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Bailiff Comments
Week Commencing: Sat 07/09/2019
Pip Pip Hooray……September is finally here; the month where everyone wants to be on the Main Lake. The fish are recovering the weight they lost during spawning and are pretty ravenous. This week we had twelve eager anglers ready to clump them. Only one of the anglers had never fished the lake before, so everyone was keen to get going. The weather conditions were looking good for the first couple of days, then the air pressure was set to climb up to 1030 which wasn’t ideal.
Dale “Dee” Diamond drew well and chose to go into The Stink; a swim he hadn’t fished before, but given its big fish credentials, he was always going to be in with a chance of a chunk. He chose to fish two rods towards Baxter’s at 26 wraps and one at 16 towards the corner of Treeline. He baited up each day with 8kg of Mainline Link mixed 50/50 with maize at the long spot and thirty Spombs at the 16 wrap spot. In the early hours of Sunday morning he rang to say he had landed a good fish from the shorter-range spot, which he thought was over sixty pounds. Dee’s estimation proved to be correct when “Pip’s” tipped the scales round to 66lb and gave him his second PB in as many trips. Running COG leads and IQ D-Rigs baited with Link Wafters and Yellow Toppers did the job. He went on to land another four fish, the best being the “Pearly Linear” at 38lb. Top angling as usual from Mr Diamond.
Roy “Roger” Prodger had his best ever draw and secured The Alamo for the week. He was in his element and went straight back out to the productive 29 wrap spot towards the Beach with all three rods. He baited with Mainline Link mixed 70/30 with hemp and maize and started off with 10kg to get things going. Shortly after getting the rods out on Saturday he landed a pretty thirty pounder which just goes to demonstrate how much bait the fish can get through! The fish fell for a Link Snowman using a Milky Toffee topper on a simple Combi-Rig with running COG leads. A couple of frustrating days then ensued for Roy, with some funny takes, and a dropped fish, but he stuck to his guns and on Thursday things came really good, when he landed a proper chunk; the “Spotty Leather” at 60lb. Mission accomplished, he kept on going and helped himself to “Digits” at 54lb just before packing up on Saturday morning. Roy finished the week with four fish, with two absolute chunks amongst them.
Tobias Ward took advantage of a last-minute cancellation and stayed on for another week. He pulled out ball number one and duly set up in Bob’s Beach....how’s your luck! Going back out to the productive 22 wrap area towards Alamo, Tobias used Mainline Link mixed 50/50 with hemp and maize. He put out 8-10kg each day with the Spomb and started fishing the week using the German Rig baited with Royal Marine Pop-Ups. He endured a couple of nights with the fish showing all over the area, but a bite didn’t materialise. On Monday he got the first bite to take the pressure off, with “Wrap Around” at 42lb 8oz. It’s uncanny that the Beach produces a brilliant average size of fish. Tobias made a couple of rig tweaks during the week, switching to a snowman hookbait and landed himself another three fish; with “Scratches” at 49lb being the pick of the bunch.
Richard “Tiny” Welling chose Stock Pond, and having been away for a couple of years, followed the advice of Andy the Bailiff and went out to the far corner at 22 and 23 wraps, with a shorter spot at 9.25 wraps. He baited with chopped and whole Mainline Cell, Royal Marine and Gigantica particle; starting off with 5kg, but then upping it to 8kg per day. IQ D-Rigs baited with two grains of IB Slow Sinking Maize we’re put out to the chosen spots. At 9pm on Saturday he was straight into action as the fish drifted into the area and a nice twenty got his confidence levels up. There is no accounting for what picks up the hookbait, but Tiny seemed to be stuck on twenty pounders for the week. Testament to the fact that the bites kept coming every night, he ended the week on six fish, but unfortunately none of the big girls paid a visit.
Terry Gorbutt was on his first trip to Gigantica and settled on Oblivion for the week. Initially he chose to fish towards the big tree left of Beach at 26 wraps with all three rods. DNA Baits S7 was the chosen bait and he mixed it with hemp and maize as so much of it was being passed by the fish. Baiting with 8kg per day, it only took until mid-morning on Sunday to get his first bite. The fish turned out to be a previously uncaught 36lb 12oz two-tone Common which Terry chose to name “Borris the Barsteward”. Seeing a lot of fish showing at the same range, but further to the left he moved one of the rods across and in line with Baxter’s at 26 wraps and caught himself a 20lb Common the next morning. Terry went on to land another two fish, ending with four for the week. All the fish fell for S7 Wafters fished on IQ D-Rigs with running COG leads.
