On Saturday 25 June Banbridge Angling Club held the Corbet Lough Open Boat Fly Fishing Competition 2022 in aid of the Alzheimers Society NI and the Ukraine Crisis Fund. Initially it was a very somber gathering as anglers heard the very sad news about Nigel Beckett who was a Corbet regular and only a few days previously had been enjoying some great fly fishing with some of his angling friends from his favourite fishing stands. Sam Watt, Club Chairman expressed all our condolences and a minutes silence for reflection was observed by all present.
Although the conditions on the Lough appeared challenging the anglers looked forward with great anticipation. The Boat Attendants had all the boats in immaculate condition and Adrian was on hand to assist anglers on board and get ready for the off. At 11:00am the boats headed out and anglers made their way to the areas of the Lough which they thought would hold a few fish. Dessy Graham was the first angler I observed into a fish and before he had it netted Wilson ‘Skippy’ Clinghan was also into a fish. Skippy netted his 1st fish at 11:03am. He was that quick off the mark and he continued to catch regularly throughout the day. Stevie Clarke and Patrick Curran were fishing closeby and they were also catching very regularly. Indeed Patrick also lost a lot of fish that could have made the difference if he had got them to the net. But that’s fishing. Darryl Grimason, Eugene Curran and Roger McClements were also closeby and catching well. The reports from down the Lough was that Stevie Rea and Andrew Rea were also catching a good few fish.
At 5:00pm the anglers congregated at the boat jetty where Damian Murtagh, the Club’s Competition Secretary was on hand to collect the anglers’ score cards for checking by the judges. The talk amongst the anglers was about the great quality of the Corbet fish and the difficult wind and gusts on the Lough throughout the day. However it was also evident that those that handled the conditions best and got amongst feeding trout had the best catches on the day.
Whilst the anglers waited in anticipation for the judges’ decisions Henry McKnight and Evangline Johnston had prepared a great bbq for all the anglers. Clare Fleck and Eugene Curran took the opportunity to sell more raffle tickets to raise some additional funds for the two charities. Then Damian Murtagh appeared with the final results and Joe McCandless, Club President was in attendance to present the prizes. Damian announced that the anglers had caught and released an amazing 193 fish between them. Wilson Clinghan was declared the winner of the Corbet Lough Open Boat Fly Fishing Competiton 2022 and the 1st prize of £500 with 18 fish. Patrick Curran was 2nd with 17 fish and he won £300 and a Kindale Voucher for £50. Stevie Rea was 3rd with 16 fish and he won £200 and a Kindale Voucher for £50. The prize winners outside the top three were as follows: 4th Stevie Clarke 16 fish; 5th Andrew Rea 15 fish; 6th Roger McClements 14 fish; 7th Eugene Curran 11 fish; 8th Paul Douglas 8 fish; 9th Brendan Downey 8 fish; 10th Darryl Grimason 7 fish; 11th Keith Gibson 7 fish and 12th Fergus Auld 7 fish. The top boats were Stevie Clarke / Patrick Curran 33 fish; Brendan Downey / Wilson Clinghan 26 fish; Stevie Rea / Leonard Ervine 19 fish.
The Corbet Lough Open Boat Fly Fishing Competition 2022 was a great success. The Club thanks its very generous sponsors – ABC Council, Anglers Rest, Blob and Buzzer, Eugene Curran, Frankie McPhillips, Fred Elliott, Glenoak Fish Farm, Kindale Fly Tying and Flies, Laganside Tackle, Loughview Angling Centre, McA Boats, Mooney Media, MTS, Rodgers Tackle, Spar Ballydown, Stillwaters Health, Tesco Banbridge, Trader D, Pearse Downey and Xavier Mackle. The Club would also like to thank Dessy Graham, Darryl Grimason, Joe Curran and Armagh Angling Club who kindly provided additional boats for the day and everyone else who helped in any way to make this competition a great success.
Thank you to everyone who fished in this competition and we look forward to welcoming you back to fish at the Corbet Lough again in the very near future.
The Club can now confirm that this Competition, along with a ‘make-up’ donation from the Club, raised a fantastic £1,000. This will now be divided equally between the two nominated charities, Alzheimers Society NI and the Ukraine Crisis Fund.
Tight lines.