Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
Round 1, 28th Oct 2007

Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held the 1st round of their annual winter league on Sunday 28th Oct. This was the first heat of six monthly competitions, running from October 07 until March 08. With anglers including 3 lady anglers travelling from Belfast, Lisburn, Dollingstown, Armagh, and as far away as Dublin and with the local anglers this promises to be another top competition.
Conditions for this 1st round had bright sunshine and a strong south westerly wind blowing across the lake making casting very hard for the competitors on the lower peg numbers.
Not long after the 10am start a number of rods were bending into fish and after 15 minutes the first bag of 5 fish was recorded, falling to black lures for local lad and last years overall winner Darren Haggan, catching 5 fish in 4 casts with 2 double hook ups.
After 25 minutes local angler and 2 times winner Campbell Baird caught the 2nd bag of 5 fish again all his fish were taken on lures and sinking line.
Just on the hour mark Dollingstown angler and Woodford competition regular Davy McBurney bagged up his 5 fish using lures as well.
In the 2nd hour the fishing settled down a bit with most competitors fishing sinking lines and lures to temp the fish. As the hour went on the conditions worsened with the wind picking up a couple more bags of 5 were caught to local anglers Ross Hill and Ray McKeeman and Lisburn angler Derek McConville.
After lunch conditions took a dive with a couple of heavy rain showers just to add to the strong wind, but this did not seem to bother the competitors who braved it with a touch of light hearted banter to see them through the day.
Most of the anglers stuck to using their lures and sinking line combinations, one that didn’t was local man Andrew Braiden who used a selection of nymphs and blobs fished on a floating line and indicator to catch his 5 fish.
With the final whistle at 3.30pm conditions seemed to get the better today with only 8 competitors bagging up, but the talk was mainly about fish lost and how the fish had been coming short and nipping the flies.
During the weight in it became apparent that the top 3 places were going to be separated by just 6 grams (under 1oz).
Top spot went to Campbell Baird with 5 fish for 4.90kg(10.5 lb), 2nd was Ray McKeeman with 5 fish weighing 4.86kg and 3rd was Darren Haggan with 5 fish weighing 4.84kg.
With round 1 over a lot of the competitors were going home to tie up a selection of lures as these out fished the nymphs and buzzers for the 1st competition in a long time.
Next round takes place on Sunday 25th November.

Next round check what Andrew Braden is using! He has been known to use sweetcorn and powerbait!

Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
Round 2, 25th Nov 2007

Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held the 2nd round of their winter league on Sunday 25th November, with most of the anglers hoping to improve on their 1st rounds position.
The match started at 10am with a cold north westerly wind blowing across the lake making conditions very hard for the competitors, most of which had opted for sinking lines and lure tactics.
First fish of the morning was caught within seconds of the start by local angler Campbell Baird, using sinking line and lures.
Local angler Andrew Braden took a quick lead catching 3 fish from his first peg, fishing an intermediate line and lures. First big fish of the morning was a rainbow trout weighing 3kg (6lb8oz) caught by young Newtownabbey lad Clinton Irvine using floating line and nymphs.
Not long after the next big fish was caught by Irish International Ladies Captain, Julie Gerry, another rainbow weighing 3.86kg(8lb10oz), her 4th fish of the morning caught on intermediate line and minkie lure.
As the morning progressed the wind dropped and the temperature raised enough to bring on a hatch of small buzzers, in turn the fish went onto the feed and more of the anglers started to catch after changing to floating lines with natural nymphs and buzzers. One of which was Lisburn angler Derek McConville, who lifted his 5 fish on a small hares ear nymph.
With the fishing picking up a lot of the competitors didn’t want to come off the lake for lunch, but off they came to receive a bowl of piping hot home made stew and sandwiches.
After lunch the anglers got straight back into the fishing with most of them waiting back at their pegs long before the restart. Not long after the restart a number of the rods were bending onto fish and a few more competitors finished their bags of 5 fish. Then as quick as the fish came onto the feed they went back off, as the cold breeze picked up the fish moved deeper and only a few more where caught in the last hour.
For the 2nd competition in a row Belfast angler George Hall finished short, catching his 4th fish right on the final whistle on both occasions.
Top spot in this round went to Julie Gerry with 5 fish weighing 7.15kg(16lb), 2nd was Clinton Irvine with 5 fish for 6.02kg and 3rd place went to Campbell Baird with 5 fish weighing 5.08kg, keeping him at the top of the league table.
Congratulations to Julie, the 1st lady to win a competition at Woodford. Julie had travelled all the way from Maynooth, Co. Kildare just to take part in this year’s winter league.

