Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 26/03/2022

Sun cream and thermals in a week of strange weather!

After a tough week last week everybody was hoping the warmer weather conditions forecast would get the fish on the feed! With some first timers and some old faces on the lake it was time to get cracking!

First out the Draw was Brett Harvey who after a bit of deliberation, decided to continue the trend and drop into Big Girls! What a great choice this was as he ended up with 10 fish for the week up to 41lb 12oz! Brett baited heavily from the start with Trent Baits Shrimp, house pellet, corn and maize with some additional liquids and powders thrown in the mix! This seemed to keep the fish feeding all week as every morning apart from 1 there was a sling in the margin with a fish ready to be photographed. Brett baited from the far margin getting in his waders and scooping the feed out, fishing Slip-D Combi rigs with yellow shrimp wafters over the top snared the bites, concentrating 2 rod at 24 wraps either side of the X scaffold tubes one on the clean shallow water and one on a smooth silt patch in the deeper water… Notable captures for the week included “The Night Watchman” @ 41lb 120z which is a stockie that is rapidly putting on the weight! A beautiful original scaley in the shape of “Ryan’s Run” which also tipped the scales round to over 40lb! Brett didn’t get amongst any of the real bigguns this trip but fished it well and got some mega results! Well in mate

Next up we have Kiel who decided to drop into Co’s Point for the week. Fishing at 29 rod lengths towards the Tits. It soon became apparent that the fish infront of him weren’t feeding on the bottom. So, action stations on the solo zig rod were a go! Kiel worked his swim well all week chopping and changing colours and depths and direction depending on where the fish were showing! He ended the week with 11 fish landing some mega originals including “Epicano” at 38lb, “The Little Plated” at 41lb and “The Mosaic” at 37lb! Also included in his album this week was “The Pearly Linear” which is one serious slab of a carp, she tipped the scales round to 43lb 12oz and it wouldn’t surprise me if it went 50lb by next year! Kiel had most of his bites on Red Foam from mid water (14ft) all the way up to 22ft! The fish were definitely up in the layers this week, it can seem strange coming to France for a week and only fishing 1 rod, but Kiel proved that 1 rod in the correct spot can out fish 3 rods fished the wrong way! Well done geez.

Nathan “Bungle” Caen is up next, and he chose Alcatraz for his weeks fishing…after losing a fish on the first night he really got into it on Sunday and introduced a good slab of bait at 31.5 wraps towards the scary tree! This bait mix was like Brett’s, Trent baits Shrimp boilies, hemp, corn and various liquids. Fishing match the hatch bottom baits and yellow wafters on his 2 rods on the spot both of these produced bites on Monday morning when it kicked off a little bit in his swim, landing 3 fish off the deck in very quick succession up to 37lb 12oz, his zig rod then went off as well and he landed “The Bean” at 51lb 12oz!! Mega carp mega morning! I thought this would be the start of a big feeding spell around the lake in the deeper water, but this was not the case and was a short feeding spell. Nathan worked hard and tried to make it happen for the rest of the week, moving over to the Stink for a night as the fish were showing there, then moving back into Alcatraz for his last night he managed to snare a mid 20 common off the baited spot before he left! Well angled mate and good to see a few coming out over bait in the open water!

We have Kevin Fanning up next as he dropped into Bob’s Beach in pursuit of the elusive Imacculate common! Kev had waited 2 yeaers for this trip due to covid and it took until his Birthday on the Friday for the stars to align! Kev persisted with what he knows throughout the week fishing all 3 rods on a spot, but it was a no brainer later on in the week to switch a rod over to a zig with red foam after what had been caught throughout the week in other areas of the lake! A 16ft zig cast towards a showing fish came good an hour later when after a mega battle he managed to land “The Punisher” at 48lb 12oz which was a Birthday fish and a new Personal Best!! Everybody certainly enjoyed giving Kev a good old soaking after dinner on Friday night! Well done for sticking at it mate.

A special mention goes out to Main Lake regular Richard Wilkerson who has visited Gigantica a few times over recent years, he dropped back into Stock Pond which is a swim he has fished before. The fish were not happy feeding in the deeper water and on Thursday morning the fish were showing heavily off the end of the spit. Rich hasn’t fished zigs much before but after a bit of guidance from Steve the Bailiff he soon had a rig in the zone, it didn’t take long…30 minutes later a 27lb 4oz stockie was in the net and Riches first fish out of the Main Lake was bagged! What a result! This fish was not on our records, so it was aptly named “RoseHill” after Riches own fishery in the UK…Made up for you mate well done.

Bailiff Steve Bartlett dropped into the empty Pole Position for the week and fished a baited area at 28.5 wraps towards the stink and fished a zig just off the side of the bait all week. Constantly messing around with depths and colours he managed to land 2 originals in the shape of “Bucket Trick” and “Slate Grey” the later spinning the scales round to an impressive 54lb 4oz!! 

Last but by no means least we have Mark Harris who dropped into Big Southerly…. after a quiet week Mark decided to have a play around with a zig later in the session resulting in a 20lb Stockie…Saved a blank and took him round the houses in front of the swim getting snagged up close in, Steve came round with the boat to free the line and the fish was still attached! Happy days…well done mate!

Well, it was a week of two halves on the weather side with roasting sun at the beginning of the week and snow at the end! A mega group of lads keeping the laughs up and having some good old-fashioned banter around the lake…we finished the week on 29 fish landed with 10 of these being originals! Things are on the up and I’m looking forwards to what the next couple of weeks bring!

Until then,

Tight lines,

Steve

Until then, 

Tight lines,

Steve