Today saw the start of the first round of the "Invitational 20" Winter League, at Straid Fishery Northern Ireland. The league is being fished over 5 matches (October to February) with the best 4 scores of each angler counting towards the prizes. With £700 of a prize fund and tackle up for grabs it was important to get off to a good start.

Today 19 of the 20 anglers fished and they caught and released a total of 102 fish with a few real "lumps" caught. The fish at Straid were in superb condition and in my opinion are the best fighting rainbows anywhere in Ireland. Todays results are as follows.

1st Stevie Ellis 20 Points
2nd Mark Duncan 19 Points
3rd Arden Pollock 17 Points
Larry Gibb 17 Points
Stevie Allison 17 Points
6th Simon McDowell 14.5 Points
Tony Hogg 14.5 Points
8th Greg White 12.5 Points
Robbie Marshall 12.5 Points
10th Garry Stewart 10 Points
Mel Campbell 10 Points
Mervyn Campbell 10 Points
13th Stan McCart 8 Points
14th Gary Crothers 6 Points
John McGookin 6 Points
Desi McCullough 6 Points
17th Gary Smith 4 Points
18th Harry Patterson 2.5 Points
Pat McGookin 2.5 Points
20th David Taylor 0 Points (Did not fish)

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
YOU DONT NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION

Yes OO, have to agree with the quality of fish currently in Straid, powerful strong good conditioned rainbows.

Well done Stevie, good angling especially with your slow start!

See you all next month

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www.agiveyanglers.co.uk

Slow start What about his false start.

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
YOU DONT NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION

Great start to the Winter League!!!!! Trout are very hard fighting and of very good average size!!!!! Good to see Straid back at its very best!!!!!!!

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There is no i in Team!!!

Well done to everybody especially Stevie!

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2009 ITFFA Inter-Provincial Champions - ULSTER

I see through people for a living!!

Looking forward to getting to Straid next time i'm home from USA.
Its been about 5 years since i was last there...always had a good day on the water.

Its been fishing really well recently. The dry fly fishing all year has been exceptional.

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
YOU DONT NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION

Winter is obviously just around the corner mate, if all this keek is gonna start again. Thank god ive got a winter league to keep me sane

How ya keeping. Hope you and Maximus and the family are well. Are ya still frequenting the bars of Mullingar Will try to get a run down for a bit of fishing and a few beers.

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
YOU DONT NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION

edited. not topical.

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Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
YOU DONT NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION

All's good Greg,like the look of your league,very competitive bunch of anglers there,the winner will take great bragging rights,looks like Straid is a top venue .