Angler of the Year 2021

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BAC – Sam Watt presents Roger McClements with the Angler of the Year 2020 Shield at the Corbet Lough on Thursday 27 May 2021

Damian Murtagh, Competition Secretary and his assistants worked hard to put together a full competition programme in 2021 which was fully compliant with the COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines.

The competition programme attracted all the usual competition anglers and a few newcomers. Indeed by all accounts it was as competitive and enjoyable as ever. There was a good spread of individual competition winners with 2 or 3 anglers in the running for Angler of the Year right up to the final competition of the season. However in the end Roger McClements took the accolade of Adult Angler of the Year for the second consecutive year with his uncle Sam Grant who had another great season in the competitions finishing in a very close second. Indeed Sam lost a few great fish right at the net in the final competition and if any of these had been netted it could have been a different story. Roger is a great competition angler who rarely misses a Club competition. He is also a perfectionist in studying the water and the conditions and he catches fish when other good anglers struggle. This is the fourth occasion that Roger has taken the prestigious accolade of Adult Angler of the Year. His previous successes were in 2014, 2017 and 2021. Roger was also the Club’s Juvenile Angler of the Year back in 1984 and 1987 and he is one of only a handful of anglers who have been both the Club’s Juvenile and the Adult Angler of the Year.

In the Juvenile Angler of the Year 2021 competition Imogen Johnston had a fantastic season. She deservedly took the Juvenile Angler of the Year 2021. Indeed in September 2021 Imogen also qualified on Lough Lene to fish for the Irish Youth International Team in 2022. Imogen is a great young angler who has been well mentored and tutiored by Henry McKnight, John Johnston and Malcolm Wing. I am sure that Henry, John and Malcolm are all extremely proud of Imogen’s fishing achievements in 2021. This is the second occasion that Imogen has won the Club’s Juvenile Angler of the Year title. Her previous success was in 2018. In 2014 Imogen was the Club’s Junior Angler of the Year and she is still the only angler to have won both the Junior and Juvenile Angler of the Year titles.

The Club’s junior competitions were primarly fished over the summer months to enable more junior anglers to participate. In the end Elijah Parks took the accolade of Junior Angler of the Year 2021 for the second consecutive year. Elijah is only the second angler to win the Junior Angler of the Year title on 2 occasions and he has many more opportunities to get even more success.

Congratulations to Roger, Imogen and Elijah on their great success in 2021.