The 2026 game angling season opened on 1 March with a great turn out of anglers on the River Bann and the Corbet Lough. Patrick Curran fished the Corbet and then went to the river where he caught and returned two lovely wild Brown Trout of 13 inches and 15 inches. On the Corbet Lough most anglers reported catching fish. Dessy Graham had a fantastic Rainbow of 5lbs on the fly. Gerard Lyness had 5 fish on the fly. Tom King, Andy Holden, Wilson Clinghan, Stevie Ferris and Leonard Ervine all had a couple of fish each on the fly. Geoff Hylands and Donald McClearn caught fish on the fly off the Dam wall. There was also a good number of young anglers catching fish on the spinner. On Monday 2 March Geoffrey Moorehead caught 3 fish including a great Rainbow of 5lbs on the fly. Martin Bush also caught fish on the fly off the Dam wall. Billy Robinson, Newcastle also took a fish on the fly. Brendan Downey had 3 fish on the fly with the best just over 3lbs. Kevin Connelly, Newry caught and released a couple of nice fish on the spinner. Stevie Rea was out fly fishing on a couple of occasions during the week. He caught 5 fish on Wednesday 4 March and 8 fish on Friday 6 March. On Saturday 7 March that Club’s competition anglers fished the opening competition of the 2026 season at the Corbet Lough for the Bobby Blakley Cup. Roger McClements won the Cup with a great bag of fish weighing 5lbs 4 ozs. Dessy Graham and Donald McClearn were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Donald caught the best fish of the day weighing 4lbs 2ozs. On Saturday 14 March Patrick Curran caught and returned a great wild Brown Trout on the River Bann. On Tuesday 17 March the Club carried out it’s first stocking of the season at the Corbet Lough. The stocked fish were fantastic triploid Rainbows in the weight range of 3lbs to 5lbs. All the fish were in great condition with full tails and good fins. Although these fish provide great sport for the discerning angler the downside is that you get considerably less fish for your money. In light of this the Club asks anglers to beef up their tackle for this size of fish and fish responsibly by fishing catch and release. If you are minded to take a fish for the table the Club asks anglers to take no more than one of these fish per week. Future stockings will revert to the more normal stocking with triploid Rainbows in the weight range of 1.25lbs to 2lbs. On Saturday 21 March the Club’s adult competition anglers fished at the Corbet Lough for the Bruce Carson Trophy and the juveniles fished for the Carson Cup. The Club with the support of the Competition Secretary and the competing anglers fished these competitions for the heaviest fish. At the weight in Len Murray won the Bruce Carson Trophy with a great fish of over 4lbs. Geoff Hylands and Noel Burns were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Louis Clarke won the Carson Cup with a good fish. Len also returned another lovely fish of over 4lbs. The Silver Butchers were also at the Corbet Lough. Gary Chivers and Gerard Lyness caught some good fish on the fly. On Sunday 22 March Andy Holden and Sam Watt were at the Corbet and they had 5 fish on the fly between them. The best fish was 4.5lbs and they also caught a lovely Brown Trout. Andrew Rea was also out at the Corbet and he had 10 fish on the fly with none under 3lbs.