Rowan Hill went into Alcatraz and continued on the 27.5 wrap spot left of Stink which has been really consistent this year. With ten fish coming from there the previous week we hoped the consistent action would continue. Mainline Link and Essential Cell mixed with a smattering of hemp was put out with the Spomb at a rate of 8kg per day. After a frustrating couple of days Rowan finally got off the mark with a banging scaley twenty pounder which had been caught from the Alamo the previous week. He then experienced another quiet spell before landing two more fish on Thursday and Friday. The best being “Stargazer” at 31lb 12oz. All the fish fell for IQ D-Rigs baited with matching Wafters and a running lead set up. In a pattern that we have witnessed before, we believe that Pole Position being fished at long range effects the transit of the fish into Alcatraz; particularly with Northerly winds, like we had during the week.
Ryan Mullins was next door in Pole Position and it would be fair to say he had a bit of a nightmare start, when he broke a Spod Rod and experienced a couple of crack-offs with the Spomb. He had chosen to fish at 32 wraps towards The Stink and used Dynamite Baits Complex-T mixed with hemp and maize. He managed to get around 5kg out on Saturday and was rewarded on Sunday morning with two bites. The best being one of the 2017 fish named “Parker” at 33lb (these fish are seriously putting on the weight now). He fell for a Complex-T Wafter fished on an IQ D-Rig and the Korda Heli-Safe system. Unfortunately for Ryan those turned out to be the only bites of the week. Being the tidy angler he is; he’s sure to get amongst them on his next trip.
After his great result in Alamo the previous week, Chris Clarke chose to go in Baxter’s. We think the lure of the Immaculate Common (which has come from the area at this time of year) went some way to convince him to give it a go. He went out to 21 wraps at the Stink with two rods and fish one to the right hand corner at 9 wraps. Baiting with Sticky Krill, Royal Marine mixed with maize and hemp 50/50 he put out 8kg to the 21 wrap area and 5kg into the corner. Sunday morning saw his first fish which was a pretty mid-twenty Mirror that he named “Bubbles”. Over the next two days, he had repeat performances with a bite off the 21 wrap spot each morning. The fish drifted out of the area on Wednesday and unfortunately that was the end of Chris’ action. Running COG leads with Royal Marine Wafters on IQ D-Rigs got the bites on this occasion.
Andy Phillips went into Co’s Point for the week. He chose to fish at 26 wraps towards the Tits with two rods and fished the back of Scottie’s weedbed with the other. He baited with 6kg of boilie mixed with maize and fished Wafters over the top. Despite fish showing on him, a bite didn’t materialise and it was a quiet few days. On Tuesday night Andy had a funny take which resulted in him landing a fish which was towing line from a cracked off rig. The tail rubber had been pushed so hard onto the leadclip that it was never coming off. Luckily the rig was removed and the fish swam off to fight another day. It took until Friday, before Andy had another chance, this time he successfully landed a 35lb 8oz Common known as “Rusty’s Revenge”.
Mark started off his week in Scottie’s Corner for two nights, then moved round to the Treeline swim for the remainder of the week. He fished his rods at 21 wraps and baited a wide area with boilies using the throwing stick, hoping that the fish would hang around longer and give him more bites. Like Andy in Co’s there were fish in the area, but he didn’t manage to get any bites until Friday when he landed a nice 31lb Mirror known as “Little Kicker”.
Dean Cullen fancied his chances in Big Southerly for the week. Well, we say the week, but he had to leave the lake on Thursday evening as he was getting a lift home with Andy the Bailiff (more of that later). He set his stall out fishing two rods at 25.5 wraps on the little hard hump left of Alcatraz and one rod to the left marker pole at 13.5 wraps. He baited with Mainline Link mixed with maize and fished Mainline Link Wafters with yellow toppers over the top. At 3am on Wednesday morning he got his first bite from a pretty mid-twenty Common which gave him confidence that the plan was working. A repeat performance on Thursday saw him land a much better fish in the shape of “The Leather” at 47lb 8oz. A truly stunning long leather carp which made him one happy bunny. As mentioned earlier, Dean had to leave for home, so Kierren Waters (who is helping out for the summer) dropped in for a couple of nights.
Kierren dropped onto the spots which Dean had fished and topped up the bait. In the two nights he was in there, the fish moved in in numbers and he reaped the rewards with three cracking fish. Firstly, on Thursday night he landed Buzz’s Half Linear at 41lb 8oz and on Friday night had a brace consisting of “Scale Perfect” at 46lb 8oz and “Pierre Cardin” at 61lb! How’s your luck Kierren....
It was a really enjoyable week with a couple of big fish feeding windows thrown in for good measure. The tally at the end of the week was thirty eight fish caught, including three over sixty and with only one angler failing to get a bite it was a good week overall. It won’t be long before the leaves start dropping and the nights start closing in. Autumn is waiting in the wings along with some of the superbeasts. Until next time......
Tight Lines and Bonne Peche
Andy
Team Gigantica