Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 12/08/2017

THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE JONES’S!

Sam Jones fished superbly well on Co’s Point this week. He didn't even use the marker rod, just cast all 3 at 25 wraps to the ‘boobs’ on the horizon and spombed at 24.25 as the swing back on a baited rig is 9’ or three quarters of a rod length in the 22 feet deep water. Taking the bailiffs advice and starting where Tom (who had 7 bites in the last 4 nights including Fudgies at 78lbs) finished got him immediate action. Not thrashing the swim to a foam on Saturday makes such a difference and our bailiffs now serve Saturdays dinner in the swims at 7pm to give them more time to help you find spots on day one.

Sam introduced 10kg of Sticky Baits Krill and maize on day one fishing all 3 rods a few feet apart  which is THE tactic in open water. Too many people fish rods on single spots and only nick the odd fish; Sam's tactics built a hit. He started with a fish we thought was Secret Sundays but turned out to be an unnamed 40lbs 8oz mirror so he's named it Buttercorn. It's mad that the lake is still throwing up unknown fish after 9 years of the most intensive record keeping possible. We've had 12 new ones this year already so we suspect there are at least 50 more out there that have never been caught, as the last two years has produced no less than 24 new ones. He followed this up on Sunday evening with a new PB, the mighty Cut Tail Common at 60lbs 8oz. Then that night it just kept going after another 10kg of Krill and maize went out, he landed his second 60 and another new PB in the shape of The Giggler at 61lbs 12oz, what a carp that is. Plus he caught the one we were talking about the day before Secret Sunday's at 36lbs, how mad is that? It’s another stunning creature which to his credit he appreciated just as much as the two 60’s.

Then on Tuesday night all hell broke loose. He had a ‘forty’ in darkness and due to the heavy rain it didn't get weighed until DF arrived at 11pm, at which point it was immediately identified as DF’s number one carp The Target, at ever so slightly over forty…….64lb!! Then a little after it ripped off again and whilst playing it Sam said ‘wouldn't it be mad if it was a 20lb stockie?’ Which attracts a £3000 prize fund. So, when a chunky Common went in the net and weighed in at 22lbs the whole swim of anglers errupted with laughter, The Target and the prize winning carp with DF standing beside him, this boy is on fire. But, after very close inspection of ‘the future’ on the web site it was found to not be a stockie just another unknown fish that has grown on in the lake. Shortly after he banked a consolation prize in the shape of Two Time at 62lbs and a little while after the recasts he was in again, shouting ‘HELP’ to DF in Scotties as his net still wasn't set up from Two Time. DF scooped it under a vast creature glowing in the head lamps beam which he soon identified as the same monster that had been caught off the same spot the week before, the lakes king, Fudgie’s. It wasn't weighed as it had only been 5 days between captures, good angling from Sam who was happy to call it 78lbs from last weeks weighing. So, a 64, 62, 3 grand near miss, 26 scaly and Fudgies at 78 in a night! Not bad angling at all. As always, Sam baited with 10kg of Sticky Krill 15 and 20mm’ers plus 5kg of our maize with Krill Snowmen presented over the top.

He followed that up the next night and morning with a 32lb Mirror and 35lb Common known as ‘Wrap Around’ and then on Thursday he had his first blank night of the week. A poor moon phase probably to blame for the lack of action. He expertly kept his baiting to almost nil on Friday suspecting most of the last 15kg was still out there, yet no more bites came. Often people do the opposite on Friday and ‘fill it in’ and guess what, they blank! Sam fished expertly well all week and deserved even more that he caught. Looking back, the fish simply moved over to The Beach and Baxter’s at the end, you can't catch what isn't there!!

Sam’s rigs consisted of running Korda Lead Clips (on advice from the bailiffs) with short Dark Matter tubing to stop tangles and not cut down the distance too much, 8” soft coated hooklinks to size 4 Korda Wide Gapes finished off with a shrink tube kikka, blow back style and snowman with a 12mm pop up and 18mm Tuff Krill bottom bait.

Running lead clips create far more runs here on the Main Lake. The fish have learnt to get off a fixed lead by shaking the lead so hard the hook pulls out or falls out. Many people have wound in leadless rigs where the carp have shaken them off in the night without a bleep. With the weed only low lying it’s rare you get fully locked up so there is no need to dump the lead so runners offer loads of advantages and no real downside.

