The month started with a prolonged period of very hot, bright and dry weather which is not conducive with good fishing. However the Corbet Lough is continuing to fish very well, particularly in the cool evenings, and there have been reports of some decent rises and some great catches. On Monday 2 July there were three boats out in the evening. Frank Tumelty went deep and he had seven fish to the boat. Jim Warren fished dries and he had four fish to the boat on a dry sedge pattern. On Thursday 5 July Gerard Lyness and Tom King had a great day’s fishing with over twenty fish to the boat. William Cochrane and Stephen Henry, who were out for their weekly boat session, also enjoyed some great sport with ten fish to the boat. In the evening there was a good turn out of anglers at the Corbet fishing from both the boats and the shore. Frank Tumelty and Dan Tumilty had over twenty fish to the boat. David McCreedy and Andy Mitchell also had a great boat session with over ten fish to the boat. A lot of the shore anglers were getting in a bit of practise for a forthcoming competition at the Corbet and they were keeping their cards close to the chest with regard to the successful flies, methods and catches. Seamus Doyle was pleasure fishing from the shore with his granddaughter and she had caught a nice fish early in the evening. Seamus was naturally delighted and very proud of her. On Saturday 7 July the Club’s competition anglers fished an evening competition at Corbet Lough for the Pyers Cup (Adults) and the Martin Dynes Cup (Juveniles). Although the conditions were challenging there was a great turn out of anglers and there was some excellent bags of fish being weighed in. Trevor Jones won the Pyers Cup with Colin Crothers 2nd and Noel Burns 3rd. Imogen Johnston won the inaugural competition for the Martin Dynes Cup (Juveniles) with a great bag of fish weighing just under 3lbs 8ozs. On Friday 13 July Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields enjoyed some great sport with sixteen fish to the boat. On the same day Mr McLaughlin and Mr Agnew also had a fantastic boat session with eighteen fish to the boat. On Saturday 14 July Stephen Rea and Darrell McKinley took an evening’s boat fishing and Stephen had over forty fish to the boat on cormorants. Sam Grant also took a boat session on 14 July and he had seven nice fish to the boat. On Monday 16 July Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields enjoyed another great morning’s boat fishing with fourteen fish to the boat. Lance and Matt took most of their fish on cormorants fished on a sinking line. Juvenile angler Angelina Parkes was bait fishing and she caught a cracking Rainbow weighing 2lbs 7ozs. Angelina’s fish is the heaviest fish weighed in outside Club competitions by a juvenile angler to date. On Thursday 19 July the fishing was excellent and all the boats reported exceptional sport. Stevie Rea had forty fish to the boat. David and James McCreedy had thirty five fish to the boat with James having the upper hand on his dad on this occasion. Tom King and Gerard Lyness had another great boat session with thirty four fish to the boat. Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields also enjoyed excellent sport with sixteen fish to the boat. William Cochrane and Stephen Henry also had sixteen fish to the boat. Joe McCandless and Bill McCarrison had seven good fish to the boat. Stephen Ferris, Lisburn had five nice fish to the boat during a short early evening session. In the evening the Lough was very busy with both boat and shore anglers. Ivan McVeigh reported that there was a great rise out in the middle of the Lough and he caught fish regularly up to dusk on dries. On Friday 20 July the conditions for fishing were almost perfect. Hartley Smith, Ballgally had a great morning’s fishing with nineteen great fish to the boat and he also hooked and lost a number of other good fish. Hartley reported that it was one of his best fishing sessions at the Corbet. Brendan Downey was also out for a morning’s fishing and he took twelve nice fish to the boat on a selection of cormorants. Wilson Clinghan was out in the afternoon and he took nine nice fish to the boat using top of the water tactics. On Saturday 21 July Stevie Rea had another fantastic boat session with twenty eight fish up to about 3lbs 8ozs to the boat primarily on cormorants. Eoin Ward, Cabra has been enjoying some great fishing at the Corbet over the past few weeks. On Saturday 21 July he was out for a morning’s boat fishing and he took twelve nice fish to the boat on cormorants. He also hooked and missed a number of other good fish. Henry McKnight and John Johnston were out for an afternoon’s boat fishing and they had twelve good fish to the boat using a mixture of cormorants and top of the water tactics. Roger McClements was also out boat fishing in the afternoon and he had thirteen nice fish to the boat on cormorants. On Sunday 22 July Geoff Hylands had a great boat session during which he caught a fantastic Rainbow of 4lbs 4ozs. This fish put Geoff into 2nd place in the adult’s competiton for the best fish weighed in outside Club competitions. This will give Geoff plenty of confidence as he prepares to return to Lough Mask next month to defend the ‘World Cup’ which he famously won in 2017. On Thursday 26 July visiting angler Philip Spence from Comber had a great day’s boat fishing at the Corbet with thirty five fish. On the same day Stephen and Andrew Rea also enjoyed a fantastic session with sixty fish to the boat. William Cochrane and Stephen Henry were out for their weekly boat session and they had six nice fish to the boat. On Friday 27 July Brendan Downey had an enjoyable boat session with eleven fish to the boat on a selection of cormorants. He caught one of the small Brownies which was very carefully handled and released. This was a beautiful fish with big red and black spots, about 9-10 inches and it would have been made about 8-10 ozs. This is good indication that the small Brownies are coming on very well. Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields also enjoyed a good morning’s fishing with six fish to the boat in a couple of hours. On Saturday 28 July the Club’s competition anglers fished at the Corbet Lough for the Woods/McClory Cup (Adults) and the Barlow Shield (Juveniles). Although the weather changed to very heavy rainfall there was still a great turn out of anglers. Roger McClements won the Woods/McClory Cup with a great bag of fish weighing 4lbs 6ozs. Colin Crothers and Dessie Graham were 2nd and 3rd respectively with two nice bags of fish. Imogen Johnston won the Barlow Shield for Juvenile anglers with a good bag of fish weighing 3lbs 3ozs. On Monday 30 July Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields enjoyed a good morning’s boat fishing with ten fish between them. Stevie Rea was also out for a boat session and he had thirteen fish to the boat. On Monday evening there was a good rise but the fish appeared to be hard to catch. Colin Crothers and Noel Burns were fishing from the shore and they a fish or two early in the evening. Sam Grant was boat fishing and he took a nice fish in the bay in front of the fishing stands.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Boat Attendants have advised that as the Corbet is continuing to fish very well the boats have been very busy over the past few weeks, especially in the evenings. There have been a few occasions recently when anglers have been disappointed due to the unavailability of boats. The Boat Attendants ask anglers to please book your boat on 028 4062 5039 prior to travelling to the Corbet to avoid disappointment. This will also help the Boat Attendants to ensure that your boat is prepared and ready when you arrive at the Corbet.