Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 04/09/2021

Back with a BOOM, PB’s galore and a 10 year wait is over for “The Gaffer”………

Well I am sure you will have all seen the devastating news over the last few months of what has happened here at where dreams come true. It certainly has been a very upsetting and laborious task to deal with for the Team here at Gigantica so this week was an eagerly awaited one. We had the Annual Korda Social and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect as we had been observing the fish for weeks getting back into their regular routines and putting on some amazing displays. We are definitely past the worse now and we just wanted to see those amazing water babies all be it of a gigantean size grace anglers nets and get those cuddles. Weather wise it was hot HOT with high pressures with a mild easterly breeze until mid week when we saw a bit of wet stuff, and a change into a south westerly and a pressure drop. So basically it was over to the lads, there was 7 of them headed by “The Gaffer” himself and after a full walk round the draw was done and they headed off to their homes and swims for the week.

We start our tale in “The Alamo” where you may actually of heard of the gentleman set up here. Danny Fairbrass is quite a well known person in the carp fishing industry apparently, he has a little business that’s doing pretty well so I’m told :D. Jokes aside “The Gaffer” was more than happy when he was able to pick this famous peg and set about with the marker rod to decide and make a plan of attack for the week. Observing DF now a number of times you can just take for granted sometimes how many fish he can put on the bank but rest assured it is all worked for! Many a time he is last to go to bed but the first to rise, he misses nothing all over the lake and within a short period he has the right approach, method, baiting strategy and rigs in place to achieve his goals. On this occasion the spot in question was to be at 27 ½ wraps to the left of the big tree left of Beach. He deposited 6k of Mainline Fishmeal boilie and pellet on the spot and 2k a rod length past it. A regular rig attack for DF on the Main Lake has been a Combi Rig with 6 inches of 25lb Boom but now with a size 4 Korda Klaw added to it. It really is an aggressive rig, combined with a running lead clip arrangement and 14 inches of dark matter tubing it was all a recipe for success and success it was !!!!! It took 24 hours for the fish to start feeding on the spot but how about a 50lb Common to start it off!! “Lennys” was the first one to slip up and to a Link White Wafter soaked in white squid Goo. This hookbait choice accounted for many captures of the week and that white theme certainly replicated on the whole lake. There did become a time later in the week that DF switched over to match the hatch and this definitely accounted for a few more bonus fish. After that initial capture nothing else happened that day and after a sleepless night DF felt he needed to do something. In the early hours he decided to put out 10 more spombs of bait and you know what happened only a couple of hours later, yep a slow and steady big fish take saw him bend into something a little better. Now when I say a little better how does 27lb better sound and a new PB!!!!!! “The Giggler” lay there in the folds of the net and span the scales to 77lb. She looked in stunning condition and the look on Dans face as we headed into his swim to do photos and congratulate him on his new PB that he had held for 10 years was priceless!! Just because you’re “The Gaffa” doesn’t mean you escape the tradition of a soaking, but we decided to do it at the end of the week in front of the Gigantica sign!! Dan figured out that he needed to heavily bait up late in the afternoon to kick start the next days captures and that 10 spombs of that mega mix after every bite or occurrence kept the day time action going as the nights were quiet. The fish kept coming and many a time when doing photos his rods would scream into action resulting in multiple fish pics at once capturing some of the up and coming future monsters. We use the phrase Big Fish Thursday allot and its no surprise that Dan banked another monster on the Thursday in the form of “Pips” bending the bar to 68lb 12oz. Dan banked an incredible 32 fish and just goes to show regular baiting, accurate casting but most importantly putting in that extra effort will always bring you more fish. From all of us here congratulations on the PB, awesome session and we shall see you back in a couple of weeks for the Sales Summit!!!.............

