Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 05/10/2019

DFs mates trip

It’s that time of year again when “The Gaffer” and his mates take over the main lake, the weather conditions were spot on with a full moon looming midweek, a big common was surely on the cards?

Denni “The bearded Italian Wonder” Di Rosa pulled out number 1 in the draw and wasted no time in choosing Co’s as his swim for the week.  Following on from the previous week he decided to fish all 3 rods at 27.5 R/L towards “The tits”, he baited straight away with 5kg of whole and chopped Mainline Link with some crushed maize run through the mix for good measure. Denni had only managed to get 2 rods on the spot after baiting up before he had his first take which turned out to be a fish called “Rowan” at 28lb, what a start! Another 10 spombs over the spot and a recast yielded another quick bite which turned out to be “The Vein” at 29lb (slowly getting bigger). Denni put another 2kg of his mix out after the 2^nd bite as the fish were clearly in the area and ravenous. A hectic night was on the horizon and by midday Sunday he had landed another 3 fish, the biggest being a 38lb common which goes by the name of “Parker”. This fish was stocked in October 2017 at 12lb, showing some serious weight gains. A different evening with the same result ended in another 3 fish landed with the pick of the bunch being a 26lb mirror named “Bubbles”. 48 hours passed with little action but Denni kept the bait going in consistently and nicked another bite on Wednesday morning in the shape of “Kemball” at 29lb. Deni’s rig choice for the week was a blowback rig with a Link bottom bait tipped with plastic I.B maize, shortly after the fish on Wednesday morning Deni had to return to the U.K and that was the end of his mad few days in Co’s!

Next up we have Steve “weed boat” French who fancied his chances at a big common that is known to reside in that area of the lake and choose The Beach for his weeks fishing. After a lead about he decided to fish all 3 rods at 25 wraps towards The Alamo. Being a very tidy solid bag angler, this is the tactic Steve decided to use fishing them over the top of scattering of 10mm krill boilies and sweetcorn. His first bite came late Saturday night in the shape of a 30lb 2oz common called “Ryans Riches”. Steve had a couple of days watching the water and not seeing a great deal until Tuesday when he landed a 20lb 2oz common and “Maddie” at 39lb 4oz. With a full moon due on Thursday night the boys almost talked the next fish onto the bank at dinner the night before. Dreams of the Immaculate which was well due out, became a reality for Mr French when he landed the monster of a common at a whopping 87lb 8oz. A new lake record eclipsing its weight from previous captures, putting on a staggering 7lb in 12months which for a fish of this size is absolutely extraordinary. Excitement from the lads and Steve when it was time to photograph this colossal creature was at an all-time high and just seeing this fish on the bank was an absolute pleasure, everybody was absolutely made up for Steve and sharing the buzz made it even more special. 

The Gaffer next and after a semi decent draw he ended up in Stink, DF decided to try something different for the first night and bait up his long spot but fish close in off of the bait for the first night with just a few offerings over each rod. This didn’t produce anything for the first night, so he put his rods out onto the baited spot at 27 towards Baxters. Baiting with pellet and a prototype Mainline bait he started off with 2kg and upped it to 3kg when he started getting bites, topping up with 10 midi spombs after each fish. Fishing 7 inch combi rigs with a size 4 wide gape and a Link bottom bait and plastic maize topper at the business end, DF had his first bite on Monday morning, landing a 22lb mirror which was followed up by “Baby Pawprint” at 30lb 8oz, “Sheldon” at 24lb 8oz, “Schmokin” at 27lb 12oz and a 25lb 8oz common on Tuesday morning, things were really starting to hot up and the fish were clearly feeding confidently on his baited spot. Wednesday morning came around and 3 more fish had been landed with the smallest being a 20lb common and the pick of the bunch being “Split Pec” at a top weight of 68lb 12oz and one DF has had on his hitlist since the first time he saw it, happy days! Pictures galore commenced and with a smiling gaffer everybody was happy. But he wasn’t done yet, Thursday came around and there was another “biggun” sulking in the sling. Baby Cluster was the prize spinning the scales round to 60lb 4oz and another new 60lber for the gallery! He also landed a 21lb 8oz common which capped off a great week for the Gaffer.

Russell “Rusty” Kent found himself pitched up in Big Southerly, following the bailiff’s advice he dropped straight onto the 25.5 wrap gravel hump just to the left of Alcatraz. Russ decided to fish 2 rods on the hump and one at the left-hand marker pole at 14.5 wraps. He managed 2 fish for the week but what a pair of fish to have in the photo album. Tuesday night after a slow take and a mega battle Russ slipped the net cord under an absolutely colossal mirror which ended up being the Queen of the lake “Fudgies” at 79lb 12oz, this was landed on a Scent from Hell pop up on a spinner rig presentation (one of fudgies favourite sweeties) fished over a bed of Royal Marine and pellet, everyone came to see this mega fish and the buzz was shared with DF on the buttons some mega shots and a nice toast at dinner that evening with some lovely champagne. Still buzzing from the previous capture the next night he landed the first 40lb stockie common with “La Boheme” at 41lb on the nose, that fell to a FM bottom bait fished on a combi rig. Both fish came from the 25.5 spot and Russ baited with 3-4kg a day and topped up after each fish.

After a few fishless days in Oblivion Andrew Gibbens dropped into Co’s point after Denni had to leave, continuing on the same spot that DDR was fishing it was quiet until the final night when he managed to land one of the lakes most sought after scaley bangers “Alcatraz” at 54lb 4oz! The fish was landed on a solid bag fished over a continuation of the bait that Denni was introducing at the beginning of the week.

Andy Reynolds fished in Baxters and helped himself to a cracking 30lb 2oz mirror called “Mr President” fishing at 23 wraps towards Alamo. Andy baited with chopped Manilla and maize fishing a Manilla wafter on a D-Rig over the top.

Chris “Evo” Evans dropped into Alcatraz and managed to nick a couple of fish fishing at 29 wraps halfway between Big Suv and Stink, baiting with Krill and fishing a 20mm Krill snowman over the top the biggest fish landed was “Trans Pretty One” at 26lb 8oz, Evo baited with 3-4kg a day.

Rich Holden plotted up in Pole Position for the week and landed “Mr Universe” at 29lb 12oz from a baited spot at 29 wraps towards The Stink. This fish was landed on a multi rig with a shellfish pop up which was fished over the top of a bed of oily boilies.

Billy “The Golfer” Hodkin fished Big Girls and winkled out a 2017 stockie known as “The Roach” fishing 21 wraps to the far margin, baiting with his favourite krill boilie and fishing a spinner rig over the top.

Neil Lunn fished Alamo and had one run during the week which right in the middle of cheese and wine night, resulting a small stockie common. Fishing close range over a bed of Link and pellet

This is the first mates trip that everybody has landed a fish which was a big buzz for everyone…also this is the first mates trip that DF hasn’t put the lake up for auction at the end of the week which was an even bigger buzz for us bailiffs!! Some mega mega captures this week with The Immaculate and Fudgies being the picks of the bunch, 2 60’s for DF left him a very happy man. It was a really enjoyable week had by all and we cannot wait for next year when the Gaffer turns the big 50!!

Until the next time,

Tight lines,

James