The new season is underway and March has started with exceptionally mild weather with temperatures up to the mid-teens. The conditions at the Corbet Lough are ideal with gin clear water and also reports of rising fish which is great for this time of the year. On Friday 1 March there was a good turn out of anglers at the Lough and many of them enjoyed great sport. Geoff Hylands took 9 fish on the fly using a sink tip line. Indeed most of the anglers who were fly fishing recorded good catches. One angler also took 16 fish on the spinner. On Saturday 2 March the weather turned a bit colder and wetter. However there was still a good turn out of anglers to fish in the opening competition of the 2019 season. The adult anglers competed for the Bobby Blakley Cup whilst the juveniles competed for the McComb Cup. There were a number of fish caught which were better than 3lbs. Geoff Hylands also hooked and lost a cracking fish which he reckoned was close to 4lbs. At the weigh-in Derek Curran won the Bobby Blakley Cup with a great bag of fish weighing 5lbs 2ozs. Leonard Ervine and David McCandless were 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the juvenile competition Imogen Johnston, the current Juvenile Angler of the Year, got of to a winning start taking the McComb Cup with a good bag of fish weighing 3lbs 14ozs. Patrick Curran finished in 2nd place. The River Bann also fished well at the start of the month and Ned Shannon had some nice fish on the fly. In one session he had 25 fish with a few up to about 12 inches. After the first few days of March the weather turned bitterly cold and as a result there was less fishing effort on the Corbet. However those anglers that persevered were rewarded with some good sport and Leonard Ervine and David McCandless have been catching some good fish throughout the month. On Sunday 17 March Leonard had a great Rainbow of 3lbs 8ozs on the fly. On Monday 18 March the weather was pleasant and there was a big turn out of anglers throughout the day. Raymond Cherry’s fishing partner had three fish on the fly. Aidan Lavery hooked a lost a few fish. Wilson Clinghan had three nice fish on a damsel nymph. David McCandless fished off one of the fishing stands and he had two nice fish on the fly. Sam Grant had three lovely fish off Bruce’s Point, including a beautiful Rainbow of 3lbs on a bloodworm. Roger McClements also had a nice fish on the fly off Bruce’s Point. On Saturday 23 March the adult competition anglers fished the River Bann for the AIB Cup. Wilson Clinghan took the Cup with a catch of 1.22lbs. Sam Grant and Colin Crothers were 2nd and 3rd respectively. The next competitions will now be the Bruce Carson Trophy (Adults) and the Carson Cup (Juveniles). These competitions will be fished at Corbet Lough on Saturday 6 April 2019, starting at 11:00am with the weigh-in at 5:00pm.