Ad ‘Lego’ Meakes chose Baxter's and played to his strengths, as the 85 yards (21 wraps) spot is similar to the range he fishes at home. Too many people choose the longer range central swims like Alcatraz, Co’s and Alamo and simply can't hit the clip at the 100-110 yards range where the clear spots are. It ruins their holiday and stops a better caster going in the swim, an avoidable loss for all concerned. Ad just wanted one Gigantica carp and he got a stunning 39lbs 12oz mirror called Paw Print on his first night, again taking our advice and choosing the 21 wrap spot aimed at The Stink baiting with 3kg Sticky Krill from the throwing stick with 8” N Trap soft hook links and running lead clips. Then half way through the week he ‘Ad’ded a wood carving 29 Mirror also at 21 wraps on a cut down snowman again over about 3kg of Krill per night.  On Thursday he landed his first common and a PB to boot, Dave's Common went 36lbs and looked as stunning as always. When will Dave return and catch it again?? On the last night Ad (who models for the popular Lego brand, check out the hair) read the situation perfectly. He put in less bait as it was the last night hoping for a quick bite. The fish were arriving at Baxter's at about 9pm each evening and his bites previously had been coming at 2am. He also fished all three rods tight at 21 wraps, all inside the boundary of the stink swim on the opposite bank. His first bite came at 10pm, so less bait definitely worked, it was another new PB and an awesome carp called ‘Marcels’ at 50lbs 12oz, his first 50 and well deserved. He chose not to recast the rod or rebait as the remaining rods were so close together and only half an hour later a second ripped off and soon The Patched Fully at 47lbs was in his net. Solid angling from a level headed guy that totally ‘got the fishing’. He said before the trip he had heard it was rock hard and now he has fished here he knows if you fish well and are on the fish you will get bites so it's only hard if your either not on em or are fishing badly, wise words from a thinking angler.

Del ‘Rub My Belly’ Forsyth opted for Pole and went out to the clear spot at 27.5 wraps, he struggled a little at first but soon found his rhythm and was smashing the rods and spombs out with consummate ease. His only bite came 3 nights in on a close spot 13.5 wraps towards big southerly, where ‘Gorgeous’ George had baited heavily the week before. Del saw constant shows on the bait and so dropped one short and promptly caught Ziggy Stardust at 59lbs 12oz smashing his PB. Good observational angling from a thoroughly nice bloke. On the main lake casting a rod at showing fish rarely gets a bite but fishing on someone's old bait often does, Del only put 200 baits out over the rod suspecting much of the bait was still there and it paid dividends. That's why the bailiff info is so important in making the right choices of spot. Always ask what happened the week before and we shall always tell you what we know. It's us against the fish so if we pool our knowledge we will win!! Del fished really well all week and we still can't explain why he didn't have fish off his long spots, he changed hooks when they were blunt, changed ‘short’ shorts for long ones when it rained, rubbed his belly continuously and generally laughed his way through the week, always lifting the spirits of the guys around him. A great new angler for us to look after that we are sure will be back many times over the coming years.

Tejay Mead in Big Southerly followed the bailiffs advice and fished at 15 wraps towards the left marker pole that marks a fallen tree on the lakebed as well as two rods straight out at 18 wraps past the concrete slab at 15 wraps. This area at 18 is lovely and clear and has a further area at 21 in the same direction for those who wish to fish a little further. TJ sadly lost the first three fish to hook pulls. We had advised him and all the anglers to use Size 2 hooks as the mouths are so big and the fishing so demanding and after these losses TJ moved to a 2 and promptly caught Two Faces at 32lbs, the Size 2 being embedded in the bottom lip. He had fish all over him for the next two days, this swim has really come to life this year and is all close range work in snaggy conditions so heavy line and locked up fishing is required. He again got caught out by the speed and power of the carp here and got cut off on Friday morning on his left hand rod, again at 15 wraps on a second rod fished left on account of how many shows were going on in that area. It's proper exciting to see such huge carp crashing within 50 yards of the bank, anyone who has been will know what we mean. TJ did move out to 21 wraps with his longer rods and fish showed regularly over his bait yet no bites came so he went into the last night with 5 bites and only one landed. Bad luck and by his own admission lack of experience of that kind of snag fishing being the major factors. To fish the corners effectively at Gigantica you need to have good snag fishing experience, the fish are huge and the snags in this swim are significant so fishing locked up with semi slack 20lb line is the way to get bites as tight lines can easily spook the fish. When you get a bite just walk back with the rod until your away from danger. Short of the marker poles it's all clear and if you get the fish back at the start you have almost won. On the last morning Tejay had a ‘small but pretty one’ to round off the week, but what a fish it was! When DF came down to photo it, he immediately recognised it as ‘The Dustbin’ which had been stocked last November at 10lbs 8oz, it was caught recently just 2oz short of 20lbs leaving the angler very disappointed at missing out on the £3000 prize fund attached to the first 20+ stockie. DF zeroed the scales perfectly just to make sure but there was no grey area, Dustbin went 21lbs 8oz and Tejay was literally speechless! He brother Steve in Tree line came round and was jumping out of his skin at the result, it means he gets to come back for free as well, if Tejay has him as his plus 1! The brothers will be back next year as our guests after having 48 hours tuition from Darrell Peck and armed with £1500 worth of new Korda kit and £500 worth of Mainline boilie. Top result for a super nice guy after a frustrating week of losses.