From one famous swim to another, “Co’s Point” and who should be the resident in this swim this week? none other than a fellow northerner Carl Hoyle. I first met Carlos back when I worked at Wyreside back in England when we hosted an event with Pecky and Spooner so I was looking forward to seeing the limelight on him this week. Carlos fished to the “Tits” at 28 wraps to start the week deploying plenty of Mainline Link, Fibre and a Prototype boilie out, 7 kilos in total and that was about the same amount deployed daily throughout the week. It didn’t take long for the swim to kick into life as on the first morning at around 5am saw Carlos make the call that he had a beauty in the net. A fish name “Colin” was there to be held up for the cameras at a weight of 41lb, what a start!! When asked what the downfall was of this lovely mirror a bright little pot of homemade wafters came out from the bivvy smelling very fruity and when I say bright they were bright orange dumbells!! A knowing look on his face said that these have been doing very well for him back home and they had started there destruction on The “Main Lake”. It took till the next morning at a very similar time for the next take but yet again it was an original resident in the form of “The Grey Plated” at a weight of 46lb 4oz and what a fish, so far from a typical French fish with its big plated scales, that’s Gigantica for ya and why these creatures are so sought after. Rig of choice was a Spinner D Rig accompanied with a heli setup on safezone leaders, now I’ve not actually come across this style of rig before in action but I tell you what it will definitely be apart of my rig decisions in the future. The simplicity of it and the effectiveness was proved not just by Carlos, but also by Keith but we will visit him later on in this weeks little short story. Fish continued to trickle their way over the net chord and baiting after every fish seemed to do the business and not being shy with the bait either. Just before evening meal was a hot time which often saw him late for his tea but the bigger fish were eluding him. Yet again Big Fish Thursday held true to form when a call came at 2am waking me up from an awesome dream where I was playing with unicorns :D. “I’ve got one of them mirrors with a big belly” were words that greeted my tired ears, so off I trotted on the c**krider (my famously squeaky bike) with waders over my shoulders a light in one hand and the camera in my backpack. The following photo shoot I will remember for quite a while as it basically ended up with me falling in AGAIN, a fully submerged light and the camera at arms length staying dry whilst I half drowned. Carlos stayed composed throughout the entire ordeal with “Bigmac” in his arms at a weight of 42lb 8oz. Another original and another one that fell for the orange dumbells. In the daylight hours Carlos added another absolute belter to his tally in the form of “The Leney” at a weight of 43lb 12oz, what a fish, wait till you see this one! This was the last of the bigger ones but lots of action still came and “Sans Oeuf” was one of my favorite stockies at a weight of 31lb 12oz, all in all a thoroughly great time was had. See you next time for more fun and frolics pal and roll me some of those orange beauties!!..........

Now many of you that have had the pleasure of fishing here on either of our lakes, you will at some point have spoken to Mr Mike Isted who does an amazing job in the office arranging all the bookings and I think he needs a massive mention for what he has done in the last 18 months in regards to bookings during the “Covid Era”. It was an ever thankless task but you did amazing and trying to keep everybody happy must have been a very testing time!!!! Do you know what pal you deserved this week to relax and enjoy what “The Main Lake” can offer. Mike decided to fish in “The Stink” and chose to fish just at the back of where the weed finished as fish had been seen showing along this area weeks previous and Mikes plan was to ambush them whilst they were naturally feeding there. Depositing plenty of Mainline link with a good helping of hemp oil and deploying spinner rigs on a heli setup was the plan of attack using quite possibly the most buoyant popups I have ever seen. Little 11mm Proper Jobs Octopus and Squid white ones, they just defy gravity, how they needed any weight to hold them down I will never know but they did. Mike had 100% confidence in these little beauties and they got him off to a flying start with a stunning stocky named “Shmokin” at 33lb on the first night, night shots were done as it was 11pm and she was safely on her way. To get a bite so early is always a great feeling and gives you so much expectation but mike had to wait till Monday evening till the next bite in the form of a low 20lb stocky. The weather was blistering in the first half of the week and although in certain areas the fish were feeding on the bottom I believe that allot of fish were up in water and why most of Mikes bites came in the hours of darkness when it cooled down and they made their regular routine strolls. Whilst doing some night shots on the Wednesday night at a usual 11pm bite time for the lake I saw a light on in Stink. Sure enough shortly after finishing photographing another fish the call came. Its one of the massive stockies and it looks huge. Well……theres always that one that springs to mind when it comes to the big stockies and sure enough it was “The Dustbin” With all what the fish have been through these last few weeks one thing we were eagerly awaiting to find out was wether it had effected there weights. Well it certainly hadn’t affected “The Dustbin” as she tipped the scales to 53lb which is only 8oz shy of her top weight. It really is incredible seeing these stockies grow as with our intense fish stocking paperwork they can be tracked all the way back from their introduction.  A few more fish did grace the bank for mike the biggest being “Cornification” at 30lb 4oz, a hard weeks fishing in “The Stink” but it has such a reputation for turning out those big originals if its hit at the right time, your company was a pleasure MICHAEL and we look forward to seeing that HAIR on face time and hearing those essex tones on the phone……..

