Woodford Winter League 2009/10 in association with GREYS
Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
6th and Final Round, 28th March 2010
The sixth and final round of Woodford’s Winter League took place on the 28th March, the early arrivals where greeted by the first Swallow of Spring flying up the lake, but this soon disappeared with the strengthening north westerly wind blowing down the lake.
Fishing in the first hour got off to a good start with Campbell Baird, Julie Gerry and Jim Fleming all picking up fish in the first 5 minutes, all fishing lures on sinking lines. On the move Derek McConville had a narrow lead with 2 fish, fishing a floating line and nymphs.
Into the second hour and Woodford regular Joe Hughes was weighing in the first big fish of the morning, a nice rainbow trout of 4.93kg, caught on a blob fished on a sinking line. It was not long before the next big fish was caught, a fine fish weighing 5.94kg, this fish fell for a #12 buzzer fished on a floating line by Lenny Magee. An hour later and Carrick angler Jim Fleming was playing a big fish, fishing the same peg where Lenny had caught his fish from only Jim was using a sinking line and lures, when the fish was landed and weighed it turned out to be the same fish that Lenny had caught and returned. Unluckily the 3 anglers could not catch their 5th fish to complete their bag limit.
The third hour had Irish Ladies International Susan Brown finding her form and catching 3 fish in a row fishing buzzers and nymphs under an indicator on a floating line. Going into lunch Brian Kerr had a slim lead with 4 fish and 15 minutes after lunch Brian completed his 5 fish bag limit fishing lures with an intermediate sinking line, keeping the pressure on league leader Campbell Baird, who completed his 5 fish bag limit 10 minutes after Brian, again fishing lures on intermediate line. Just before the last peg move young Tipperary angler Nicholas Madden caught his 5th fish, his best outing yet on only his 3rd visit to Woodford, Nicholas had been fishing a clear intermediate line and lures.
Maynooth angler Roger Fowler needed just 10 minutes of the last hour to catch his 5th fish, again Roger was fishing an intermediate line with lures. Not to be out done be the lads Susan Brown stuck to the floating line tactics and completed her bag limit with half an hour to spare. Last fish of this year’s league was caught by the 5th round winner Alan McCartney, giving him 3 fish for this round.
At the final whistle young Nicholas Madden had top spot of the round with 5 fish weighing 3.78kg, in a close 2nd place was Susan Brown with 5 fish weighing 3.75kg and in 3rd was Brian Kerr with 5 fish weighing 3.38kg.
The end of round 6 brought the league to a close and with the weights in the final placings could be worked out, with prizes for the top 15 places and Greys fly rod for the heaviest fish outside the top 15, there was also a Greys Platinum fly line for every finishing competitor.
Final Placings:
1st Campbell Baird 25 fish 17.59kg, 2nd Brian Kerr 25 fish 17.51kg, 3rd Lenny Magee 22 fish 22.29kg, 4th Derek McConville 22 fish, 5th Roger Fowler 20 fish, 6th Harry McAteer Jnr 18 fish, 7th Julie Gerry 16 fish, 8th Ciaran Mellon 16 fish, 9th Susan Brown 15 fish, 10th Jim Fleming 14 fish, 11th Alan McCartney 13 fish, 12th Pat Noonan 11 fish, 13th Joe Hughes 10 fish, 14th Harry McAteer Snr 9 fish, 15th Mel Campbell 8 fish, heaviest fish Michael Maher 1.08kg.
The tightest finish to the Winter League but Campbell had just retained the title winning him a Greys Platinum XD Competition Special fly rod and Greys Grxi reel, Brian received a Greys X-Flite fly rod and Greys Grxi reel, Lenny received a Greys Grxi+ fly rod with a Greys Grxi reel and Derek received an Airflo M-Tec Competition Special fly rod for finishing 4th. The prizes from 5th to 15th where fly fishing rods and reels, tackle bags, landing nets, fly boxes with fly selections, fly lines, fly tying and fly fishing accessories giving a prize fund of over £2000 worth of tackle.
This year’s prizes had all been kindly donated by Team Woodford Greys Ireland, Guide Fly Fishing Ltd, Veniards Fly Tying Ltd, BVG Airflo, Woodford Fly Fishery and Hardy Greys.
Darren at Woodford would like to thank EVERYBODY that took part, helped out, donated their time, sponsored the prizes to make this years Winter League a great success.
Round 5, 28th February 2010Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus, held round 5 of their Winter League on Sunday 28th February with light winds and a dry day forecast the anglers where looking forward to the days fishing. Competition leader Campbell Baird was off to a good start taking the 1st fish within seconds of the start but it was Carrickfergus angler Jim Fleming, fishing 2 pegs up from Campbell, who was having the round of his dreams catching 4 fish in 30 minutes and losing 3 more all falling for a Montana nymph fished on a sinking line.
On the opposite bank from Jim, Tipperary angler Pat Noonan was having the same luck catching 4 fish and dropping
a few fishing intermediate line and cats whiskers fly. Irish Ladies International, Susan Brown got off to a good start as well, fishing one of her own tying on a floating line to bag 3 fish before the move. Competition regular Lenny Magee had a double hook up just as the whistle blew for the move giving him 4 fish for the 1st hour. Shortly after the move Pat Noonan netted his 5th fish closely followed by Lenny Magee and his 5th fish. A quick change to buzzer nymphs fished on intermediate line caught Campbell Baird the remaining fish he needed to complete his bag limit. Woodford regular Brian Kerr was enjoying not having the pressure of competing against his better half Linda Straghan, everyone at Woodford wishes a speedy recovery to Linda, Brian was fishing a floating line with buzzer nymphs to get his 5 fish bag within 80 minutes. Into the 3rd hour and top Irish Youth’s International, Harry McAteer jnr was mixing it with the adults finishing in style with a double hook up to complete his bag limit, fishing a floating line and nymphs. The morning was warming up well and fish where beginning to move on the surface, rising for hatching flies, making the afternoon look promising.
