbs 5ozs. Colin Crothers was just pipped by Andrew and he took 3rd place with a Rainbow of 3lbs 4ozs. Joe’s son Patrick made it a great family double by catching three nice fish and winning the Carson Cup with a Rainbow of 3lbs 4ozs. Sam Curran was 2nd with a Rainbow of 2lbs 9ozs on the spinner. Imogen Johnston took 3rd place with a Rainbow of 2lbs 4ozs taken on the fly. It was fitting that Joe Curran who was Bruce Carson’s fishing partner for many years should win this fine Trophy. The boat anglers also enjoyed a great day’s fishing at Corbet on Saturday 1 April. A number of boats reported catches of double figures and fish up to 4lbs. Gerard Lyness and Tom King had a great boat session with nineteen fish up to 3lbs 8ozs to the boat in a few hours. The fish were taking the fly just a few feet below the surface. Boat anglers were catching on intermediate lines and the Cormorant fly accounted for a lot of fish. On Thursday 6 April Gerard Lyness and Tom King had another great boat session taking fourteen fish up to 4lbs to the boat. On Friday 7 April Brendan Downey had ten great hard fighting fish up to 4lbs to the boat on a bloodworm, buzzers and cormorants. In the evening Adrian McAnarney was fishing from the shore and he had eighteen fish on the fly. On Saturday 8 April Banbridge Angling Club and Armagh Angling Club fished in the 1st leg of the Friendship Cup. All the anglers enjoyed some fantastic sport fishing both from the boat and the shore. Most anglers took the bag limit with many fish over 4lbs. At the end of the day the Banbridge anglers have a small advantage of approximately 6lbs for the second leg of the Friendship Cup which will be fished on the Armagh waters on 16 September 2017. Aidan Donnelly and Noel Burns were the Armagh and the Banbridge Club’s respective top rods. On Monday 10 April Matthew Henry and Stevie McSherry enjoyed a great day’s boat fishing. They had over twenty fish to the boat with Stevie taking the the bragging rights with seventeen fish. They were both fishing the exact same set ups except for the leader material. Matthew was straight into Coburns to get a spool of fluorocarbon. On Thursday 13 April there was a few boats out on the Lough and all the anglers had great sport. Gerard Lyness and Tom King had fourteen fish. Ron Hutchinson and George Derby had ten fish. William Cochrane and Stephen Rea also had ten fish. Frank Tumelty was out in a boat by himself and he had eleven fish. On Friday 14 April anglers were taking fish from both the boat and the shore. David McCreedy and his son David had a good morning’s boat session taking seven fish and missing a good few others. The anglers fishing from the shore were also taking plenty of fish on both the fly and the spinner. Henry McKnight was fly fishing from the shore and he had five good fish and missed a few others. On Saturday 15 April the Club’s junior anglers (under 13 years) were fishing in the SH&SCT Cup. Most of the junior anglers caught fish. Adam Morrow, last year’s Junior Angler of the Year, won the Cup with a great Rainbow of 3lbs 6ozs. Daniel Dynes was 2nd with a good Rainbow of 2lbs 5ozs and Niall Tumelty was 3rd with a nice Rainbow of 2lbs 2ozs. On Monday 17 April David and James McCreedy had a good morning boat session with eleven fish to the boat. Dan Tumilty and Nigel Beckett were out in the afternoon and although they had to fish hard they ended up with six fish to the boat. John Johnston and his neice Imogen Johnston were also out on the Corbet in the afternoon and they both had some great hard fighting Rainbows to the boat. If you wish to get some online experince of the Corbet’s boat fishing John has uploaded a short video clip onto Banbridge Angling Club’s Facebook Page of himself and Imogen hooking, playing and netting these big Rainbows at the Corbet. On 17 April the Club’s competition anglers were on the River Bann. The adult anglers were fishing in the inaugural competition for the Linda McCandless Cup and the Juveniles were fishing for the Rodger Young Trophy. There were some nice fish weighed-in with the top three adult anglers all weighing in fish better than 1lb. Martin Dynes won the Linda McCandless Cup with a Trout of just under 1lb 8ozs. Keith Gibson and Sam Grant were 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the Juvenile competition Adam Morrow won the Rodger Youing Trophy with a nice Trout. The above photograph shows Dr Jacqueline McCandless and Joe McCandless, her father and the Club’s Joint President, presenting the Linda McCandless Cup to Martin Dynes. On Thursday 20 April Darrell McKinley had a great boat session on Corbet Lough. He had twenty five fish up to 4lbs to the boat on buzzers and cormorants. On Thursday evening Geoff Hylands was fly fishing from the shore at Corbet and he had five nice fish. On Saturday 22 April Darryl Alexander was out for a morning’s boat fishing on the Corbet and he had three good fish on buzzers. In the afternoon Jim Warren had six great fish up to about 4lbs to the boat. On Saturday 29 April the Club’s Junior anglers (under 13 years) were fishing for the Percy Trophy. Although the weather was cold and blustery there was a great turn out of young anglers and most of them caught fish. Joshua Quarley won the Percy Trophy with a great Rainbow of 3lbs 5ozs. Adam Morrow was second with another great fish of 3lbs 3ozs and Daniel Dynes was third with a nice fish of 2lbs 14ozs. The Corbet Lough has been fishing very well since the start of the season. If you are are looking for some great game fishing in 2017 you can still apply for membership of Banbridge Angling Club. If you are a visiting or more occasional angler you can purchase a Corbet Lough Day Ticket from the Boat Attendants’ Office at Corbet Lough, the nearby Anglers Rest Bar and Bistro and Coburns Tackle Shop, Scarva Street, Banbridge. Just a word of caution if you are coming to the Corbet, beef up your leaders and check your knots. The Corbet trout will test your tackle to the limit.