Darren
|
Woodford Winter League The Final 2008Woodford Winter League in association with Greys
Final Round, 30th March 2008
Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus held a series of six fly fishing competitions, running from October 07 to 30th March 2008. The competition was run on a league format with the anglers best 5 days out of the 6 competitions being counted. This years competition saw some of the worst fishing conditions ever seen at Woodford, with most of the competitors having to battle strong winds at every outing, even the final round had four seasons on one day, with wind, rain, hail, sun and even fork lightning hitting the old factory behind the lake!
Top-spot had already been decided at the 5th round so the competitors who where in 2nd to 9th positions were all battling for 2nd spot, with the rest of the table hoping to get a top 15 finish and the chance of a prize.
Fishing on the final day got off to a good start with over half the field recording their 1st fish with in the 1st hour with lady angler Sue Brown leading the way, fishing small lures on a sinking line. Harry Moffett caught one of the tagged fish at Woodford earning him a nice £50 bonus, fishing lures on a floating line. Woodford regular Tony Denyer’s 1st fish was a double, tipping the scales at 10Lb15oz (4.97kg), caught on lures and intermediate line, but could he get another 4 fish to go with it?
Maynooth angler Rodger Fowler was 1st to bag up with his 5 fish limit using blobs fished slowly on an intermediate line. Woodford regulars Andrew Braden and George Hall, who both used a mixture of lures on floating and intermediate lines, closely followed Rodger.
Sue Brown caught a personal best rainbow trout from the peg vacated by Tony only an hour earlier, a double weighing 10Lb15oz (4.97kg), could this have been the same fish? This was Sue’s 5th fish, a nice one to bag up on.
By the time the final whistle sounded there was 12 competitors bagged up, giving them all a chance to move up the table. Top 3 anglers in round 6 were, 1st Tony Denyer with 5 fish weighing 7.57kg(16lb8oz), 2nd Sue Brown with 5 fish for 7.44kg and 3rd was Geordie Hall with 5 fish for 5.02kg.
With the weights in for round 6 the final league table could be worked out, as there was prizes for the top 15 places and a Greys G series fly rod for the heaviest fish below 15th place. There was also a Greys Platinum fly line of their choice for every angler that finished the competition.
The Final standings were:
1st Campbell Baird 25 fish 23.64kg, 2nd Kenny Ferguson 24 fish 19.30kg, 3rd Geordie Hall 23 fish 20.82kg, 4th Chris Spence 23 fish 18.54kg, 5th Julie Gerry 22 fish 23.93kg, 6th Tony Denyer 22 fish 22.11kg, 7th Andrew Braden 22 fish 18.48kg, 8th Rodger Fowler 20 fish 17.43kg, 9th Derek McConville 20 fish 16.67kg, 10th Jim Fleming 19 fish 15.37kg, 11th Sue Brown, 12th Ray McKeeman, 13th Harry Moffett, 14th Peter McMurtry, 15th Michael Maher. Heaviest fish Davy McBurney.
This is the 3rd time Campbell has picked up top spot winning him a Greys Platinum XD fly rod and a Greys GTX fly reel, for the 2nd year in a row Kenny has finished runner up, receiving a Greys Greylfex M2 fly rod and Greys GTX Fly reel, a well deserved Geordie Hall received a Greys GRXi rod and reel for 3rd spot.
The prizes from 4th to 15th were rods, reels, lines, magazine subscriptions, fly selections in fly boxes, fly tying kits and fly fishing accessories, making a prize fund of over £2000 worth of fishing tackle.
This years prizes had all been kindly donated by Lureflash International Ltd, Trout Fisherman Magazine, Irish Angler Magazine, Veniards Fly Tying Ltd, Donegal Fly Co, BVG Airflo Ltd, Leeda, Fordham and Wakefield, Fulling Mill Flies Ltd, Guide Fly Fishing Ltd and Woodford Fly Fishery (Hardy-Greys and Sharpes Gordon).
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.
Winter League Winner Campbell Baird
Runner Up Kenny Ferguson
3rd Placed Geordie Hall
Darren 
|
FIREY BROWN
|
Woodford winter leagueOnce again Darren an excellent report from Woodford on the final leg of the 2008 winter league,,,a lot of hard work has obviously gone on behind the scenes between yourself and the various sponsors to make this event a great success,,
well done to all the anglers that took part and congratulations to Campbell Baird winter league winner 2008
Regards
FIREY BROWN
|
fossil-fish
|
Great report, thanks Darren.
|
Watty's Rock
|
Excellent report and well done to all. 
|
adriany
|
Great report again Darren and well done to everyone who braved the elements during the winter league. A big congrates has to go to the ladies who fished the events and well done Campbell on your victory.
|
|
|
|