Across the pond we have the very comfortable swim that is “Pole Position” nicely situated next to the clubhouse with cold beers on tap and shade to sit in with the overhead fans a blowing. Now this week we had the pleasure of Ryan Shaw who started his trip fishing out to 28 wraps to the “W” Baiting attack was Mainline link and maize with garlic salt in the mix and deploying around 5k a day. Rigs of choice were the trusty Spinner Rigs with size 4 Korda Klaw and Link wafters, this was switched around with double SSM and also Banoffee wafters throughout the week. The first night started in great form when at around 11pm the call came that he had a good Common sulking in the sling. Now this one took some finding as it hadn’t been out in quite a while and had stacked some weight on. Aptly named “Tank” came in at 37lb 8oz and what a beauty she was. Very similar to how stink started and in likewise form the next night another clonker in the form of “Kool Carp” again this fish hadn’t been out in a long time and weighed in at 36lb on the nose, then after the initial couple of fish things slowed down and Ryan got itchy feet. A move was on and off he trotted to be found a few days later in “Baxters” where he finished out the rest of the week.  Fishing out at 22 wraps towards “Stink” and all 3 rods on the spot was the tactic. There were definitely fish out there and its here where the switch to Banoffee wafters drew about another couple of takes from some mid 20lbers. It was a pleasure to meet you pal and next time we will get the guitars out and do some dueting!!!!!..............

“Big Southerly” has a form for producing some stunning fish in the past but it can be a tricky little blighter and sometimes hit and miss. I think an award should be given to Dave Bendall for the most patience I have seen in a long while. Its so hard when you do everything right and still don’t get the rewards but hey, I suppose that’s why its called “fishing” and not “catching”. Fishing 1 rod to the snags to the left of the marker post at 12 wraps and 2 out to the drop off (hump) at 25 ½ wraps was the attack and to his credit he didn’t lose his head and start spreading bait around the swim when it wasn’t all going to plan. A mixture of Mainline Link, Fibre and Cell with pellet and maize doused in Baitworks C Stim was the mix that made up the initial 5k on the 25 ½ wrap spot with regular introductions daily. Dave was fishing another new style of rig that I had not seen in action before. A Combi slash D Rig with Royal Marine Wafters (my god they stink). All was very slow for most of the week but hope was there, and Dave definitely did not give up at any moment. He was finally rewarded on Friday morning with such a beautiful Common, she tipped the scales to 35lb 12oz, a fish named “Lone Survivor” and I couldn’t have been happier for him. We got some beautiful shots and the blank was saved! Well done mate I know you have a score to settle next time and I don’t doubt you will smash it then………

A swim that is a regular producer and definitely somewhere that we have seen plenty of action of late is “Alcatraz” and for this weeks stay we had Gino a.k.a “Gareth Radley”. Now to say Gino had a good week would be an understatement!!!!. Gino is a boilie man and when I say a boilie man he puts them in, like….ALLOT. To get the swim started he mixed the Mainline Link with pellet and maize then slowly but surely moved on to Link only as the week went on. On average Gino was putting out 8k a day now you would think someone putting that amount out must be catching a few, well……you would be right. It took 24 hours for the fish to get confident and then at 15.50 on Sunday a steady take from the 28 ½ wrap  spot to the wonky tree was away. Who would take “The Bean” at 49lb on the nose for the first fish on the first full day!!!!??? Topping up after every fish saw the bites trickle through on a regular basis. Gino was fishing link bottom baits tipped with milky malt white toppers soaked in garlic goo and the fish loved them. A standard Blow back style rig using Hybrid Stiff and shrink tube half way down the shank with the hair coming out was all that was needed to turn that hook instantly. Over the next few days Gino consistently banked some of the Main Lakes future beasts and one noticeable capture amongst them was an uncaught fish stocked in 2018 that tipped the scales to 32lb. Gino named her “Cosmos” as the starburst scales all over its tail were awesome. On Wednesday a gorgeous original common came to the party at 42lb 4oz, a fish named “Wrap Around” but Gino wasn’t done for the day!!!!!!After going on a pasty mission as I joked with him at 22.50 the call came that there was a LUMP in the net definitely a 50lber. On arrival into Traz and a big smiley Gino I inspected the net in the edge!!!! Its not the first time I’ve photographed this fish but she blows me away every time!!!!! After double checking 5 or 6 times in the dark there was no mistake!!! The queen of the lake was there!! “FUDGES” This fish is well in excess of 40 years old and is on many, many an anglers wish list. To top it all she was a PB too and when myself and James weighed her in the water she bent the bar to 76lb. She was a really good weight considering everything that has gone on this year. Massive congratulations mate we are all so happy for you. Gino carried on consistently catching from the spot which he spanned the three rods within a couple of rod lengths and another noticeable capture was “The Punisher” which is one scaly bugger at 47lb 8oz……..what a week and with 19 fish this man left one very happy camper, till next time my friend!!!.........

