Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 01/06/2024

Mozzy Mania

With the Mozzy’s seeming to be the main thing on the feed this week it seemed from the off it was going to be tricky fishing however a few good fish were still banked from around the lake including one stand out capture.

Kicking things off we have David Westwood who picked to fish in Tree Line, with hot weather moving in he felt that it was only a matter of time before the fish arrive in his swim and they he just had to make the most of it when they did. The week started off slow for David with little to no signs of fish in the swim David used this time to find his spots and prepare for when they arrive. David tried several different areas from straight out in open water to several areas on the Tree line but settled for 19 wraps to the middle hole in the trees as it was an area he could fish with ease and accurately keep the bait trickling in to try and snare one of the fish patrolling underneath the shelf, this spot is the spot that produced all 3 of David’s fish within quick succession.  The real pick of the bunch of David’s fish came in the name of Fred weighing 64lb on the nose, Fred is one of the most sought after carp in Gigantica let alone Main Lake, aswell as that it smashed Davids PB by a whopping 24lb which meant David was unfortunately the only angler that week to be on the sign for the soaking. David used the simple tactics of just putting a spread of Boilies along the area he was fishing and using a bright pink wafter hookbait to stand out and hopefully get a quicker bite as the fish rolled in. The first fish David actually caught from this spot was an elusive fish known as Red Belly a nice old original that weighed 33lb 2oz coming from the same spot and the same tactics which caught Fred. The last fish from David’s captures was a 14lb 12oz stocky, all of David’s fish were actually caught within the same day so his premonition of having to make the most of it when they arrived as he felt they may push out again once he caught a couple came true, but he definitely didn’t mind as in many ways he had the fish of a lifetime and was definitely happy with his captures for the week.

Next off we have Gavin fuller who fished in Stock Pond due to the fact we all knew it was possibly going to be a tricky week with the fish clearly getting close to spawning and he felt no matter what Stock Pond would serve him a good chance of a capture or two even on a slow week. Stock Pond has been doing steady numbers of fish throughout the year but not necessarily throwing up the bigger fish, but there is still always the potential. Gavin’s approach to the swim was to fish two rods in different areas along the try line, with one being in the closest corner to the lodge at around 9 wraps where fish had clearly been showing, the other rod along the tree line was fished to one of  the holes in the trees at 17.5 wraps as to both of these spots he could walk between main lake and the stock pond to bait up from gaps in the trees rather than spomb over the top of the fish and possibly spook them out. However Gavin’s most notable fish actually came from a 22ft zig fished with black foam and a red aligner, the decision for the zig was made quite late on in the week as Darrell Peck made a quick stop at Main lake for the evening to which he took his drone for a quick spin just to see if he could spot any fish for a bit of fun, to say he found them in the area in front of Stock Pond was an understatement, the drone footage showed anything up to a few hundred carp clearly up in the layers out in front of Stock Pond, so Gavin quickly put on a zig and got it out in the zone, this clearly worked as within five minutes Gavin had hooked into what turned out to be his largest fish of the trip at 43lb 4oz a fish called Half Moon Scale. Like David Gavin also landed 3 fish this week with the other two coming from the right hand margin fished towards the first hole in the trees at Nine wraps, using a yellow wafter hookbait and steadily feeding a mix of maize and pellet he managed 5 bites overall with two lost all from this margin spot so the baiting approach was definitely working, the next fish down from Half Moon Scale was a fish called Apostrophe which weighed in at 32lb 8oz followed by a slightly smaller fish at 21lb 12oz which Gavin happily got to name Milky Nuts, naming a fish was something Gavin mentioned to me early on that he would love to do, so I’m  glad he got to do. 

Greg Jones fished Co’s Point as it’s a swim that the week previous it produced 3 fish to 65lb and it’s a swim that commands a central part of the lake which is where the fish were showing during the walk round Saturday morning. Unfortunately the swim proved to be slightly trickier this week, however Greg was still over the moon to actually be the first person of the week to catch and also by catching a lovely looking, 36lb original called Bite Mark, Greg caught Bite Mark by doing something unusual in Co’s early on and by fishing a rod at 13 wraps using a snowman topped with a Pineapple topper to catch the fish’s eye and make his bait that bit more visible and using a mix of the House Pellet, Maize and Hemp as free bait to attract the fish.

I fished in Pole Position this week, I found a spot at 28 wraps to the reeds to the righthand side of The Stink, it was a clear spot that was just past and bed of Onion Weed, I fished three Spinner Rigs on Korda Dark Matter Heli Leaders, My rigs consisted off about 4 inches of 25lb Boom with a Size 4 Kurv Shank. I started off by putting around 5kg of a mix of House Maize, House Hemp and the House Pellet using a mix of various different fishy oils and liquids to boost attraction. With no bites for most of the week I kept baiting to little and often from then on, with nothing happening on the bottom for me I joined Gavin in Stock Pond by putting a 22ft zig on at the same time unfortunately mine happened at that time for me. Gratefully on my last morning my middle rod rattled of catching me a 31lb 4oz Original called Yorkie, that morning the fish were clearly over me in large numbers but the wind was up slightly so I reeled my zig in and changed it to 20ft with a bit of black foam as the hookbait which within 40 minutes of getting it out there I was rewarded with a 22lb Mirror which I was definitely grateful for. 

Lastly we have the two ‘Big’ swims Big Southerly fished by Steve Harrison and Big Girls fished by Jamie Glenn. Although the Mosquitos have been savage all over the lake they were particularly bad over this half of the lake and the Boys fishing that side of the lake did very well to not lose their heads on a tricky week fishing wise but also a terrible week for the Mozzies. Both these swims produced One fish each for the week and both quite early in the week also. Steve managed the Duplicate at 30lb fairly close in in front of him. Jamie fished 26 Wraps to the right hand side of the point to land himself Courtney at 26.9lb.

All in all it was a hard week all round but for the anglers having to sit through the relentless waves of Mosquitos as I know it did get a bit much towards the end, with the smell of citronella and Repellent overpowering the smell of bait it was obvious it was a struggle for everyone. 

Until Next Time 

Rob