Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 05/10/2024

Good To Be Back

 

It’s been a while since I have been at the Big G on a working point of view, and having fished last week on the Korda social it’s now back to business here for the next 6 weeks.

A lake exclusive booking this week with 11 anglers ready to go who most of them fish on the Frampton syndicate and some of the other guys from the Reading area.  Stormy weather was forecast for most of the week with the worst of it hitting us on the Wednesday night, and it certainly brought with it a lot of rain and some strong winds.

All the lads were eager to get going once the gates had opened and with the walk around done and swims chosen let’s see what this week had instore for them.

 

First to pick a swim and the first to catch this week was Mark “Ninja” Nind, who after having ball number one opted to drop in to Baxter’s Hole for the week.  In here he chose to concentrate his fishing area to the 26-wrap area towards the red and white marker pole that had produced fish the week before.

Mark opened his account for the week on the Sunday morning with “Boreas” weighing 35lb, and from here almost went on to catch steadily each night.

Following this capture came a fish known as “Red October” at 37lb 8oz, with these two fish falling to a multi combi rig of approx. 6” in length baited with Royal Marine dumbell wafters.

After a little attention from some bream Mark decided to adjust his rigs slightly to a more “Withy pool” style rig fished with a bait on the deck with a match the hatch bottom bait with a garlic topper.

From here Mark caught “Stargazer” at 44lb 12oz, his biggest for the week, following this was one of our stockies from last year that has grown well onto 21lb from 13lb.

Another couple of carp followed, these being “Foreign Legion” at 42lb and another nice common of 30lb 2oz.

During this session Mark baited at the start with 12mm boilie and pellet and adjusted his mix after the bream by taking out the pellet and adding some hemp to the mix.  These mixes also included some liquids in the way of smart liquid, krill liquid and some garlic flavouring.

Well angled Mark this week, it was his first time at the Big G and I am sure that he will return in the future should the opportunity arise.

For anyone that knows Mark, he is great company (as all the lads were this week), and it was an absolute please having you here.

 

Simon Croft also had a good draw and put himself into the Tree Line as this was a swim that was going to suit his fishing style perfectly.  This is a great mindset to have, to pick a swim that suits your angling style so you can fish to your strengths.

It took Simon a few days before the action came his way, and it was just before breakfast on the Wednesday that he slipped the net under what turned out to be the biggest fish of the week, “The Weld” and exactly 60lb.  What an amazing fish this one is.  Just like the week before, this was caught close in at 13.5 wraps in front over a spread of boilie and pellet and taken on a slip D style rig and a 20mm bottom bait.  This was a PB for Simon and he was more than happy about catching this one.

That same evening Simon managed hos second fish of the week in the shape of “Baby Belle” at 36lb, this time coming off the tree line itself where Simon was feeding a fishmeal boilie.

Whilst he was now on a roll, Simon managed another the next day again from the tree line itself and this one went 40lb 8oz and named “Storm”, which was very apt considering the night before we did have a big storm blow through the site here.

Simon had a smile on his face all week, which was great to see, and this smile certainly got bigger after capturing The Weld.  Very well done again this week, and as before great to have you here.

 

Getting his first choice of swim this week was Ross Bankroft who dropped into Co’s Point and started off capturing arguably one of the most sought-after fish here “The King Fully” on the Sunday evening at 45lb 6oz.  Such an incredible fish.  This was caught at 31 wraps on the left side of the tit’s where Ross had gone in big with just boilie on the opening night.

Aswell as fishing at range Ross was fishing one rod shorter at 18 wraps towards the flat oaks area and managed his next two fish from this spot.  A small double and on the Tuesday a fish called “MK” at 36lb 13oz on a hinge rig fished with matching red fish meal hook bait.  Ross baited this area with around 5kg of boilie leading up to this capture.  After a quiet day that followed, the following day he managed another bite from the range spot and this one was a nice common of 55lb called “Lennie’s”.  Another amazing looking fish (as they are all in here to be fair).  

As with everyone, well done this week.  Ross certainly picked out a couple of the lookers from the Big G.

 

This week lead group booker was Dan Throup and despite not coming out early in the draw still managed to find himself in The Alamo.

A swim that fished fairly well the week before, this week it was a tough grind with the bulk of the fish sitting in front of Co’s and on the back of the wind on the opposite side of the lake.

