The Corbet Lough has fished really well during the month of October over the past few seasons. The weather cools down a bit and the water quality improves which suits both the Corbet trout and the angler. On Wednesday 2 October Darrell McKinley was out on the Corbet for some boat fishing and he took 4 nice fish using a floating line and natural dry patterns. Lance McCarthy was also out on the Corbet and he also took 4 good fish to the boat on cormorants. Corbet Lough regulars Tom King and Gerard Lyness also enjoyed some good boat fishing with 7 good fish to the boat. On Friday 4 October Brendan Downey enjoyed a great boat session during the late morning and early afternoon. He took 8 nice fish using a floating line and pulling dabblers and an octopus. Tom Cherry was out in the late afternoon and he had 3 good fish to the boat using a floating line and pulling daddies. Tom also hooked and lost a few other good fish. There has been a few big floods down the River Bann since the start of the month which has seen a few late season salmon and dollaghan moving into the Club’s stretch of the river. Leonard Ervine and Geoff Hylands are putting in the fishing effort and they have caught a few salmon on the fly. Geoff also lost a cracking fish which he thought was the guts of 10lbs weight. On Saturday 12 October Lisburn anglers Aidan Lavery and Eddie Harris fished at the Corbet and they had 9 good fish to the boat. Aidan took some really good fish including a nice brown which he reckoned was about 3lbs. Gerard Lyness and Tom King also enjoyed a good boat session at the Corbet with 5 fish to the boat. On 12 October the Club’s adult competition anglers fished at the Corbet Lough for the Toasty Jardine Shield whilst the juvenile anglers fished for the Graham Cup. At the weigh-in there were some fine bags of fish and some reports of big fish being hooked and lost. In the juvenile category Imogen Johnston and Patrick Curran both caught their bag limit. On this occasion Imogan had a great fish of about 3lb 8ozs and this made the difference. Imogen won the Graham Cup with Patrick in 2nd place. Patrick and Imogen are both still in the running for the accolade of Juvenile Angler of the Year 2019 going into the last competition. Patrick has a slender lead but there is still everything to fish for. In the adult category Dessie Graham won the Toasty Jardine Shield with two fantastic fish weighing just under 5lbs. Dessie had his first fish before many of the anglers had wet a fly and he took his second within the first hour of the competition. Noel Burns and Paul McKinstry were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Trevor Jones reported hooking and lossing a great fish that could have seen him up amongst the prizes. In the competition for the Adult Angler of the Year 2019 title Geoff Hylands and Wilson ‘Skippy’ Clinghan are still neck and neck going into the last competition. Wilson was unavailable to fish in the Toasty Jardine Shield but Geoff wasn’t able to take advantage of Wilson’s absence. The final competition in the 2019 competition programme is at the Corbet Lough on Saturday 26 October. The adults will be fishing for the Hanlon Cup (Adults) and the juveniles will be competing for the Hanlon Cup (Juveniles). On Friday 18 October the weather turned bitterly cold and it put the fish off. There were a few boats out on the Corbet and although they took the odd fish it was hard fishing. Steve Jones was the top rod on the day with four fish to the boat. He took them on black and red coloured patterns fished on the surface and just under the surface. On Saturday 19 October the weather warmed up a bit again. Aidan Lavery and Eddie Harris had a great boat session during the morning with 10 good fish to the boat. William Cochrane also took a couple of nice fish to the boat. John Johnston and Tony Kelly were fly fishing from the shore and they both took fish. John had a really good fish. On Thursday 24 October Geoff Hylands enjoyed a great morning’s boat session on Corbet Lough with 14 nice fish to the boat. On Friday 25 October Leonard Ervine and Geoff Hylands had good sport at the Corbet. They had 11 nice fish between them to the boat. On Saturday 26 October the Club’s competition anglers fished at Corbet Lough for the Hanlon Cups in the final competition in the 2019 season. It was a fantastic competition with anglers reporting that some of the Corbet’s big fish were feeding on the gudgeons and sticklebacks close to the shore. In the adult competition a number of anglers including Henry McKnight, Davy McCandless, Leonard Ervine and Sam Grant all weighed in some great braces of fish that on another would have won a competition. However in this competition they did not count. Trevor Jones won the Hanlon Cup (Adults) with a fantastic brace of fish weighing 6lbs 14ozs. Geoff Hylands took 2nd place with his great brace of fish weighing 5lbs 10ozs and Malachy McAleenan was 3rd with his great brace of fish weighing 5lbs 9ozs. Geoff’s points in this competition was enough to confirm him as the Club’s Adult Angler of the Year 2019. In the juvenile competition Patrick Curran enjoyed a great day’s fishing. During the competition Patrick learnt that he just needed to weigh in a single fish to win the Hanlon Cup (Juveniles). He caught 8 or 9 fish up to 3lbs but sportingly just weighed in 1 fish of 2lbs 1ozs and returned the rest. Patrick’s points in this competition confirmed that he was the Club’s Juvenile Angler of the Year 2019. The month and the 2019 season ended with some great fishing at Corbet Lough. On Wednesday 30 October Joe and Patrick Curran were out for a couple of hours boat fishing and Joe caught a great fish of about 5lbs. On the final day Thursday 31 October the Corbet was very busy with both boat and shore anglers. Tom King and Gerard Lyness had 15 fish to the boat. Geoff Hylands and Leonard Ervine had 13 fish to the boat. Darrell McKinley and Joe McCandless also had 13 fish to the boat. Sam Grant was out by himself and he had great sport with 11 fish to the boat. Ned Shannon and Wilson Clinghan also had 11 fish to the boat. The end of the season also concludes the heaviest fish competition for 2019. The result in the Adult category was as follows:- 1st Stephen Henry 7lbs 2ozs (Fly – caught on 8 June); 2nd Wilson Clinghan 6lbs 9ozs (Fly – caught on 15 June) and 3rd Stanley Wilson 3lbs 10ozs (Worm – caught on 24 October). In the Juvenile category the result was as follows:- 1st Elihah Parks 2lbs 13ozs (Worm – caught on 1 July); 2nd Sam Curran 2lbs 12ozs (Worm – caught on 28 April) and 3rd Imogen Johnston 2lbs 11ozs (Fly – caught on 25 October).