Here we go, one last angler to go, but hold on people this ones worth waiting for!!!!......”Bobs Beach” is where we conclude this weeks story and in here we have the extremely happy and I mean always happy Keith Rayment. Keith was an absolute pleasure to have and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him in his swim and chatting all things carpy and otherwise. The beauty with Beach is you do not have to fish too far out, sometimes people think you always need to fish really long distances when you come to Gigantica but for some swims you will miss some juicy areas if you do so. This side of the lake is slightly deeper than the rest, therefore there is more of a silty bottom to it. Hmmmm I wonder what lives in silt, you guessed it folks BLOODWORM and the carp go mad for it. It is no coincidence that beach always fishes better throughout the evening, this is when the oxygen in the water depletes and the bloodworm rise up in the silt to better oxygen levels. The carp know this of course and feed in gusto on them. Keith fished out at 22 wraps towards Stink with all 3 rods. About 7k initially of equal amounts of maize, hemp, pellet and Mainline link boilie was deposited on the spot. The same as in Co’s Keith adopted the Spinner D Rig but with white banoffee wafters as his hookbait of choice on a heli system on a safezone leader. Keith was first off the mark on the lake on the very first evening with an uncaught stocky that he named “Beach Life” at 24lb. The very next evening I got a call that there was a bit of a lump in the net, so off I rode on the bike with all the night time equipment to do photos and a very happy Keith met me with a big smile on his face. Once weighed this stunning original mirror came in at 40lb 4oz and after a few woop woops and high fives she posed for a few shots with her new man. Another small stocky the following evening was his rewards so more bait on the spot and fresh hookbaits for the following night and yet again as darkness fell the fish came alive. They really were homing in on that natural banquette of bloodworm and in turn were devouring all the freebies along with a lovely 18mm white banoffee wafter, this time though they made Keith wait till 5.30am but oh my “Woods Common” at 41lb 8oz was the prize, one of the bigger original stockies. On Wednesday evening though something special happened at 23.45 just before we could say its big fish Thursday the call came of a big old dark common that needed my attention. Not only was it a big old dark common, she was also a 51lb 4oz common, but not only that she was a PB!!!!!!! A fish called “Long Common” had made Keith’s dreams come true he couldn’t quite believe it and with a bit of instruction and teamwork we got her hoisted up in the water for the glory shots!! Oh and Ryan who was only next door in Baxter’s came to give Keith a good old Gigantica soaking just for good measure hahaha. He wasn’t done there though, cheated on not having caught her on big fish Thursday he actually went and landed yet another one the following evening. This old brute was a mirror this time and went 50lb 4oz!! a fish called “Up Front Mirror” So lets get this straight a 50lb common and a 50lb mirror in consecutive evenings!!!! Keith my man you are a legend !!!!!!! Another few smaller fish and Keiths trip was already made, what more could he possibly need to make his trip even better? Well……..to cap it all off one of our original scaly ones named “The Peach” came to play on the very last morning!!!! Wait till you see this one, weighing 47lb 8oz!!!!.....Keith you’re a legend and I cant wait till your return, keep that office organized and we can compare our list making skills again next time hahahaha…………

Well an amazing week back, the fish look amazing, fit and healthy and it has to be said HUNGRY, all the hard work over the last few months has paid off and we are now so happy that we get to open the gates again to all our guests. Massive congratulations to all the guys on this week, lots of laughs and lots of fish, just the way we like it.

Till next time guys n gals, tight lines, be lucky and bag a chunk.

Phil