Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 28/12/2019

Happy New Year from Gigantica

It was a week for celebrations with the New Year coming halfway through the week, with a couple of new faces and some familiar ones everybody was hoping for a bite or two… The weather was showing that it would be fairly mild with southerly winds and moderate temperatures. There was sure to be a bite or two on the cards.

Adrian “Buzz” Burrett was on his second trip of the Winter and having had a good draw, did not hesitate in dropping into Co’s Point. Following on from Steve the previous week, he fished his rods at 28 wraps towards the “Tits”. He fished with Spinner Rigs and two grains of IB Slow Sinking Maize at the business end. Buzz baited up on day one with 20 Spombs of hemp, sweetcorn, crumbed Mainline Cell and Essential Cell. It didn’t take long for the fish to move onto the baited area, and he started picking off the fish steadily, averaging an incredible seven bites each day!

They key to success was getting the baiting strategy correct and fishing tidy. We regularly see people spreading the bait all over with inaccurate Spombing. Buzz took two thirds of a rod length off the Spomb rod to allow for the fall of the lead in the deep water (another thing that some anglers get wrong) and hit the clip every time. It is getting the small things right that really make the big difference.

After catching quite a few of the recently stocked fish during Saturday and Sunday, Buzz experienced a feeding window where he picked up a better average size. On Monday he helped himself to a previously uncaught 2017 Stockie at 37lb 8oz, “The Teacher” at 34lb 4oz and “The Exclusive at 34lb”. He topped them off with “The Upfront Mirror” at a new biggest weight of 51lb. Not bad for a day’s work!

After each bite Buzz was rebaiting with twelve more Spombs and getting the rod straight back out on the spot. Basically, being as efficient as he could be to keep the bites coming. At certain times he had them taking the bait on the drop and had the rod pulled out of his hands on two occasions. All in-all it was an amazing end to the year, good angling Buzz.

Steve the Bailiff had his Mum, Dad and sister out for the week to see in the New Year with him. He decided to fish the week in Pole Position and used the same hemp and sweetcorn mix that was successful in Co’s Point during Christmas. The bites this winter have not been coming at super long range, so Steve chose to fish at 28 wraps towards The Stink with all three rods. A tactical change on the terminal tackle saw a switch over to Solid PVA bags, which is another proven winter catching method at Gigantica. It only took a few hours for the fish to turn up on the baited area and Steve landed an absolute corker of a Mirror in the shape of “Squeaky Clean” at 32lb. With another petty double at 11pm on New Year’s Eve, it capped off a great year…Let’s hope 2020 brings some more lumps! 

Well with 2019 coming to a close and records being broken left right and centre, the fishing is only going to get better and better in 2020! The fish are getting massive, the bites are coming thick and fast and we cannot wait to see what next year brings! From all of us here at Gigantica we thank you for your custom in 2019 and cannot wait to see you all on the banks in 2020!

Until then,

Tight lines,

James

Team Gigantica