Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 21/04/2018

Week Commencing 21 April 2018

After the flag cracking temperatures of last week, some slightly cooler temperatures were most welcome for the twelve first time visitors to the Main Lake. Which temperatures forecast from low double figures up to 20 degrees, it was definitely going to halt the rapid rise in water temperature. After doing the customary walk round the lake, giving all the most up to date information, the group descended almost to silence as they awaited the dreaded draw! 

There had been a lot of activity in the main body of the lake, and also a lot of fish in the corner swims. It was just a case of the anglers matching their strengths and abilities to the swims. We quite often see anglers select a swim because they think that they should fish it, when perhaps they don’t like the style of fishing that the particular swim requires.

Richard “Dickie” Edmundsset up in Alcatrazfor the week and with a lot of fish showing in the upper layers, he chose to start off with three rods on zigs, and also baited a spot on the bottom to drop onto, at a later point in the week. On Tuesday morning he got his first chance on a 21ft zig with black foam, and a slow and ponderous fight began. Andy the bailiff was on hand to assist with netting duties and like a dog on a lead a chunky mirror made its way to the net at the first time of asking. After getting the weighing kit organised, the mighty mirror, which had been ID’d as The Clown, tipped the scales around to 58lb 4oz. What a result. It then went quiet for a couple of days, before carnage ensued, with three bites in a couple of hours on Friday afternoon taking his tally to four fish for the week. 

Tony Rittertook the opportunity to get into Co’s Pointand employed similar tactics as Richard. With black foam accounting for nearly all the zig bites this year, Tony chose to go in with 21ft zigs with black foam. It wasn’t long before he got his first fish, in the shape of The Face at 45lb 12oz. The bite came out of the blue at 4pm on Sunday afternoon, which goes to show that they can come at any time to this method. From then on Tony got regular chances and even though he dropped a couple, he still ended the week with a further five fish, including Baby Brutus at 45lb 8oz.

Eric Hintzenfrom the Netherlands got a bit confused at the draw; thinking he was going into the Treeline, he actually picked Big Southerly! After taking advice from the bailiff, he chose to fish one rod on the bottom towards the left hand marker pole at 13 wraps, and then put the other two out front on zigs. He had a couple of missed opportunities off the bottom, which we put down to the nature of the semi-fixed rigs he was using (we recommend the use of a simple running rig, or running COG system). He had a bite on Wednesday afternoon on a zig; but then disaster struck when the hook got stuck in the net, and the fish then did a Houdini when he tried to unhook it. But, as the saying goes “ the sun always shines on the righteous” and at first light on Saturday morning he had two bites on 17ft zigs, which saw him land Broady’s Mirror at 45lb and then highly sought after Shoulders at 55lb! Is there a better way to end the week? Well done Eric, persistence paid off in the end.

Pasa Elrazwent into the Treelineafter seeing some of the leviathans sunbathing and fished one rod tight to the base of the fallen tree, one off the end of the tree, and one out in open water on a zig. It appears that a lot of the 2017 stockie’s have taken up residence in the snags, and Pasa landed 12 of them during the week, before moving across to Alamo on Thursday for the last couple of nights. He continued his good run of form taking a 44lb Mirror known as Buttercorn and a 24lb Common, both on black foam zigs.

Lee Flynnhad no hesitation in picking Pole Positionat the draw, which has been in good form of late. Having only fished with short zigs before, he had a confidence crisis about using them over 20ft in length. With a bit of guidance from Andy the bailiff, he was fishing out at range on 23ft zigs, with confidence. After a quiet 48hrs, he decided to switch two rods to the bottom, over a scattering of bait, and leave one out on a zig. It was the single rod left on the zig which was picked up by a lovely scaley 20lb Mirror, just before dusk. With waning confidence restored, it was all three rods back out on zigs, and he managed to catch a cracking brace of thirties; topped by The Leney at 37lb 4oz and Foreign Legion at 35lb 8oz.

Jimmy Martinwent for Bob’s Beach, which is a great swim to fish in the spring. Despite plenty of fish visiting the area, they only seemed to be passing through, and it took Jimmy until Monday afternoon to tempt one on a, 21ft zig, using black foam; with a 27lb 12oz Common being his prize. He chose to move swims into Stock Pond on Wednesday and have a social with his mate Lee. It appeared that there were some very localised cross winds, as amazingly all three rods landed just to the right of Lee’s rods in Pole Position. A few hours later, Jimmy had a bite from a bionic twenty pound Common and set a new lake record for the number of lines he wiped out when it kited left (5 lines in total)! He then backed this up with another twenty and a thirty, taking him to four fish for the week.

Seeing a lot of fish present in the snags during the walk-round, Kieran Marshallwas very happy when he got the chance to fish in the often overlooked, Scottie’s Corner. Fishing two rods tight across to the snags, and one in the entrance to the bay, he was baiting up lightly with half a kilo of chopped Cell per rod, and presented White Cell Pop-Ups on Spinner Rigs over the top. The fish drifted in and out of the bay during the week, and he managed to land himself a couple of smaller carp, but bites none the less. 

Ibs Husseinchose to fish in The Stink at the draw, then changed his mind and went into Alamo. There were a lot of fish showing out in front at range but unfortunately Ibs struggled to reach the fish, as there was a moderate westerly wind blowing straight into the swim, which restricted him to around 80-90 yds range. He also set a trap down the left hand margin to try and snare one off the bottom; baiting lightly at the bottom of the marginal shelf. Despite it being a frustrating week, Ibs stuck to the task at hand and managed to land a brace of twenties on zigs, towards the end of the week. Definitely a case of unfinished business!

It’s that time of year, when the carp are very mobile and can turn up in front of any swim at any time, and those anglers who are well prepared will certainly reap the benefits. They certainly drifted around during the week, and the final tally was 38 fish landed from 43 bites, including 2 x 50’s, 4 x 40’s, 5 x 30’s, 11 x 20’s and 16 stockie’s. It is just getting better and better……..must be time for one of the A-Team to slip up soon.

That’s all until next time folks. Tight lines and Bonne Peche

Andy

Team Gigantica