Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 18/01/2020

Steve French has only gone and done it again…..Chunky Monkey time!

We had five anglers booked on for the week, but unfortunately the weatherman was indicating that the temperatures were not going to be as high as in previous weeks. A switch to a Northerly then Easterly wind was sure to have an effect on fish movements.

They say that “form is temporary, but class is permanent”. Steve French has proven that he is certainly a class act. He’s only went and did it again, landing another one of the Gigantica superbeasts!

Coming out second in the draw, Steve fancied a crack at one of the proven “big fish” swims and chose The Alamo to start the second week of his trip in. Battle commenced at 5am after only the first night, when he had a steady take and a heavy dogged fight. With thick fog on the lake, he was completely stunned when the huge ghostly apparition slid into the torch beam and he shuffled it into the net first time. 

As with all the big fish, Andy the Bailiff was summoned and together they both stood staring at the colossal carp squeezed into the landing net. Andy ID’d the fish as “Chunky” but it looked a fair bit bigger than its last capture. The dial on the scales span round to 82lb 8oz which makes it an incredible five different eighties now in the Main Lake. 

Steve used identical solid bag tactics that tamed “Robert’s Fish” the previous week. He introduced 30 medium Spombs of boilie crumb, 10mm boilies and corn to a spot at 27 wraps towards Baxter’s Hole. 

Steve is now in a very exclusive club. There aren’t many anglers with eighty pound carp in their albums, but to have a seventy and an eighty.....in January is completely unbelievable. Congratulations Steve, we reckon you should be in with a crack at a #winterhero mug which you’re desperate to get.

Andy the Bailiff took the chance to have a go in Bob’s Beach and having fished in Baxter’s the previous week, on a rarely fished spot; he planned to fish the Beach in an area that has seen plenty of bait throughout the course of the year. 21 wraps towards The Alamo with all three rods was the chosen area. Andy rarely splits the rods in the winter, opting to keep all the bait in one area. Bait for the week was just sweetcorn, straight out of the tin with no additives. 

Having had all his fish in recent weeks on two grains of Korda IB Slow Sinking Maize, he continued in the same vein. Terminal gear wise, nothing really changes for Andy; he used his favourite 5oz running COG leads with 7” Spinner Rigs incorporating a stiff Titanium Boom and a Size 4 Kamakura Krank hook.

He set off with 10 medium Spombs of corn on Saturday afternoon and had an aborted take on Saturday evening. Nothing else occurred, which indicated that the spot had been cleaned out. Upping the bait quota to 20 Spombs on Sunday had the desired effect and in the early hours of Monday morning he landed himself a brace of 40’s.

The cracking duo comprised of a 43lb Common known as “Rob's Rig” and a previously uncaught Mirror of 40lb 8oz. Both were new fish which we have grown and introduced in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The new fish are piling on the pounds and both these fish have averaged over 1lb per month since we introduced them!

The weather wasn’t ideal for the week, and after the temperatures dropped on Tuesday, things got a bit tricky. That said; we’ve had two eighties landed in the last three weeks! The boys who pack away their kit for the winter haven’t got a clue what their missing. 

Until next time, 

Tight Lines and Bonne Peche

Andy

Team Gigantica