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  • The last capture
  • DF @ 72lb
  • An early capture

The last capture

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Available Spaces
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Available Spaces
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Angler Comments

The King is Dead. Long live the King!

Fellow anglers, I am gutted to report that our largest resident The Giant was found dead on 28th December, floating in the snaggy margins on the Tree Line area.

It appeared to be in perfect health and had only been dead an estimated 2 or 3 days. There were no obvious marks in its mouth or on its body to suggest it had been tethered. We must assume that the stress of its recent capture at 92 pounds has been too much for the fish to recover from.

The fish had not been caught for 18 months prior to the last capture in late November and I am guessing this extended absence from the bank has contributed to its demise. The fact that it had put on 12 pounds in this 18 month period does not alarm me as it was definitely not spawn bound. The fish was a male and had made huge gains before going from 60 to 72 pounds back in 07-08. But, with such a huge weight gain and no visits to the bank I can only speculate this convergence of circumstance has contributed to the death of the fish.

I do not blame Rowan the last captor in any way, the photo's were done at night straight after capture and in minimal time, and the fish went away strongly. I must confess if I had caught it I would have retained it till the morning and done the pics then, only because I have never seen a seen a fish suffer for this and I do love to get great shots of anything I catch, so Rowan under the advice of Bailiff Stevie 'The Fish' Cowell treated the fish with even more respect than I would have done.

How to deal with fish above 90lbs is not an exact science and no one knows how it should be done, we all just do our best. I will be speaking to Simon Scott and other fishery owners to see if we can do more to protect the massive number of monsters that still swim in Gigantica.

I am far more gutted as an angler than I am as a fishery owner. Even though I have caught the fish before I dearly wanted it again because it was so massive and in such amazing condition at 92 pounds.

As a fishery owner I knew this day would come, nothing lives forever but thank god we have so many other massive fish to back that fish up, this is the minimum I expect to be swimming round in there at this very moment.

2 x 80's - Fudgies and Single Scale

6 x 70's - Chunky, The German, The Target, The Galaxy, Drop Tail, The Twin

11 x 60's - Spences, Mr Angry, Discus, Split Peck, Brutus, Cut Tail Common, Roberts Fish, The Freak, Singles Mate, The Immaculate

24 x 50's - Black Eye, Shparky, Bearded Lady, Bottom Lobe, Pips, Rigadon, Two Time, Rapunsel, Ziggy Stardust, Spring Scaly, Northern Scaly, The Clown, Nude Patch Common, The Survivor, The 43, The Giggler, Alcatraz, The Weld, Fred, The Head, Danish Bacon, Pimple Tail,

There are still un caught fish and if known ones can go missing for several years then unknown ones can stay missing far longer. Take Rapunsel for example, I had it in May'11, its first ever time on the bank, at 53lbs!! And this year a mid 50 nicknamed 'Fista' was seen during spawning, its got one massive scale on one side and had never been caught!!

As is always the case another fish will take the Giant's place and be our new King of Gigantica. The Giant did it when we lost a spawn bound 70+ just before we bought the lake in September '08 and I am sure this will happen again. Fudgies will almost certainly do it, out at 80lbs 8oz in November this year, up only 3 pounds in a year after not being on the bank at all in that time. I suspect it will get caught at 83-85 pounds pre spawning or after September 2013.

And who knows what else is swimming there, the lake is unique in that many of our residents go missing for long periods and then reappear 10 pounds bigger, take The Immaculate, not out for 4 years and expected to be 60+, it has been seen next to know 60+ fish in spawning and its bigger yet it still hasn't been caught? That is what keeps me coming back for more. I have 4 weeks booked for 2013 and I will still be doing all of them, there are still dozens I am desperate to catch. See you there!!

Bookings for 2014

I hope our existing and new customers appreciate our complete honestly about The Giant. My reputation is everything and I would be devastated if an angler felt mislead after booking a holiday to try and catch that fish when it wasn't there. Sadly some fishery owners in France hide their losses and deceive their customers, the same kind of people start rumours about honest people like us to try and help themselves. Let's see who is first to do it this time......

Summer 2013 has only odd spaces left, plus a few weeks in our winter season when we have only 6 anglers on, allowing 4 rods each.

So now its all about 2014. We are opening our books on Monday 21st January 2013 at 8.30am on a first come first served basis on 01268820440 and for european anglers +311433628997. We have changed our policy now to give the keenest customers the best chances at their perfect week. Simply get on the phone and keep calling till you get through and from then on our website will have a calender on it so you can see what's still available.

So that's all from me at this time, as an angler I am still gutted but as a fishery owner I know Gigantica will produce more 90lb fish, if its done it before it will do it again!

Tight lines

Danny