It wasn't much of a Bank Holiday weekend for lying on the beach but just about ideal for sitting in a boat casting a fly to a wily trout.

Fermanagh anglers made the most of the favourable weather conditions and "home water" advantage to take the top prizes in the Lough Melvin Open Trout Angling Championship.

A fresh north-westerly wind sent a rolling wave down the lough under largely overcast skies. It doesn't get much better for fishing but it wasn't all plain sailing. The Melvin's sonaghan trout are not lemmings; they don't throw themselves on hook. So some anglers struggled to put a fish in the boat, but then again that's the challenge, to put the right fly on the end of your line and be in the right place at the right time to rise a trout.

The organisers, the Garrison and Lough Melvin Anglers' Association, stuck to the format that has proved successful throughout the event's 29-year history. There were two anglers to each boat, a local and a visitor, with he local's knowledge of what can be a challenging lake helping to keep everyone safe and give the visitor a fighting chance of winning. The pair must quickly form a team that can catch fish because their aggregate weight determines whether they qualify from their heat and go on to win one of the top prizes.

Brendan Shallow, from Belleek, and Phil Donnelly, from Belfast, forged a very successful partnership, catching seven trout between them during Sunday's final for a total weight of 2.325 kilos, winning them each a new 19 foot Burke boat and piece of Galway Crystal.

The runners-up were Matt Brown, from Enniskillen, and Gerald Moran, from Ballinrobe, who netted six fish for 1.97 kilos, each collecting a cheque for £700 and a piece of Galway Crystal.

In third place was Terry McGovern, son of Association chairman, Terry senior, from Belcoo, and Stephen McCabe, from Lisburn, who also bagged six trout for a weight of 1.765 kilos. It landed each of them a bag of goodies that included an electric boat engine and battery, fly reel, Galway Crystal and cheque for £100.

A total of 336 anglers competed in the four-day event. Almost every county in Ireland was represented with a couple of competitors travelling from Scotland and one from England. They were greeted each morning by Rosemary Maguire with home made scones, jam and sandwiches, washed down with a welcoming cup of tea and coffee. And each evening they were treated to a meal in the Lough Melvin Holiday Centre in Garrison.