Five minutes after lunch and Susan Brown was bringing her 5th fish to the net, using the same tactics she had done well with in the 1st hour. Fishing the next peg to Susan was Maynooth angler Roger Fowler, who was using similar tactics to complete his bag limit. Maghera man Ciaran Mellon found his form catching his 1st fish at 1.45pm and completing his bag in just over the hour mark, Ciaran was fishing a mixture of cormorants and buzzers fished on a floating line to pick off some nice resident fish.
The last hour and Larne angler Alan McCartney was enjoying the improving conditions fishing his buzzer imitations nearly static on a floating line to temp the trout, with 4 fish in the bag and 7 minutes left on the clock, his floating line slipped away and Alan stuck in to a monster of a fish, a 5 minute tussle was to be endured before the fish was safely in the net, a fine over wintered fish weighing 6.16kg and caught in the top lip on a size 12 black buzzer. A nice way to complete a 5 fish bag limit. Having caught 4 fish in the 1st half hour Jim Fleming nearly left it too late, netting his 5th fish just as the whistle blew for time up. Last rounds winner Derek McConville could only finish with 4 fish, but it is just enough to keep him in contact with the top placings. Top spot this round went to a well deserved Alan McCartney with 5 fish weighing a whopping 8.39kg, in 2nd place was Ciaran Mellon with 5 fish for 4.70kg and 3rd spot went to Brian Kerr with 5 fish for 4.51kg. With 10 bags of 5 this round has been the best yet, let’s hope the 6th and final round can produce the same conditions.
Top 10 after round 5:
1st. Campbell Baird, 23 fish 17.26kg
2nd. Brian Kerr, 22 fish 15.92kg
3rd. Derek McConville, 20 fish 17.02kg
4th. Lenny Magee, 19 fish 14.56kg
5th. Harry McAteer jnr, 16 fish 11.37kg
6th. Roger Fowler, 15 fish 15.36kg
7th. Ciaran Mellon, 15 fish 13.16kg
8th. Julie Gerry, 13 fish 13.63kg
9th. Darren Haggan, 11 fish 7.80kg
10th. Pat Noonan, 11 fish 7.62kg
Round 4, 31st January 2010
Round 4 of Woodford’s Winter League had the anglers tackling up in a heavy snow shower, but with most of them not wetting a line since mid December due to the freezing conditions, nothing was going to put them off, the snow went over just before the start but this brought the arrival of a very cold northerly wind.Fishing got off to a good start with Joe Hughes,
Ciaran Mellon and Derek McConville all hitting fish in the first couple of minutes, Derek went on to complete his 5 fish bag limit with in the first hour, including a fish of 3.34kg, using brightly coloured flies fished on a floating line. Fishing beside Derek was Local man Jim Fleming, who also had a nice fish of 2.66kg, caught on his Dancer lure fished on an intermediate line. After the move Woodford regulars Mark Briggs and Campbell Baird lifted 3 fish each in a twenty minute spell from their second peg, Campbell went on to complete his 5 fish bag with in the hour and Mark landed another one to finish the day with 4 fish, both where changing between Floating line and intermediate line with lures.
Travelling angler Roger Fowler caught the best fish of the day just before lunch, a well proportioned rainbow trout weighing 4.32kg; Roger had been fishing a Minkie lure on an intermediate line to tempt the fish, his 2nd fish of the day, unluckily Roger would only finish with four fish and just out of the prizes on the day. After lunch Lisburn angler Mel Campbell moved into the hot spot and landed a couple of nice fish using intermediate line and lures, fishing just past Mel was Brian Kerr, who made most of his chances count and netted his fifth fish shortly after 2 o’clock. Into the last hour and female international Sue Brown started to get into the fish taking 3 in a 15 minute spell, using intermediate line and lure, fishing her flies very close to the bank.
Competition regular Lenny Magee had four fish going on to his last peg, a quick switch to nymphs fished on a floating line was all it took to land his fifth fish and complete his bag with half an hour spare. Maghera angler Ciaran Mellon made the most out of fishing the deepest end of the lake being one of the few to actually catch a fish from the deeper water, using a midge tip line and long leader with small lures to tempt the 5th fish he needed to bag up. Best tactics this month was to fish Cats Whisker lures on an intermediate line with a slow retrieve. Top spot in round 4 went to Lisburn man Derek McConville with his 5 fish tipping the scales at 5.42kg, in 2nd place was Campbell Baird with 5 fish weighing 4.04kg and third place went to Ciaran Mellon with 5 fish weighing 3.86kg.
Top 10 after Round 4:
1st. Campbell Baird, 18 fish, 14.30kg 2nd. Brian Kerr, 17fish, 11.41kg 3rd. Derek McConville, 16 fish, 14.13kg 4th. Lenny Magee, 14 fish, 10.34kg 5th. Harry McAteer jnr, 11 fish, 8.25kg 6th. Darren Haggan, 11 fish, 7.80kg 7th. Roger Fowler, 10 fish, 11.12kg 8th. Ciaran Mellon, 10 fish, 8.46kg 9th. Julie Gerry, 9 fish, 10.42kg 10th. Clinton Irvine, 7 fish, 6.51kg
