Darren
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Woodford Winter League Round 5Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
Round 5, 24th February 2008
Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held round 5 of their winter league on Sunday 24th February. The forecast for the day was a strong westerly wind to blow all day making casting on the lower peg numbers very hard.
Belfast angler Philip Donnelly caught the 1st fish of the morning, using a sinking line and cat’s whisker fly to catch the fish in his first cast. Woodford regular Kenny Ferguson raced into a quick lead catching 4 fish from his first peg, using a floating line and nymph patterns fished under an indicator.
As the morning progressed the conditions got harder and made the fishing very difficult with only a few fish being caught in the second hour, one of which was caught by Kenny Ferguson, his fifth fish of the day, making Kenny the first competitor to bag up.
In the third hour the fishing improved a bit with some anglers catching up to 3 fish in quick succession as the fish seamed to be moving in small shoals. Local angler Ross Hill used this to his advantage and caught his five fish limit within 45 minutes of each other, using intermediate line and lures.
Lunchtime gave the competitors the chance to warm up with a bowl of piping hot homemade stew and freshly made sandwiches with a deserved cup of tea. During lunch the talk was all about how hard the lake was fishing in the unforgiving conditions.
After lunch the fishing stayed the same with some anglers again catching a few fish very quickly as a small shoal of fish would pass their peg. Woodford regular Chris Spence was next to bag up using lures fished on an intermediate line. Maynooth angler, Rodger Fowler recorded this first five fish bag of this year’s winter league, using blobs fished on an intermediate line.
With 20 minutes to go previous champion Campbell Baird caught his fifth fish, after changing back to fishing lures on an intermediate line, keeping his grip on top spot. Last years champion Darren Haggan was nearly caught out catching his fifth fish with only 3 minutes left on the clock, again fishing lures on an intermediate line.
At the final whistle there was only six bags of five fish, with the conditions definitely getting the upper hand today. Sixteen of to-days competitors opted for the catch, weigh and release option, which meant that there was less than 15 fish killed. Top spot this month went to Chris Spence with five fish weighing 4.74kg(10lb8oz) the first win for Chris at this years league, 2nd place went Campbell Baird with five fish weighing 4.53kg, and in 3rd Rodger Fowler with five fish weighing 4.47kg.
After the weighing it was confirmed that Campbell Baird could not be caught at the top, making him this years champion, as he is the only competitor that can finish with 25 fish after dropping his worst bag of the league. This means that the chasing pack can only hope for 2nd spot, but it should make the last round interesting, as there are at least 6 competitors within touching distance of the 2nd place prize of a Greyflex M2 rod and Greys GTX reel.
League placings after round 5:
1st Campbell Baird, 25 fish weighing 23.64kg
2nd Julie Gerry, 20 fish weighing 21.90kg
3rd Geordie Hall, 20 fish weighing 17.54kg
4th Tony Denyer, 20 fish weighing 16.49kg
5th Derek McConville, 19 fish weighing 15.92kg
6th Chris Spence, 19 fish weighing 15.83kg
7th Kenny Ferguson, 19 fish weighing 15.00kg
8th Rodger Fowler, 18 fish weighing 15.64kg
9th Andrew Braden, 18 fish weighing 15.46kg
10th Jim Fleming, 17 fish weighing 13.38kg
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fossil-fish
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Darren,
Great report. It is good to see how the local experts approach this water at this time of year, and what methods and flies are being succesful. Well done to all.
Also great to see the photographs with your report 
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