Kerr nets Winter League win

Conditions weren’t great with a strong westerly wind and heavy rain making the lower peg numbers very uncomfortable to fish. This year’s competition is a catch and release tournament, with the anglers using de-barbed flies and the fish being measured by a team of adjudicators.

2012 Winter League champion Gareth Morris and Kenny Ferguson got off to a flyer netting fish at the same time. Gareth went on to record the first five fish bag with just an hour gone, while Martin Robinson used 16 cdc buzzers to tempt a nice rainbow trout measuring 50cm+. Nicholas Madden and competition newcomer Owen Murray got off to a great start catching three fish each from their first pegs. Murray completed his bag of five from his second peg.

Huw Morris and Jonny Hoad bagged their fifth fish within seconds of each other, using nymphs and bloodworm patterns on floating lines.

Woodford regular Michael Bruton bagged his quota of fish just before lunch, fishing a mixture of lures on an intermediate line and nymphs on a floater.

Irish Youth International, Francis Rafferty Jnr. netted three fish beforelunchtime all on lures fished on an intermediate line.

Roger Fowler landed his fifth fish after lunch, using a floating line and bloodworms. Kerr landed four fish in a row - including a 46cm fish to complete his bag.

Irish Ladies’ International, Julie Gerry was having a steady round picking up fish from four of her five pegs using lures on an intermediate line but just finished short of the bag limit with four fish.

John Kellegher almost left it too late but with 15 minutes left on the clock, he landed two fish to complete his bag limit.

Round 1 (top five): 1st, Brian Kerr (204 points); 2nd, Huw Morris (193 points); 3rd, Michael Bruton (193 points); 4th, John Kellegher (189 points); 5th, Jonny Hoad (182 points).