Banbridge Angling Club’s Competition Secretary Damian Murtagh and his Assistants Wilson Clinghan and Roger McClements continue to run a very sociable and vibrant Competition Programme each season for adult, juvenile and junior Club members. The emphasis is very much on sportsmanship, fun and with a little competitive spice thrown in for good measure. The competitions are primarily held on Corbet Lough and the River Bann. However a few of competitions are also held outside the Club’s fisheries each season. If you are competitive go along and hone your angling skills against some of the Club’s top anglers. Indeed if you are interested in competition fishing these Club competitions could open the door for you competing in interprovincial and international competitions. If you are not competitive just go along for the sportsmanship and the craic. You will enjoy the angling and I have no doubt it will help to improve your angling skills and catch rate.
Dinner Dance and Adult Prize Distribution Night
The highlight in the Club’s social calendar is the annual Dinner Dance and Adult Prize Distribution Night which is held on the last Friday in January. This is a great evening with great food, fantastic entertainment and an opportunity to socialise with friends and our riparian owners. Even if you are not a competition angler I am sure that you would thoroughly enjoy the evening. Tickets for this Dinner Dance usually go on sale around Christmas time or early in the new year. The Dinner Dances have been cancelled since the COVID 19 restrictions.
Juvenile Competitions 2024
There are two categories of Juvenile Competitions. These are (i) Juvenile, for all juveniles members; and (ii) Junior for juveniles aged under 13 years. The competitions for Juvenile members will continue to run in parallel with the adult competitions. The competitions for Junior members will be held on different days. These competitions will be shorter ‘child friendly’ competitions lasting 3 hours with an emphasis on fun and tuition. Juniors, aged under 13 years may also fish in the main Juvenile competitions.
Competitions 2024
The 2024 Competition Programme is available here. – Click Here to download
Angler of the Year 2023
Damian Murtagh, Competition Secretary and his assistants worked tirelessly to run an extensive, exciting, and challenging competition programme in 2023. Competitions were held on the Corbet Lough, River Bann, Lough Lene, Co Westmeath, Emy Lough, Co Monaghan and Spelga Dam.
The competition programme attracted all the usual competition anglers and a few newcomers. The competitions were extremely competitive and as enjoyable as ever. There was a good spread of individual competition winners with a number of anglers in the running for the Angler of the Year title right up to the final competition of the season. Indeed at the end of the season there was a new adult Angler of the Year for 2023. Kevin Conwell won the adult Angler of the Year 2023 finishing just ahead of the vastly experienced Wilson Clinghan and Colin Crothers who have both held this accolade on a number of occasions. Kevin is relatively new to the Club’s competition scene but he has always fished the competitions with a lot of skill and determination. It is not unususal for Kevin to do a couple of laps of the Corbet as he searches out the bigger fish that can win the competitions. He has great faith in fishing the ‘nomad’ flies and he nearly always catches a really good fish. In 2023 Kevin won the Dominic Downey Cup, the Toasty Jardine Shield and the Kerr Cup. He was also placed in the top three in a number of other competitions.
Unfortunately in the Juvenile Angler of the Year competition there was no winner in 2023. A number of the juveniles have now moved on to the Adult category and there is a bit of a gap to the Junior anglers. Hopefully there will be some new juvenile anglers fishing the competitions in 2024.
The Club’s junior competitions were primarly fished over the summer months and there was a good turn out of juniors in 2023. Indeed there was also another new junior Angler of the Year in 2023. Xavier Mackle took the accolade of Junior Angler of the Year 2023 for the first time. In 2023 he won the Martin Dynes Trophy and was second in the Bill Gault Glazing Cup. Xavier is just 6 years old and he will be fishing hard to win the Junior Angler of the Year title again in the coming years.
Congratulations to Kevin and Xavier on their great success in 2023.
To view the full table of winners of the Angler of the Year award from 1975 to 2023. – Click Here