The opening day of the season was very cold with a strong northerly wind blowing up the Corbet Lough. As a consequence there was very little fishing effort but those that did venture out were rewarded with some great sport. The Lough has not been stocked yet this year and all the fish are over-wintered and in perfect condition. Dave Hutchinson was one of the first anglers out on the Lough and he caught 6 fish up to about 5lbs in the morning on Diawl Bachs. Tony Kelly, Lurgan was also out and he had a couple of nice fish. Eugene Curran was out in the afternoon and he had 14 fish on the fly. Leonard Ervine was also out in the afternoon and he had 3 good fish up to about 5lbs on the fly. A few anglers went to the River on the opening day but the River was slightly coloured and rising which put the fish down. On Saturday 2 March the weather was a bit better, still cold but it was a gentle wind blowing up the Lough. There was a very good turn out of anglers at the Corbet. The Club’s competition anglers were fishing for the Bobby Blakley Cup (adults) and the Joe Curran Cup (juveniles). It was great to see Jamie Cooper and Louis Clarke fishing in the juvenile competition. Malachy McAleenan was the Captain of the Day for the competitions. At the weigh-in there were some great fish and great bags of fish. Geoff Hylands, the former World Cup winner, showed all his skill and experience to win the Bobby Blakley Cup with a fabulous brace of fish weighing almost 7lbs 8ozs. Donald McClearn was 2nd with a great brace of fish weighing 7lbs 4ozs and Roger McClements was 3rd with another great brace of fish weighing 7lbs 2ozs. Other anglers weighed in some lovely bags of fish but didn’t get into the top 3 on this occasion. Brendan Downey had a beautiful Rainbow of 4lbs 10 ozs but he didn’t get a 2nd fish to the net. In the juvenile competition Jamie Cooper won the Joe Curran Cup with a fine fish of just under 3lbs which he caught on the fly. There was also a few pleasure anglers out at the Lough and they were also catching fish. Stevie Rea had 3 very good fish on the fly. On Sunday 3 March Stevie Ferris, Lisburn was fly fishing and he also had 3 good Rainbows. On Tuesday 5 March Geoff Hylands and Donald McClearn were fly fishing at the Corbet. Geoff had 3 fish in the top bay and Donald had a brace of fish from the Dam Wall. On Thursday 7 March it was very cold at the Corbet with a north easterly wind blowing across the Lough. Anglers stuck to the limited shelter on the Newcastle side of the Lough but the fishing was challenging. Aidan Lavery, Tom King, Brendan Downey and Geoff Hylands reported catching a fish. Trevor Jones, Donald McClearn and Gerard Lyness had a brace each to the net. On Saturday 9 March Leonard Ervine and Roger McClements enjoyed some great fishing at the Corbet. Leonard caught some great fish including a cracking Rainbow of 5lbs 3ozs which he weighed and sportingly returned. Roger also caught some great fish including a couple which he weighed at just under 5lbs which he also sportingly returned. On Sunday 10 March Damian Murtagh and Leonard Ervine were fly fishing in the bottom bay and they both caught a brace of beautiful Rainbows which they returned. On Monday 11 March Eugene Curran caught 5 nice fish on buzzers. The fish were all feeding hard on buzzers close to the shore during the middle of the day. The Corbet’s first stocking for the 2024 season was on Tuesday 12 March. The fish, which were all about 1.25lbs to 1.5lbs, were in great condition. On Friday 15 March Leonard Ervine and Geoff Hylands enjoyed some great sport at the Corbet Lough. They both had a few fish and Leonard caught a cracking Rainbow of 4lbs 10ozs. On Saturday 16 March the Club’s competition anglers fished at the Corbet Lough for the Angela Murtagh Cup. Patrick Curran was the Captain of the Day for the competition. At the weigh-in there were some great fish and great bags of fish. Frank Kearney won the Cup with a great brace of fish weighing 7lbs 9ozs. Roger McClements was 2nd with a another great brace of fish weighing just under 7lbs and Brendan Downey was 3rd with a nice brace of fish weighing 6lbs 4ozs. Keith Brown and Donald McClearn also caught great fish. Indeed Keith’s Rainbow was the best fish of the day weighing 4lbs 7ozs. On Sunday 17 March Andy Holden was fly fishing at the Corbet Lough and he caught a couple of nice fish. Leonard Ervine enjoyed some great fly fishing at the Corbet over the weekend 22 March to 24 March. He caught a number of fish including a couple of crackers at 5lbs 3ozs and just under 5lbs. On Sunday 24 March Wilson Clinghan caught some lovely wild trout whilst fly fishing catch and release on the River Bann. Brendan Downey was fishing at the Corbet Lough on Monday 25 March. There was a great rise around lunchtime and he ended up with 7 fish up to about 3.5lbs. On Saturday 30 March there was a great turn out of the Club’s competition anglers to fish for the Bruce Carson Trophy. At the weigh-in there was only a couple of ounces between the top three anglers. Roger McClementswon the Trophy with a great brace of rainbows weighing 6lbs 7ozs. Donald McClearn was 2nd with his brace of fish weighing 6lbs 6ozs and Leonard Ervine was 3rd with a brace of fish weighing 6lbs 5ozs.