Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 01/08/2020

With things starting to get a little more settled after the lockdown regular visitor Roy Prodger was back at Gigantica, with a lake exclusive booked and the majority being Main lake’ veterans, the expectations were high, and they didn’t disappoint. The fish didn’t disappoint either on the walk around, with activity all over the lake including some of the big girls tucked up in the corner swims and with the weed bed in Scotties corner holding a few of them. I really don’t think it would of mattered were you come out in the draw this week everyone was in with a shout. The weather was looking good for the week too with the temperatures dropping a little compared to the previous week and the pressure staying settled around 1015 and even a chance of a drop of rain or two…..

Starting off with the main man himself Roy Prodger with a little bit of a wobble after the draw Roy finally settled into Pole Position and with the 28 spot still producing fish on a regular basis he waisted no time on dropping straight back on it introducing 5kg of bait on the Saturday night the fish started showing as soon as the spom started hitting the water. Roy fished a snowman on a Blowback rig and played about with different colours until settling on pink and yellows after picking up two stockies and a 30lb mirror called Slaphead early on the Sunday evening he was defiantly on the fish and his approach was working well. He followed this up with Chunkums at 32lb 8oz and a couple more of the new 2019 stockies the best was yet to come with an welcome early morning wakeup call on the Thursday of a possible 70 in the net later to be identified as Ziggy Stardust at 71lb 8oz a new PB and putting him in the lead for the most fish for the week but possibly the biggest too unless someone was going to pull something special out of the bag last knockings…

Gordon Harman fishing Bob’s Beach after coming out high in the draw he did exactly as I advised on the walk around and choose a swim that suited his fishing style even with the temptation of all the big open water swims still available. The move paid off with a lovely 43lb 8oz Common known as The Strauss Family Common in the net first light on the monday morning things were definitely looking good for Gordon in the coming week. With all three rods fished at 20 wraps towards The Stink he baited up with a mix of Essential Cell and Maize putting out around 5-6kg per day and an extra 2kg after each bite to keep the fish in the arear. His rig of choice was a simple blowback rig tipped with an essential cell wafter Gordon managed get amongst them landing six fish for the week including Lashes at 39lb 2oz and 2c’s just short of the magic 50lb mark at 49lb 8oz.

Ryan Mullings fished Alcatraz for the week he wasn’t at the top of his game suffering with a bad back, but he managed to get the bait out to 28 wraps and with a little help from his mates he managed to bag a few too with a couple of smaller fish under his belt by mid-week and as the week progressed he was getting more bait out on the spot and the bigger fish were starting to move in landing himself Snags linear on the Tuesday morning at 50lb on the button. Ryan landed 6 fish during the week all falling to a bed of Complex T and a mix of Maize and hemp which he fished over with a snowman presented on a blowback rig 

Jon Stuart fished Co’s Point it was Jon’s first visit to the big G and after getting back on the bank after a few years away from carp fishing it took a little while for Jon to get settled in after a few teething problems with line and spodding we soon had him fishing like a pro getting the bait out to 28 wraps to a well-established feeding spot aiming for the tits. it didn’t take long for the action to start with a small stockie in the net on the Sunday morning falling to a spinner rig tipped with three grains of plastic IB Maize and with the baiting and rigs working his confidence began to grow and so did the size of the fish with the next one a stunning looking common known as Wrap Around at 38lb on the Tuesday evening and no sooner than he had got the rods back out and started to spom another 2kg of bait over the top the same rod was off again this time it meant business wiping out the other two rods on the way in causing absolute havoc but well worth it with a mint looking mirror in the shape of Gollum’s at 39lb with another couple of smaller stockies landed of the spot in the week his next big bite came in the early hours of Friday morning this time it was one of the super stockies Dustbin at 42lb a pure eating machine and looking every bit of 42lb.

Martin Langham fished The Alamo with all three rods fished at 25 wraps towards the big tree left of beach on a area that transitions between the gravel to silt just before a short weed bed a perfect patrol rout for the carp Martin was fishing plastic IB Maize over a bed of maize and boilie his first bite came in the shape of one of last years stockings at 19lb then came the Harte wrenching moment of losing one at the net and it was definitely one of the big girls easing the pain slightly he went on to land one of the best looking super stockies The pearly linear at an impressive 41lb 8oz.   

Lee Prodger fished Big Southerly settling on a spot at 22 wraps towards Alcatraz and one rod on the marker pole at 14.5 wraps he baited both with a mix of Maize and boilie the short spot was the first to produce with one of the small originals in the shape of Frenchie at 25lb he then followed this up with one of the new 2019 stockies from the same spot his next bite came from the long spot in the shape of woods common at 36lb all three fish falling to three pieces of plastic IB maize presented on as spinner rig.

Mat Shepperd fished Big Girls this was Mat’s second trip to Gigantic with his first trip being in Co’s straight after DF’s big winter hit he was certainly put under pressure to perform this time was a little more laid back with his dad Murv joining him for a bit of a social he still kept the work rate up though with 10kg of bait out on the Saturday night this time it was a little easier baiting by hand at the 21 wrap spot by the inlet from the stock pond the strategy paid off with three fish in the net by mid-morning on the Sunday the Trans Pretty One being the pic of the bunch at 32lb. with a change in the weather conditions and the fish moving out into the open water dried up and he was made to wait until the Friday morning for his next chance this time it was another one of the originals partial Eclipse at 34lb gracing the net falling to plastic Maize fished over a large bed of Maize.

Mick Everingham fished The Tree line with two rods fished into the margin at 21 wraps and his third rod into open water at 20 wraps towards stink it was his open water rod that started seeing the action first with a small stockie on the first night falling to a cell wafter but with the baited arear in the margin being cleaned every night but no action on the rods something needed tweaking and with the rods placed a little closer to the bank he started picking up bites off the margin spots with two stockies picked up within minutes of each other  but his best bite of the week came from a zig cast out after Phil had dropped off the lunch rolls he noticed a large number of fish out in the open water between beach and tree line so quickly peddled his way back to mick and suggested putting a 21ft zig on top of them and before he had got back to the lodge id had a phone call of a possible 50 in the net in fact it was one of the scaly beauties known as equalled at 44lb 4oz putting Mick on 4 fish for the week.

Garry Prodger dropped into Baxters Hole and with all three rods fished tight together at 20 wraps towards The Stink he kicked off his account with Baby Eclipse at 23lb 2oz he backed this up with another of the smaller stockies at 22lb 4oz unfortunately the fish just didn’t turn up in numbers with the change in weather and wind direction working against him.

Paul Clack fished Scotties corner and with the weed bed holding fish in numbers over the past few weeks it was looking promising. Paul fished one rod into open water on the left-hand side of the swim at 10 wraps his middle rod was fished with a small solid bag to the edge of the weed bed and his third was fished to the spot of the far margin at 8.5 wraps he baited all three spots with Maize and a sprinkling of boilies he also rested the swim during the days to allow the fish to move in and feed confidently. Despite the fish turning up most evenings his first opportunity didn’t come until Friday lunchtime, but it just wasn’t his time after losing it at the net after a short battle luckily, he didn’t have to wait long for his second chance landing himself a nice and very welcome 33lb mirror.

What a great week and a mega bunch of guys cant wait until next time…..

Until then tight lines James