Tejay’s brother Steve Mead opted for Tree Line, he won't mind admitting he struggled to hit the clip at the 84 yard marks at the start of the week. But with some coaching from the bailiffs which he picked up really quickly he was soon hitting it every cast and with superb accuracy. His perseverance was rewarded after two days on his 21 wrap spot off the end of the fallen tree with one of our stockies at 13lbs 12oz that he has named Farma’s Carp, his nick name after moving to Essex from Suffolk as a boy. He then followed this up with Scratches at 42lbs off his open water spot also at 21 wraps. Both fish came to our new Mainline Fishmeal tipped with Korda IB Pop Up Maize on a running lead clip and Size 2 Krank Ready-Tied Rig. There is no shame in using ready rigs, they are expertly tied and are streamlined to never tangle and obviously turn and catch hold superbly. If we had a prize for most improved angler and all round nice guy Steve would win hands down, well done matey.

Steve Reeves started in Stink and struggled to find decent clear areas out at 110 yards, he had one bite two days in but was cut off on the zebra mussels in the weed, this is why we now ask everyone to use 0.40mm line as a minimum or 0.33-0.47 Tapered line so the thick part takes the brunt of the cast and weed. He moved into Alamo when it came free with 4 nights to go and showed his class by getting a 32lb Mirror on the first night. He followed that up with The Punisher at 39lbs towards the end of the week. Both bites coming to snowmen on 8” combi rigs at 27 wraps straight out in front. He baited with about 7kg per day fishing all three rods on the same spot. A good result, considering his outlook a few days into the session.

Luke Cornelious came out 11th and opted for Oblivion. He has been for casting tuition this year so fancied the 31 wraps area that Buzz had caught from a few weeks earlier. The fish had other ideas and after seeing several show just a few yards out he flopped out three rigs with the hookbaits encased in a small solid bag to combat the weed. He had his first bite Saturday evening which unfortunately came off. Then in the night he had two more takes landing one of them, The Leather at 39lbs. He changed up to size 2 Kurvs which is what we advise at the start and that nailed the fish, looking back he wished he had started on Size 2’s as it may have caught him those other two fish. Eventually the fish moved out so he started to investigate the long area, but when the wind got up he struggled to fish effectively and ‘had a mare’ for a couple of days with fish showing on his bait that he couldn't get to. This is a common mistake on the main, cross winds, heavy line and 20mm baits make a huge difference to casting distances, we recommend choosing a spot that is well within your casting range so no matter what the weather you can hit it first time. Luke has vowed to come back armed with the right Tapered line and to choose a spot just slightly closer, wise words from a top bloke who learned the hard way!

Big Terry  in Bob’s Beach again struggled with the range at the start of the week but quickly got into the groove and was hitting the clip every time with the spomb. We can't explain why his 20 wraps area didn't produce as fish showed over it all week. Terry to his credit tried everything the bailiffs suggested and still hadn't had a bite. His rigs remained the same all week, IQ D-Rigs 8” long and running lead clips. On the last night Ali Hamidi suggested he try one rod really short off the bait and it worked, his Mainline Fishmeal bottom bait tipped with a 10mm white cell pop up was snaffelled by a stunning 35lb Mirror. A just reward for a splendid guy.

Back to Sam and his mates Ad and Del, they are the ideal anglers for us a Gigantica. They fish waters like Wraysbury One so are used to big lakes that are deep and have plenty of bottom weed. They like a challenge and have the skills to catch the carp and have a laugh at the same time.

In contrast we had five guys on who by their own admission were a little out of their depth, some couldn't hit the clip at 80 yards or had ever felt the lead hit the bottom. With our help we got them to the marks at 80 yards and some had great results that will stay with them forever, but, they are the closest spots on the main lake so if you haven't used the distance sticks before or can't hit the clip at 20 wraps then we recommend you book on the Road Lake. The spots are 30-90 yards out with most swims being 40-50 yard casts, simple, easy fishing for rakes of 30’s, 40’s and the odd 50+. But, if you are an experienced ‘syndicate’ angler who revels in ‘the chase’ as much as the scales spinning round them The Main Lake is the one for you!!        

Danny F

Team Gigantica