But despite this Dan did manage to catch a truly awesome common carp in the shape of “The Furious Common” weighing 58lb 2oz.  This came early on for Dan on the Sunday night and was caught out at 29.5 wraps to the left of the dome tree.  For baiting up Dan opted to use a combination of a fishmeal boilie, hemp and maize.  This was used with a combi rig with a large extended piece of shrink tubing to make it a very aggressive rig presentation.

Sadly, this was Dan’s only piece of action this week, but still an incredible fish to catch if you were only going to catch one.

Again, as I keep saying and I will for everyone this week, a great person and fantastic company this week.

 

Lee “Carp Hero/The Terminator” Picknell also had a good draw this week and took no time in putting himself into Bob’s Beach.  Another swim to go early off the back of the news that a lot of fish the week before were enjoying the back of the wind, and with south westerly winds forecast for most of the week it seemed a no brainer.

It was the early hours of Tuesday before Lee had in action on his rods.  “Long Spot” at 47lb 12oz was his first reward and a lovely way to open your account for the week.  This one was taken at 16 wraps in line the The Alamo on the opposite side to him and caught over boilie and pellet with a short spinner rig presented over the top of this on rig tubing converted to use as a helicopter set up on a heli safe.

Just as we had finished the photos of this one and we were about to set off another of his rods was away!  This time it was his right-hand margin rod put out at 7 wraps in the direction of Alcatraz.  A number of fish had been showing down this margin at the tail end of the previous week and the start of this week, so it was an easy choice to put a rod in this direction.  “Shergar” was his reward at 32lb, and this one was tempted with a mixture of boilie and a little hemp caught on a red fishmeal pop up.

We had a bit of last morning action with Lee, this time he had put his rods out a little further at 25 wraps, again in line with The Alamo swim, and “Me Chow” was awaiting its photos for the second week running.  49lb 4oz this time around.

What a great way to finish off the week.

Someone must be last in the draw (I had the pleasure the previous week) and this time around it was Karl Palmer who was the unlucky one.

Karl put himself into Oblivion and gave it his all all week to no avail and on the last couple of nights turned his attention to the water in Big Girls as he had been hearing fish during the nights in that direction.  So, with a couple of traps set off the headland area he went on to catch two fish on the very last night.  Firstly “Lloyd’s” at 34lb 10oz and then later in the night “James” at 43lb 15oz.  Left it late to get amongst them but he finally did, and it was a sweet reward for all his efforts.  Well done Karl for plugging away right to the end.

Karl used a mix of ISO Fish and Link boilie with hemp, maize and pellet in his mix and fished spinners over the top on running rigs and smowman hook baits using the garlic topper we sell onsite.

 

We had another angler leave it to the death before catching one, and that was Chris Ladds in Stink.  Chris was unlucky to have one cut him off during the week but had his revenge from just 15 wraps out to go on and land “Ryan’s Run” at 36lb 1oz.  Chris fished a mixture of boilie and hemp and stuck to his plan all week.  Well done Chris for sticking to it.

 

Someone else who went away with just the one fish for his name was Martin Finan in Big Southerly.

Martin manged to land on on the Wednesday known as “Bucko” from 25.5 wraps to the left of Alcatraz as you look, and this weighed 34lb 8oz.

Taken on a fairly long rig in a slip D style with a match the hatch bottom bait on the end.  Well done Martin on your capture, it was a tough week at this end of the pond.

 

Paul Stevens had put himself into Stock Pond for the week ahead, and it is a great swim to come into to catch yourself a Gigantica fish and that he did.

Paul had a steady bit of action all week in here this week.

He started off with two fish in a short period of time on the Monday evening just into dark and the heavy rain.  “Crucible” at 32lb 10oz was one of his prizes and the other one called “Youngest” at 24lb.  I think we all got soaked helping Paul out and doing the pictures.

Paul also went on to catch a couple of fish mid-week, an 18lb mirror and a 22lb mirror known as “Han Solo”.  All of Pauls fish were being caught over boilie and pellet and these were being placed spread along the far tree line.

Bit of last morning action also for Paul in the shape of a 29lb common that he has christened “Bonzo” after his late father.  

With a group photo done it was a nice way to end the week with these guys.

 

What a great week it was as I keep mentioning.  Hope to see you all again in the future.

 

Less stormy weather next week and much more settled more spring like condition ahead, so lets see what DF and his friends can do next week.

 

Tight Lines

Gareth “Gino”