Woodford Winter League in association with Greys,

Round 2 
30 November 2008

The second round of Woodford Fly Fishery’s Winter League took place on Sunday 30th Nov, with the competitors tackling up in -2 C  temperatures, as the weather had brought in near Artic conditions for the weekend. The weed beds around the lake were covered in ice but the areas in front of the fishing stands were all ice-free. There was also a rush of sales for fleece hats and scarves from Woodford’s tackle shop.

As usual the anglers where all ready to go for the 10am start and it was not long before the 1st fish of the morning was caught, falling for the lures of Geordie Hall. Darren Haggan, who was also using lures on a sinking line, closely followed him. The 2 men battled it out for the 1st hour catching fish and losing fish, but young Darren had just the edge on Geordie with a 4-3 score as they moved to their next peg. Also during the 1st hour Interfisheries winner Ciaran Mellon caught the heaviest fish of the day tipping the scales at 2.5kg, again falling for lures, but could he get another 4 fish to complete his bag.

As the morning progressed more competitors recorded catches, as they moved into the notable hot spot of peg numbers 1 to 7, with George Dalzell, Roger Fowler, Julie Gerry and Andrew Braden all catching 2 to 3 fish before lunch. Lunch time could not come quick enough for some anglers, giving them the chance to warm up with a bowl of home-made stew and to try and pick up on what flies where working.

The afternoon’s session was no different from the mornings with the fish just nipping at the flies and not giving the anglers the solid lock-ups that they need to get the fish to the net. Not long after lunch Darren Haggan was first to catch his 5th fish, again falling to black and green lures fished on a sinking line. A welcome bag to the young lad as he only had 3 fish in round 1. Last rounds winner Ray McKeeman was hoping for a good run to add to his 1st rounds score, but with only 2 fish before lunch and the fish just nipping he could only manage another 1 fish during the afternoon. In the last hour local angler Ross Hill caught his 5th fish again using sunk line and lure tactics, and on the peg beside Ross, Lisburn angler Derek McConville caught 2 fish in 2 casts to complete his bag limit, using a sink tip line and pheasant tail nymphs. Linda Straghan and Brian Kerr where having their own private battle, to see who was making dinner, with them both on 1 fish each Linda had the edge with weight but with minutes to go Brian hooked it to and landed his second fish, condemning Linda to the kitchen when they both got home.

At the weigh-in there was only 3 bag limits of 5 fish, 1st was Darren Haggan with 5 fish for 5.04kg, 2nd was Derek McConville with 5 fish weighing 4.72kg and 3rd was Ross Hill with 5 fish for 4.32kg. Ciaran Mellon was unlucky loosing his 5th fish at the net with minutes to go, settling for 4th place with a good bag of 4 fish weighing 4.60kg, and in 5th was Maynooth angler Roger Fowler with 4 fish for 3.67kg. The tactics for the day were sinking lines with black and green lures, orange lures and minkies.

Top 10 after Round 2

1st Derek McConville, 10 fish 8.65kg 2nd Ross Hill, 10 fish 8.07kg 3rd Ray McKeeman, 8 fish 8.70kg 4th Darren Haggan, 8 fish 7.14kg 5th Lenny Magee, 8 fish 6.28kg 6th Julie Gerry, 8 fish 6.13kg 7th Geordie Hall, 7 fish 6.82kg 8th Kenny Ferguson, 7 fish 6.35kg 9th Stephen Allison, 7 fish 4.98kg 10th Clinton Irvine, 7 fish 4.88kg

Round 1
26th October 2008

Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held the 1st round of their Winter League on Sunday 25th Oct. This was the start of 6 monthly competitions, running from October 08 to March 09. The 6th year running that Woodford had held this event. This years competition had again drawn in anglers from Belfast, Lisburn, Dollingstown, Armagh, the local lads and a couple of competitors from Maynooth Co Kildare. Sunday’s competition had 29 of the 31 anglers signed in and ready to go for the 10am start.

Conditions for the day’s competition where forecast to be some of the worst we have had during a heat for some years, with a very strong NW wind and heavy showers, fishing from the lower pegs was not going to be easy. Within seconds of the start local angler Chris Spence had his 1st fish in the net, quickly followed by 2, 3, 4 and 5, Chris had bagged up in just 15 minutes, with all his fish falling for green and white lures fished on a di3 line. On the peg beside Chris was Belfast angler Geordie Hall, who was also going well but just couldn’t keep the fish hooked, that was until he hit into the 1st big fish of the day, a nice rainbow trout of 2.80kg, which also fell to lures fished on a di3 line. With rods starting to bend all over the lake it was not long before the next 5 fish bag was filled falling to the lures of local lad Clinton Irvine, who had a double hook up to finish his limit. Ray McKeeman caught the 2nd big fish of the day, another nice rainbow tipping the scales at 3.05kg. Both Geordie’s and Ray’s fish where weighed and returned to fight another day. The fishing was steady right up to lunchtime with Kenny Ferguson, Derek McConville, Ross Hill, Stephen Allison and Lenny Magee all catching their limits of 5 fish.

 Lunchtime gave the anglers a welcome break from the wind and a chance to warm their hands with a bowl of home made (thanks Mrs W.) soup. The afternoon session started off well for a few of the anglers catching 2 and 3 fish in quick succession, 2 of which where Irish Ladies Internationals Julie Gerry and Linda Straghan. As the afternoon went on the wind got stronger and the heavy showers started to pass through, making the conditions that bit harder, which always seems to work to the advantage of local angler Campbell Baird, who completed his limit with 90 minutes to spare. Linda hit into her 4th fish and Julie caught her 5th with 30 minutes to go, showing some of the lads how to do it. At the 3.30pm finish the talk was all about how hard it was to make the fish stick, but everyone had a great days craic and the fish where just a bonus.

Top spot of round 1 had gone to Ray McKeeman, with his 5 fish weighing an impressive 6.38kg, 2nd was Campbell Baird who’s 5 fish weighed 4.65kg and 3rd was Kenny Ferguson with 5 fish weighing 4.15kg.