Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 11/05/2019

When the anglers arrived for their trip this week, we had been hastily trying to build Ark, as the biblical rain that blasted in on the strong Northerly wind made for a wet walk round. On a brighter note, the fish had been particularly cooperative the previous week, so we hoped the action continued. We had a mixed group of anglers, some of who had fished here before, and some first timers. Spirits were high, and the consistent Northerly winds forecast for the week, would keep overnight temperatures quite cool, with moderate sunny days.

Will Greenhill fancied one of the corner swims, and chose Scottie’s Corner to spend the week. He started off fishing one rod across the bay at 7 wraps, and then two in the entrance towards Co’s at 15 and 16 wraps respectively. He baited with a mixture of boilie from TailsUp; Pro Fish and OCM with a small quantity of hemp and maize. Initially the fish didn’t appear to be coming into the corner with much frequency, until Thursday night when they turned up in numbers, and there were some real big ones amongst them. At 7am on Friday morning he got a steady take from the 16 wrap spot, fished on a Chod with a Pink Sea Monster Pop-Up. It didn’t take him too long before he slipped the net under a big Mirror, and on further investigation, the fish turned out to be “Split Pec” at 66lb 8oz! This fish had been on the missing list for almost three years and looked in mega condition. One bite, one PB...top angling Will.

Richard “Wiz” Paine also fancied a corner, and with Big Girls being available, he set up in there. The fish had been visiting on a daly basis and it was looking good for more bites. Fishing at 23 wraps towards Stock Pond, he spread the rods out from the margin to the open water and baited with his homemade fish meal boilie at a rate of 2-3kg a day. Bites were consistent through the week, with one or two bites each night. The bite time was quite protracted, and most evenings around 10pm would see them drift in. He was unfortunate to not catch any of the really big fish, but he ended the week with six fish, the best being a previously uncaught Mirror of 31lb which he named “Wiz”.

Tim Jackman went into the popular Alcatraz swim and went back onto the 27.5 wrap spot towards the “Wonky Tree” with all three rods. He baited up each day with 3kg of chopped and crumbed Baitworks Royal Marine mixed with maize. He got off to a great start when on Sunday morning at 10am he had a steady take and after a marathon struggle landed at cracking Common known as “The Mosaic” at 36lb 4oz. Spinner rigs with a yellow Pop-Up and Heli-Safes did the damage. Unfortunately, that was the only chance that came his way during the week, despite the fish showing in numbers every morning at first light.

Darren Jones went into “Pole Position” after a reasonable draw and followed on from where Tim Clay had fished the week before at 27.5 wraps towards “The Stink”. With the strong northerly winds it made baiting up quite challenging, and initially he was struggling to hit the clip with any consistency. With a few corrections made to his technique by Andy the Bailiff, in no time at all, he was “Spombing like a God” and soon got into his stride. On Monday afternoon, he got a classic “take out of the blue” which Pole Position quite often does, and his reward was “The Unattended” at 48lb 8oz! Confidence was high, and the following evening he landed “Wayne’s World” at 36lb 8oz. He initially started baiting with just boilie, then started to introduce some hemp and maize to try and trigger the fish into feeding on his spot. This tactic clearly worked well. Neil Spooner turned up for a night on Friday, and Darren decided that he would join the game of killer darts. Safe to say, his spombing was far more accurate than his dart throwing, as he couldn’t hit a cows arse with a banjo! Phil Taylor certainly has nothing to worry about!

Freddie “Flasher” Knight elevated himself to instant stardom when we put all the anglers into a WhatsApp group before their trip. Thinking it was a private group set up by one of his mates, the first thing he did was post a picture of his “member” on it! Oh how we laughed; although in his defence, he claims it was his “stunt c**k! Baxter’s was the swim Fred wanted, and that’s where he ended up. The fish had been showing closer in, so Fred put out two rods at 14 wraps and one in the right hand corner all on solid bags. On Monday morning he saw fish showing a bit further out, so put out a solid bag to them at around 20 wraps. Thirty minutes later he was in! A 27lb Common known as “Trio” being the culprit. A quick recast and he was in again immediately, with one of the 2018 Stockie’s. The fish was named as “Lloyd’s” after a dear friend of Fred and his mates, “Lloyd Powell” who has sadly passed away; a very fitting tribute.

Joel Judd chose Co's Point for the week and following the brilliant result enjoyed by Luke Cornelius the previous week, was undecided as to where to concentrate on. Initially he started off at 25 wraps towards the "Tits" and after first light on Sunday morning saw alot of fish showing much closer in (typical Spring behaviour). He dropped back to a lovely clear area at 15 wraps left of the "Tits" and baited up with 5 kg of his own bait, which we've named "Judd Baits Red Maple". He recieved a bite not long after first light on Wednesday morning, and after a good scrap, landed a super-long Mirror known as "Pec's" at 36lb 8oz. Amazingly, it's brother (Brother of Pec's) was caught the week previous!

Stock Pond had not been picked in the draw, so Andy the Bailiff dropped in there for a few nights. Starting off at 22 wraps left of Oblivion, he introduced 3kg of whole Mainline Link soaked in lake water. With fish clearly in the area, and no bites forthcoming, he introduced some hemp and maize as well, which had the desired effect with a 28lb Mirror known as “Young Albert”. Hybrid Stiff D-Rigs with a Link Snowman doing the business.

Credit to all the lads, as morale was always high throughout the week. Along with Fred’s regular naked shows, Shaun who was fishing in “The Stink” kept us entertained by falling asleep at the dinner table after having a couple of glasses of white wine. The old Delkim ringtone on the phone had him awake and on high alert in seconds. Hilarious to watch and taken in good spirit. It was a brilliantly entertaining week, with a great bunch. The fish weren’t quite as obliging as we had hoped for; but seeing “Split Pec” on the bank again was a real treat. 

Until next time.....Bonne Peche and Tight Lines

Andy

Team Gigantica