League tabletop placing after round 2:
1st Campbell Baird, 10 fish weighing 9.98kg
2nd Derek McConville, 10 fish weighing 8.15kg
3rd Andrew Braden, 10 fish weighing 8kg
4th Clinton Irvine, 9 fish weighing 9.28kg
5th Kenny Ferguson, 9 fish weighing 6.75 kg
6th Chris Spence, 9 fish weighing 6.49kg

Hi Darren,
welcome aboard Mr Woodford. It is nice to see my local getting a well deserved mention.

I am sure you are going to enjoy this busy little forum, I do.

See you during the week if the weather stays like this.

Michael.

Big Andy says you taught him all he knows

tell me this, do they allow blobs in these competitions???????

Campbell how are you?

__________________
www.angusangling.co.uk

www.facebook.com/angusangling

Shop Address
Angus Angling,
117 East High St,
Forfar.
Tel 01307 466366
"Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Supplies"

Trout Angling Instructor SGAIC

Main Dealer For LOOP, Guideline, Airflo, Hareline, FLYBOX, SIMMS, Wychwood, Wapsi and Veniards.

Yeah, I think anyone can fish .

Alright Neil,

Yes blobs are allowed

Kenny asked ''hows your nose''

Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
Round 3, 9th Dec 2007

Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held the 3rd round of their winter league on Sunday 9th December, a crisp winters morning with the temperature struggling to get above freezing in the cold northerly breeze.
Most of the competitors had set up two rods, one with a floating line with nymphs and buzzers and the other with intermediate or sinking line with lures and blobs.
Within seconds of the start Julie Gerry (last rounds winner) was into a fish, which she had weighed and returned, a fully finned rainbow trout weighing 2.28kg(4lb14oz). Caught on floating line and bloodworm pattern. Taking an early lead was local angler Tony Denyer, catching 3 fish on his first peg, using a fast glass line with blobs and lures.
Not long into the second hour another of Woodfords big fish was being weighed, a rainbow trout of 3.28kg (7lb2oz), this time it fell to a minky lure and sinking line fished by Irish Ladies International Sue Brown from Lisburn.
Just over the two-hour mark previous winter league champions Campbell Baird and Darren Haggan, catching their fifth fish within seconds of each other, recorded the 1st bags of five fish.
One o’clock seen the welcome break for lunch with the chance to warm up with a bowl of home made soup and freshly prepared sandwiches. During lunch there was a lot of talk about how the fish were just nipping at the flies and that they seem to be holding pretty high in the water.
After lunch the northerly wind picked up and the rain came on, making the afternoons session a bit miserable for the competitors, but for some strange reason this made the fishing a lot better.
As the afternoon progressed Tony Denyer, Sue Brown and Geordie Hall all recorded their 1st bags of five in this years winter league and another one of Woodfords big fish was weighed, a rainbow of 3.22kg(just under7lb2oz) caught by Davy McBurney from Dolingstown.
At the final whistle there could only be one winner and for the second round in a row the top bag fell to a lady angler, Sue Brown with five fish weighing 6.38kg(14lb2oz), in 2nd place was Geordie Hall with five fish for 4.95kg and in 3rd place was Tony Denyer with five fish weighing 4.64kg.
Congratulations to Sue on a fine performance, which should help her in the final standings, and give her a boost for the next 3 rounds of the winter league.

Christmas Open Competition will take place on Saturday 29th December, with £150 top prize and space for 30 anglers.

League top at half way stage:
1st Campbell Baird, 15 fish weighing 14.36kg
2nd Kenny Ferguson, 14 fish weighing 11.10kg
3rd Derek McConville, 13 fish weighing 11.34kg
4th Geordie Hall, 13 fish weighing 11.31kg
5th Julie Gerry, 12 fish weighing 14.41kg
6th Andrew Braden, 12 fish weighing 9.88kg
7th Tony Denyer, 12 fish weighing 9.11kg.

My hooter is fine thanks for asking.......

regards to yas alll..

__________________
www.angusangling.co.uk

www.facebook.com/angusangling

Shop Address
Angus Angling,
117 East High St,
Forfar.
Tel 01307 466366
"Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Supplies"

Trout Angling Instructor SGAIC

Main Dealer For LOOP, Guideline, Airflo, Hareline, FLYBOX, SIMMS, Wychwood, Wapsi and Veniards.