Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 29/06/2024

English Bacon

Post spawn and good weather means it was time for the Main Lake to really switch on, and it certainly did, with over 80 fish out for the week from all over the lake it was definitely a week the anglers enjoyed and definitely made the most of.

Kicking things off we have Stuart Brookes who began the week in Baxters Hole, but after his first night moved to Scotties Corner as there were visible signs of fish in this corner and Stuart felt he had more chance of a bite, not only this but there definitely some big fish milling around so he felt confident he could winkle one out. Stuart began his time in Scotties by fishing around three to four wraps out in an attempt to not spook out the carp that were already in the swim, this did work for Stuart in terms of getting bites, however it seemed to be producing the smaller fish with his first three fish being all under the twenty pound mark. Stuart made the decision to risk spooking the fish in the weed bed ahead of him under Co’s Tree, Stuart fished 17.5 wraps just to the left of the Reed bed and his fortunes quickly changed, Stuart went from fish under twenty to a real dream carp for anyone, Stuarts largest of the week was an incredibly sought after fish and one of Gigantica’s real A team, Pips. Pips absolutely smashed Stuarts current PB taking him flying into the 70’s Club at 74lb. Stuart fished a Viper rig with subtle baiting of small amounts of Boilie, House Pellet and House Maize, Staurt managed 9 fish across the week including 4 thirties up to 39lb a fish called Carlos, these fish all together meant that Stuart couldn’t quite how well his week at Gigantica went, he always had high expectations but I don’t think he quite believed he would ever finish the week with the prize he did and the move was definitely worth making. 

Next up we have Big Southerly fished by Jez Westgarth who made the trip with Stuart previously mentioned. Jez a Gigantica regular had his decision made nice and early in the week to fish relatively short range as on the Walkround and once Jez had set up there were obvious signs of fish around the 14 to 18 wrap range which is always going to be nice easy fishing so he was happy to give it a go at that distance. Jez managed to find a nice clear spot around the 16 wrap mark to which he fed a steady stream of bait going in not over loading it at any one time. Early on in the week Jez managed a real whacker of a fish, I got the call from Stuart to say that Jez had been playing a fish for over 40 minutes and that he possibly needed help from the boat, I quickly hopped in and got over to him hoping that some pressure from a different angle would release the fish from the weed. Once I got above the fish I clearly see it was a unit, and with a nervous Jez on the bank asking if it’s a gooden which he clearly had suspicions of I prayed that everything went well during this hairy moment, after around 10 minutes and a few different attempts the fish came clear of the weed and Jez was able to have one last battle with it before slipping it over the net cord, to his and also my delight Jez clearly had a unit in the net, this fish turned out to be Danish Bacon weighing in at 66lb 12oz, another one of the lakes most wanted Mirrors. Jez finished the week on 7 fish landed including  a 43lb 1oz Common by the name of Tank and the rest of the fish being made up of a mixture of doubles twenties and thirties. The two friends Jez and Stuart definitely went home not quite believing what they had each pulled off and not surprisingly both absolutely over the moon and quite rightly so. 

Another one of the weeks units fell to Aaron Metcalfe who fished in The Stink, similar to what Jez was seeing in Big Southerly Aaron noticed fish relatively short range and found a lovely clear area at around 18 wraps out in front of him, Aaron decided to fish Solid bags with two pieces of Korda’s yellow pop up Maize as the hook bait, to compliment his PVA bags Aaron decided to bait quite heavily with Gigantica’s House Pellet , across the week Aaron had spombed out around 100kg of Pellet but he was able to do this as he was receiving regular bites throughout the week, Aaron finished the week with a total of 17 fish including The Furious Common at 57lb 12oz, this being Aarons largest of the week, amongst the rest of his captures Aaron managed 2 forties a thirty and many twenties to keep him busy throughout the week, twin this with the mount of spombing he was doing its safe to say he didn’t have the most relaxing week, but that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. 

Next we have Myself, I started fishing in Baxters Hole after Stuart moved to Scotties and free’d up the swim, I fished the two holes in the right hand margin. I fished 11 wraps to the first hole so that I was at the bottom of the shelf and the second hole at 13 and a quarter wraps again so my bait was at the bottom of the marginal shelf, I went round with a mix of House Pellet, Maize and Boilie and various liquids and spooned around a kilo over each spot but make sure it was fairly spread out across each area, I finished the week with a total of 4 fish from 4 nights with the best being a fish called the Terminator at 48lb 8oz, the other three fish being low twenties. The approach I took was using small 1.5oz leads to create as little disturbance as I could and used simple knotless knot rigs without fished on a lead clip with PVA sticks with crushed boilie inside as I felt I could get these into the holes a lot quieter than if I was using solid bags but then still had the added attraction around my hookbait. 

Then we have John Bentley who fished Co’s Point, like Aaron in Stink and Jez in Big Suv, the fish were clearly in short in front of Co’s so John decided to target them at around 18 wraps, John mainly used House Pellet as his loose feed and then fished Solid Bags in amongst them, this tactic was clearly working around the lake and definitely did for John, John finished with a total of 17 fish with the pick of the bunch being Digits which tipped the scales at 46lb, John also managed another 40 in the shape of Jayden weighing in at 41lb. John kept the bait going in throughout the week with regular spombing and the bites kept up, John also managed six thirties and multiple twenties so was definitely kept busy often staying in his swim during dinner service due to the large amount of activity out in front of him. 

Dan Coles a regular to Gigantica who picked to fish Alcatraz as he felt he knew how he was going to attack the swim and could just get stuck right into it, the start of the week was tough for Dan with little signs of fish in his area but it all came good in the end, Dan managed a couple of twenties which were nice Scaley originals but the cream of the crop came from a spot that Dan made himself by casting out a weed rake and removing all the standing weed, this was around 20 to 21 wraps to his left and on the final morning he managed to land himself a nice old Mirror named James weighing 44lb 14oz.

After this we have Filip Klos who was in Alamo, it was definitely a trickier week for the anglers who were this end of the lake but Filip still managed to bank 2 fish, Filip tried a few different tactics throughout the week but managed to bank his best fish being a 37lb Mirror at just 15.5 wraps to the left of Beach and just fished a scattering of Boilies with a single hook bait on a Spinner in amongst them. Filip also managed a 27lb Mirror at 17 wraps over some of the House Pellet but unfortunately for him he didn’t quite have the activity in his swim to really bag up like his neighbour in Stink. 

Simon Compton fished in Tree line and manged a good number of fish banking 9 in total mainly all from underneath the hole in the Trees at 17 wraps, Simon chose to not go too heavy with the bait as he was worried he would push the fish out so was just feeding enough to get a bite at a time, but the bites kept coming throughout the week so it was a tactic that was definitely working.  Amongst Simon’s 9 fish he banked he managed two thirties which were both commons weighing 34lb, being the Humpy Common and Hotpants, unfortunately he didn’t get stuck into any of the real biggens but managed a good head of twenties and a couple of doubles.

Lastly we have a good few swims that still produced fish including Pole Position which was fished by Stuart Minney, Stuart fished at around 27 wraps to the reeds to the right of Stink landing 4 fish including two thirties up to 32lb, a Mirror by the name of Le’ Wonk which after a tricky start he was happy to go away with. Next door in Stock Pond we had Max Butcher who managed 7 fish from various spots up and down the tree line up to 30lb and the rest all being twenties. Max’s brother Connor fished in oblivion managing one small fish of around 11lb early on in the week but the fish seemed to not be in that area so the rest of the week led to no more fish unfortunately.

Thanks for Reading

Until next time 

Rob