Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 18/05/2019

We had a bit of a mix on the Main this week. The group consisted of a few first-time visitors, a couple on their second trips and some who are almost part of the furniture! Over the last couple of years, the Main Lake has undergone a transformation in terms of overdue tree management and snag removal. The lads who volunteer and give their time to help us, receive a week’s fishing in return. The self-proclaimed “A-Team” (only joking lads) were in town; what would the residents of the lake have in store for them this week? With fairly high pressure, light winds and moderate temperatures, the weather didn’t look amazing, but you never know.

John Pike was back on his second visit with his lovely girlfriend, Leanne. He went back in the swim (Stock Pond) where last year he proposed to Leanne; fond memories for the pair of them. The fish had been in there the week before and John simply fished the swim how he had done previously. One rod was fished to the right-hand margin at 9.25 wraps and the other two rods were fished at 22 and 23 wraps up towards the shallow spit near the water pumps. This left the open water in front of the swim clear of lines, which clearly helped keep the fish in the area. John fished with a combination of Mainline Fyber and Link, which he chopped and crumbed then mixed with maize and hemp. All his baiting up was done from the bank keeping disturbance down to a minimum. On Sunday morning John had already had three bites to the short-range rod, the best being a 26lb original known as “Bucket ‘o Pullot” which hadn’t been caught for three years. John caught consistently all week, with bites coming every evening and through the night. Rigs were simple, but effective; running COG leads with IQ D-Rigs baited with two grains of Slow Sinking IB Maize. A pattern emerged during the week, with all the bites for the first few days coming to the close rod, then all of a sudden, the fish started showing a preference for the 22/23 spot. John ended the week with nineteen fish, the best being a beautiful scaley thirty known as “Rising Star” at 33lb. Great angling John, shame Leanne has put a stop to the Gigantica Wedding idea!!

Dan Schneider was on his second Gigantica trip of the year. Coming out of the draw in first place (which made a pleasant change from being number twelve on the last draw!), he chose “Alcatraz” for the week. He split his rods up initially, fishing one at 23 wraps towards Scottie’s and two at 27.5 towards the wonky tree. Baiting up with chopped and crumbed Mainline Fyber mixed with hemp and maize; it took a couple of days before he picked up his first bite, but he got off the mark on Monday morning with a stockie common. Conditions looked good for a zig bite, so a switch over on one rod in the afternoon brought two bites within the hour on an 18ft with black foam; the best being “Little Kicker” at 31lb 8oz. With no action coming from the 23 wrap spot, Dan got all three rods straight out in front towards the wonky tree, and it wasn’t too much longer before he was in again. This time his multi-rig baited with a yellow IB Pop-Up was snaffled by a 27lb Common known as “O.C.D”. In what turned out to be a tricky week, Dan did well ringing the changes with hookbaits and presentation, not losing his head. A good result for some steady angling.

Thorben Heberle was next door in “Pole Position” and started off his week fishing one rod short at 14 wraps towards Big Southerly and two at 27.5 at the Stink. With a Northerly wind blowing into Pole, Thorben was struggling to get the bait out to the longer-range spot, but when it eased on Monday evening, he quickly got out 4kg of Mainline Fyber and mixed particle. The next afternoon he was rewarded with a take out of the blue from the 27.5 spot (which Pole Position is renowned for) and landed his first Main Lake carp. The culprit turned out to be a scaley banger known as “Pebble’s” at a new biggest weight of 30lb 8oz. 

Gigantica regular, Radu “What’s he say” Mitrea went into the in-form “Big Girls” swim. Bites had been consistent the previous two weeks, with the fish getting up and down the left-hand tree line most evenings. Radu fished the rods at 18.5 wraps up the left-hand margin and baited by hand each day with a 3kg mixture of different size boilies, whole and chopped from Victory Baits along with some hemp and a small tin of sweetcorn. Multi rigs with either Wafters or White Krill Pop-Ups got him the bites. After a slow start and two lost fish, things eventually picked up midway through the week. Although nothing huge paid him a visit, four Stockie’s proved his baiting and rigs worked effectively. Radu had casting lessons with Terry Edmonds prior to his trip, which turned out to be money well spent, as he had absolutely no problem hitting the clip at 80yds!!

Alex Ballinger and Simon Wright doubled up in “The Alamo” for the week. Alex started the week with one rod at 15 wraps towards the kitchen roof, and two left of Baxter’s at 23.5 wraps. He baited up with 3kg of boilie from Victory Bait mixed with maize and fished Pop-Ups over the top. He had a great start, when his Saturday evening was interrupted with a pick up from a pretty 22lb Mirror known as “Billy’s Scaley”. Simon fished with the same bait and tactics, but had a spot going at 18 wraps as well as 23.5 and this was the spot which gave him a bite on Tuesday morning. One of the 2018 Stockie’s gave him the confidence that he was fishing well; but needed a few more fish to be feeding to reap the benefit. Unfortunately, that was all the action they received; the big ones never fed hard.

It proved to be a frustrating week in the end, with the fish not feeding really hard, and the ones that were feeding appeared to be the smaller male ones. The annual shagging fest is just around the corner, and this is likely what is uppermost in their minds at present. It is only a matter of time before they really start feeding hard, and the Spring will be well behind us. The lads fished well this week, and even though a couple blanked, morale was high all week and as is usually the case, the week passed by far too quickly. 

It’s definitely time to unpack the shorts, flip flops and mankini as the temperatures are now climbing steadily. If you are coming out to see us in the next couple of months, don’t forget to pack the sun cream, after sun and mozi repellent. Until next time...

Tight Lines and Bonne Peche

Andy

Team Gigantica