Fishing Report – October 2018

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BAC Aidan Donnelly with a cracking Rainbow of 7lbs 8ozs taken on a bloodworm at Corbet Lough on 17 October 2018

October is showing all the signs of autumn with lower temperatures, the trees shedding their leaves and the countryside taking on its autumnal colours. The fish in the Corbet are also feeding hard in preparation for winter and as a consequence the anglers are still enjoying some great sport. Since the start of the month Davy McCandless has been enjoying great fishing. He is catching some nice fish from the fishing stands at the front of the Lough. I understand that the bloodworm is doing the business. David McKeague is also enjoying good fishing. He is also fishing from the fishing stands and he is taking some nice fish on the worm. On Thursday 4 October Stephen Rea and Darrell McKinley had a great days boat fishing. They fished a selction of dabblers and had over fifty fish to the boat. They had a number of double hook-ups. Indeed Stephen even had a full house of three fish, two Rainbows and a Brownie on a single cast which he successfully landed and returned. Stephen and Darrell, who sportingly returned all their fish, reckoned that the best fish would have been up to 4lbs. Dan Tumilty and Leonard Irvine also enjoyed a great session with fourteen fish to the boat. Henry McKnight and Malcolm Wing had a good boat session with eleven fish. William Cochrane and Stephen Henry had seven to the boat. On Friday 5 October Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields had five fish to the boat. On Saturday 6 October there were seven boats out on the Corbet during the morning and early afternoon. Dan Tumilty and Leonard Irvine enjoyed another great session with nine fish to the boat. Darryl Alexender had seven nice fish to the boat. Sammy McCue and Davy McCandless also had seven good fish to the boat. Henry McKnight and Imogen Johnston enjoyed some good fishing with four fish to the boat. Dessie Graham also had four fish to the boat. David McCreedy and Stephen Henry had three fish to the boat. On Thursday 11 October Darrell McKinley and Stephen Rea had another great boat session. They fished a cast of dabblers in the traditional Irish lough wet fishing style and picked up fish over the drop offs. At the end of the session they had twenty five fish to the boat. On Friday 12 October the Lough was quiet as Storm Callum hit the district. On Saturday 13 October the winds abated but it was still a very wet day. However there was a good turn out of competition anglers at the Corbet for the Toasty Jardine Shield for adults and the Graham Cup for juveniles. Imogen Johnston won the Graham Cup with a very good bag of fish weighing 4.060lbs. Imogen’s best fish was a great fish of 2.769lbs. In the adult competition for the Toasty Jardine Shield only 3 anglers weighed in the bag limit. Roger McClements won the Shield with a bag weight of 3.672lbs with Sam Grant in 2nd place and Keith Gibson in 3rd place. On Tuesday 16 October Aidan Lavery and Eddie Harris had a good session with ten fish to the boat. On Wednesday 17 October Aidan Donnelly, Portadown was out at the Corbet for a few hours fishing. He spoke to the Boat Attendant as he past the office who informed him that the Corbet was fishing well and that the fly anglers had been taking good fish on the bloodworm. After a few hours shore fishing Aidan returned with a cracking big Rainbow which had a tail like a shovel and hit the scales at 7lbs 8ozs. Sure enough Aidan took the fish on a bloodworm. This is the best recorded fish taken at the Corbet so far this season. Lance McCarthy and Matt Shields were also out for a boat fishing session and they had six fish to the boat. Darryl Alexander also took a boat out for a few hours and he had five fish to the boat. On Friday 19 October the Corbet was very busy with six boats out from late morning into the afternoon. Brendan McGrath had great sport with eleven fish to the boat. Sam Grant also enjoyed a good session with eight fish up to about 3lbs to the boat. He took a lot of fish on a silver bodied cormorant and also got broke by a very big fish. Alan Hanna and his partner Tom King, Enniskillen had a very enjoyable days fishing with seven fish to the boat. On Saturday 20 October Gerard Lyness and Tom King had a great session with ten fish to the boat. They also hooked and lost as many fish again. On Saturday 27 October the Club’s competition anglers fished at Corbet Lough for the Hanlon Cup (Adults) and the Hanlon Cup (Juveniles) in the final competition of the season. The weather turned bitterly cold and many anglers were looking to bag up as quickly as possible and get off the water. In the early afternoon Sam Grant and Dessie Graham both had their bag limits. At the weigh-in Roger McClements won the Hanlon Cup (Adults) with a nice brace of fish weighing 4.664lbs. Wilson Clinghan and Noel Burns were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Imogen Johnston won the Hanlon Cup (Juveniles) with a weight of 2.93lbs with Patrick Curran taking 2nd place. This result confirms Imogen as the Club’s first lady Juvenile Angler of the Year 2018. Imogen has fished really well all season and her success is well deserved. Congratulations Imogen. On Monday 29 October Noel Burns was out for a few hours fishing from the shore. He had a number of fish on the fly including two beauties of over 3lbs. On Wednesday 31 October the Lough was very busy with both shore and boat anglers. Roger McClements and Noel Burns both took fish on the fly from the shore. Geoff Hylands and Roger Armstrong were out for a few hours boat fishing. Geoff had eleven fish to the boat and he took a lot of them on the green pea fly. Roger also had a very good end of season session with six fish to the boat. The Kerr Cup and the Jardine Cup for the heaviest fish in both the Adult and Juvenile categories was also confirmed. Aidan Donnelly won the Kerr Cup with the great 7lbs 8ozs Rainbow which he caught on the fly at the Corbet on 17 October. Tom King was 2nd with a very good fish weighing 5lbs 1ozs which he also caught on the fly at the Corbet earlier in the season. Malachy Cumberton was in 3rd place with a nice Rainbow of 4lbs 5ozs. Niall Tumelty, the Junior Angler of the Year 2018, won the Jardine Cup with a good Rainbow of 2lbs 12ozs. Angelina Parkes was 2nd with a very nice fish of 2lbs 7ozs. That brings another season to a close. Thank you to all our members and Day Ticket anglers who have supported the Club by regularly fishing Corbet Lough and the River Bann over the past season. On behalf of all the anglers thank you to Darrell and Andy for maintaining the boats in top condition and looking after us all so well.