Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 20/04/2019

Week Commencing 20/4/19

A good week here on the Main Lake with a few fish being landed and lots of laughs and memories to take away! The week started off with glorious sunshine for the first few days and this meant that the carp were spending a lot of time in the upper layers of the lake. The weather changed come Thursday with low pressure and rain the order of play, everybody hoped that this would get the carps heads down for the last couple of nights.

Steve Reeves was upset when he didn’t get to fish Baxters again but he was happy plotting up in Alcatraz for the week. Things started off quickly for Steve, landing a 39lb 4oz mirror on Sunday morning, fishing the crooked tree to the left of Stink at 27 Rod Lengths. Steve baited the area with 3kg of mixed hemp and boilie per day. The mirror picked up a multi rig fished over the baited spot. After this the fish seemed to move up in the layers for the rest of the week and Steve utilised his single zig rod well, recasting to showing fish which were in an area of 30-35 Wraps towards Big Southerly. Steve managed 4 more fish during the week from various depths between 18 and 22 ft with black foam being the winning colour. The pick of the bunch was ‘Humpy’ at 41lb 14oz. Steve continued baiting his spots consistently throughout the week in the hope that the fish would get their heads down. On this occasion they didn’t but I always think keeping the bait going in even if the fish are up in the water during the day will help. When they decide to drop down for a munch, can you afford to not have any bait there?

Next up is the Belgian duo of Glenn Sporckand Joris Peeters. Coming out high in the draw they managed to get in the Alamo and double up for the week, this was what they were hoping for the whole drive down so they were very happy when it became a reality. Deciding to fish as a team at 25 wraps the boys baited heavily with The Boilie Service boilies in various sizes, baiting up with 7-8kg a day with the throwing stick. The lads had fish showing over them from day one but could not get a pick up. The fish were clearly up in the top layers mooching in the sunshine. I took a ride round after dinner on Tuesday and suggested they each pull one rod in and switch over to a zig as the amount of fish in front of them was unbelievable. After a quick zig tying clinic the boys had plumbed the depth of the spot where they were showing and decided to fish 50cm below the surface. Carpy carnage can be the only way to describe the next 90 minutes as the guys landed 5 fish and lost 1 really decent fish (there was no stopping it, the sheer power of it, was definitely a goodun). Quickly unhooking the fish and getting the rod back out as soon as possible meant they were able to keep getting bites almost as soon as the rod was back out in the water. Glenn’s biggest was an absolute banger of a common called ‘Goldeneye’ which spun the scales round to a healthy 45lb 14oz. Joris’ biggest was a mirror named ‘Scratches’ which weighed in at 47lb 12oz. Belgian beers followed and many happy memories made that evening, the boys were absolutely BUZZING! Now the mission was to try and get one off the bottom, keeping the bait going in for the rest of the week the boys tried their utmost but alas it wasn’t to happen on this visit. Good adaptive angling though lads and thanks for a really enjoyable week!

Darren Walter got one of his top 3 swims and found himself in Bobs Beach for the week, Deciding to fish at 23 wraps towards The Alamo, he also found himself seeing the fish showing directly in front of him but they were just not up for feeding on the deck this week. Tuesday was the day for Darren as well when his 20ft zig rattled off twice in the space of 2 hours landing 2 of the lovely scaley mirrors that reside in the lake. ‘Moroccan Sunset’ @ 31lb 12oz and ‘Happy Daze’ @ 29lb 10oz. Two absolute stunners mate, really made up for you, was an excellent week!

Martin Lenaghan had one of the fastest bites I’ve ever seen landing ‘The French Common’ @ 25lb 8oz. Casting an 18ft zig to a showing fish as soon as he got into the swim we thought he would be in for a crazy week! But this was the last of the action for Martin as the fish seemed to stay out of the Treeline for the rest of the week. Spots that he baited along the margin were being cleared out in the night so the fish were visiting but he didn’t manage to get another pick up.

Steve Farnom managed to get into Cos Point for the week, concentrating his efforts at 25 wraps towards the old tits he found the fish were more interested in being up in the layers than feeding on the bottom which was a common occurrence this week unfortunately, Steve managed to land one on a zig in the shape of ‘The Baby Pawprint’ @ 18lb

Up next is Nigel Rogers who fished in Big Southerly for the week. He fished one rod at 14 wraps towards the marker pole and 2 rods straight out towards Alcatraz at 25 R/L. It was a quiet week for Nigel until the fish turned up on Thursday evening and he managed to nick one of 2018 stockies ‘Koach Trip’ at 16lb 8oz, the fish fell to a spinner rig with a Jungle Pop up. Nigel baited consistently throughout the week, using a mix of particle and boilies baiting with 3kg a day to each spot.

Chris Moore gets a 10/10 for effort and I’m glad he managed to bag a fish on the last day after moving a couple of times. Starting in Scotties and then moving to Baxters the fish just weren’t in front of him, they were in Scotties/Big Southerly area on Thursday in numbers and I suggested to Chris to move back into Scotties. He did and was rewarded by landing one of the stockies on Friday by fishing double plastic maize on a Spinner Rig to the far margin at 8 wraps.

Darren Otter found himself in Big Girls for the week and managed to snare a bite from one of the 2018 stockies on the last day. Fishing 21 wraps towards the spit, baiting with our particle mixed with chopped and whole boilie, he got the bite using a multi rig with an Uber baits Uber nutz fished snowman style.

Matthew Sheppard fished the Stink and managed to nick one late on in the week, sticking to his guns throughout the week he decided to put a zig later on, landing a 24lb common to save the blank! 

The Lake fished hard this week with the fish spending a lot of time up in the top layers and not seeming to want to come down and eat on the deck. The lads however kept the bait going in consistently as the fish could have dropped down for a munch at any time! Fishing 1 zig rod this week did manage to nick a few extra bites, but the fish will need to go down and eat soon, so let’s hope it starts to pick up in the coming days! Absolutely great bunch of lads, couldn’t have asked for a better week. Looking forward to seeing you all again very soon! Joris and Glenn, make sure you bring enough Belgian beer for everyone next time! 

Tight Lines,

Steve