Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 13/05/2017

What an amazing week we have had on the Main Lake; it will undoubtedly live long in the memory of the lads who visited us. The weather was forecast to be a bit more stable with temperatures of up to 29 degrees scheduled for much of the week. With the addition of warm overnight temperatures, it was certainly going to get the Carp on the move.

During the walk-round of the lake, there was much discussion as to the best tactical approach to take. Fish have been caught consistently off the bottom so far this year, but more recently the Zigs have started to account for a few bites. Fish were clearly in residence in front of Bob’s Beach and out in the central body of water, and kept showing consistently throughout the afternoon. Maybe it would be Zigs after all that would be the best approach.

With ten anglers booked on for the week and the dreaded draw completed, everyone went off to their respective swims to get organized. Evening meal was delivered to the anglers around the lake to allow them the maximum amount of time to get set up, and expectations were high for an early bite to get the week off to a good start.

Andy Curtis was fishing in the Alamo and got his week off to a flying start when he rang on Sunday morning to tell us about a mid forty Mirror which he had netted. It turned out to be a special fish, as it was Andy’s first Zig caught fish, and was also a new PB. The fish known as Alcatraz weighed in at 46lb 8oz and took a Black and Red foam bait fished at 20ft depth. That was just the start for Andy and throughout the remainder of the week he went on to land a further two forties (Godfather of Soul at 41lb and Rudder at 40lb 4oz) followed by a real chunk, in the shape of Ziggy Stardust at 63lb 8oz. All his bites came to the zigs fish at 29-31 rod lengths. Great angling.

Ryan Mullins was doubled up with Andy in Alamo and had to play “Gillie” for the first couple of days, before getting in on the action himself. He was fishing out at 28-rod lengths using the Mainline FYBER boilies mixed with some hemp and maize. He used a combination of zigs and bottom baits, and both methods proved successful. He landed two fish during the week, a 29lb 8oz Mirror that he named Ryan’s Run and a 30lb Mirror known as the Woodcarving on a Zig on Friday.

Justin Dabrowski had selected to fish in Bob’s Beach after seeing fish showing out front during the walk-round, and it turned out to be a great decision for him on his first week on the Main Lake. After a good chat with the Gigantica Fishery Manager, Andy Savage, Justin committed to fish all three rods on Zigs at different depths for the week. The fish were clearly evident in the upper layers and it only took until Sunday morning before he got off the mark in style. The call came through around 8am that he had landed a fish on an 18ft Zig which turned out to be a Mirror known as Yorkie at 29lb 8oz. Before the pictures were taken of his first fish he got himself another bite and this one fought slow and strong. After a really tense struggle with some buttock clenching moments, the net was eventually slipped under a real chunk. On parting the mesh, a big deep-bodied Mirror was staring back. As a crowd gathered to enjoy the capture and help out where required, the fish was identified as being “The 43” and tipped the scales round to a whopping 64lb 8oz. This was a new PB by a country mile and Justin was smiling all week. Once everyone had departed his swim, he managed to recast and had another bite almost immediately; a 21lb 8oz Mirror known as Apple Crumble being the culprit. The next couple of days were quiet then it kicked off again with two fish in two hours! Firstly with a previously uncaught 30lb Mirror and then a cracking Common known as Lennie’s at 46lb took him to cloud nine. A PB Mirror and Common in one week can’t be bad.

Adam Aldridge took a bold decision to go into the often-overlooked Scottie’s Corner and it proved to be a very good choice. Scottie’s has to be approached with a different approach to most of the other swims, as there are some quite severe snags subsurface, so fishing locked up with 20lb line is the way to go. Adam was fishing two spots across the bay, to small gaps in the treeline. He used a mixture of Mainline Activ-8 and ISOsweet boilie with crumbed pellet and hemp oil. He rested the swim during the day, and concentrated his efforts on the evenings when they swim came to life. His first bite came on Sunday evening just after dinner and in an up close and personal battle, he triumphed over a big Common Carp. What a fish it was; the Cut Tail Common at it’s first time over 60lb. What an amazing fish. He landed the fish on a heli-safe setup and Ronnie Rig with a Pink Activ-8 Pop-Up. He went on to land a further three fish including The Face at 45lb and Stoneacres at 41lb 4oz, along with a 37lb Common. Great angling, and showed what is achievable from this tight little swim when fished correctly.

Paul Warwick got his first choice of swim when he had chance to fish in Co’s Point. Having fished the lake before, knew the tactics to employ and he baited two spots; one at 27 rod lengths and one at 25. Putting in some crumb, chops, whole boilies and particles, which initially saw him catch a couple of Bream. This slight inconvenience was firmly put to the back of his mind when he got his first proper bite on Thursday morning. A new PB Common was his reward; a fish that goes by the name of Big Mack and weighed in at 36lb 4oz. confidence was high and Paul then went on to land one of the Gigantica A-Team; a beautiful Mirror known as Chunky, which weighed in at a staggering 74lb 8oz! A fantastic reward for some patient angling.

Steve Bartlett started his week off fishing in  Pole Position, and after losing a fish early Saturday night on a 22ft Zig, he quickly made up for it when he landed a 32lb 12oz Mirror known as Air Con to get himself off the mark, again on the Zigs. Things then went a bit quiet so on Thursday he made the move down to the Treeline, where there were clearly fish in abundance. He landed a fish in no time at all in the new swim, which turned out to be a new fish we had no record of; the 31lb 8oz Mirror was duly named George’s Pride. Steve’s week finished on a high when he landed 3 Jokes at 31lb, and despite losing a couple made it a great week for him.

Dan Stroud had been patiently plugging away in Big Girls, and for the first few days the swim looked devoid of life. He had a brief flirtation next door in Oblivion, but midweek the Carp started to arrive in Big Girls in numbers. A swift move back heralded the bite that he had been waiting for, and after a real tussle, he landed the carp he ha been waiting for. A new PB in the shape of “Scale Perfect” at 41lb was a brilliant result.

After Jamie left on Monday due to work commitments, Buzz The Gigantica Bailiff dropped into Alcatraz. He decided to fish two rods at 31 wraps in-line with Big Southerly and his other rod at 27 wraps in-line with The Stink. It wasn’t long before he was into his first carp of the week, a 24lb 8oz Mirror. Buzz was spodding out Hemp and Maize with the New Mainline FYBER Boilies which he cut into halves. Then it got a bit frantic....It was Friday morning at 7am when his left hand rod was away with a 24lb Mirror, followed by The Clash at 25lb, Wipe-Out at 32lb, Dave's Common at 38lb and lastly, Humpy at 24lb.  All the fish came off the two rods which were cast at 31 wraps in-line with Big Southerly using the Ronnie Rig with 3 grains of Korda Fake Food, Plastic Maze.

A great week's angling with 26 fish being landed by seven different anglers. The water temperature is beginning to warm up now, and it is beginning to feel disticlty summery. Shorts, T-Shirt and suncream being the order of the day. Tight Lines until next time.