Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 15/03/2025

Toon Army

Twelve fresh anglers visited the Main Lake at Gigantica this week, all first-time visitors to the site, and after a short delay in them arriving for the weekly walk around giving the anglers as much information as we can from the week previous.  

Obviously, you can get all that information from our weekly catch reports, but seeing it first-hand gives the angler a clearer picture of how to start their approach for the week.

Draw done and with the anglers off to their chosen pegs, lets read on to see how they got on this week.

First up this week we have Jack Ferguson who positioned himself in Bob’s Beach after drawing ball number five from the hat.

Jack was the first angler to get a fish to his name this week, although not until the Monday it was a very welcomed fish at 18lb and is called “The Last Mohican”.  After a little bit of rig and location advice the day before on the Sunday, Jack was happy to be under way especially when he managed a second one later that day.  Although again of similar weight, 18lb 4oz this was one of our stockies that was put in in 2023 and this was its first recorded capture.

After a quiet day on the Tuesday, Jack had a very nice gift from the lake gracing his sling on the Wednesday morning.  A good sized common he told me and that he believed it was over 50lb.  And indeed it was just that.  “The Centurian” at a new top weight of 58lb and a new personal best for Jack to boot.

The final duo of fish for Jack came for him the following day.  Up until now all of Jack’s fish had come off the deck, but his first one on the Thursday was caught on a black piece of foam fished on a zig straight off the lead at 20ft.  Although one of our freshly stocked fish weighing 10lb 11oz that is our first fish this year caught on a zig.  Maybe we are now just starting to creep into “zig season” here on the Main Lake.

Jack’s second and final fish that day was one going by the name of “Sheriif Keith” and first time over twenty pounds for this one at 21lb 4oz.

Jack fished all of his rods out at 30 wraps towards The Alamo swim in front of him and baited with boilie crumb, corn, maize mixed with a creamy flavoured oil and cloudy liquid.  Jack initially put out 15 Spomb’s and topped up his spot each day and after each fish to keep the fish interested.

Apart from the one he caught on a zig, his other fish came to short hinge rigs and baited with pop-ups infused in the powerful Garlic Goo.

Well fished this week Jack and again congratulations on your new Personal Best.

Next door to Jack fishing from Baxter’s Hole was Shaun Outhart who came out in the later end of the draw and took the last available corner swim, which is a great bit of advice for anyone coming here, pick a swim that suits your fishing where you can fish to your strengths.

After spending a bit of time with Shaun on the Sunday and advising him in a bit more detail of short areas to fish from his swim, I recommended to him to fish short along his left margin as fish had been there the previous week and that is exactly what he did and went on to catch his first fish and his personal best on Tuesday.  This fish weighed 43lb 13oz and is called “Buster”.  Buzzing off the back of this capture and full of confidence he managed a second fish the next day on Wednesday, smaller this time but that doesn’t matter as every fish count, and a nice linear it was weighing 25lb 12oz and is called “Barcode”.

Shaun caught these fish on solid bags incorporating our PVA bag mix we sell on site, and he did not put any free bait down in this area at all, just flicking out single bags.

I was totally made up for Shaun, as he felt a little out of his depths at the start and went on to fish to his strengths and it paid off for him.  Well done mate.

Adam Gabin this week had a good draw and went into the famous Co’s Point.

Again after a bit of advice on the Sunday about the swim the Monday morning he managed three bites in quick succession, “The LFD” weighing 23lb 4oz, “Little Smithy” 26lb 4oz and finally “AJ’s” at 38lb 2oz.  A hectic but very enjoyable morning for Adam.  Sadly despite fish in the area no more fish came his way despite trying his hardest and doing as he had done on the Sunday night / Monday morning.

Adam fished out at 28 wraps towards “The Tit’s” and baited with boilie crumb, corn and liquids.  Over the top of this he fished 5” spinner rigs with Krank hooks and a mixture of either yellow Isotonic Gigantica pop-ups and a cream toffee flavoured pop-up.  Well done Adam.

Close by to the club house in Stock Pond we had the company of Jonah Webster this week.  Jonah put his rigs out at 26 ½ wraps to the corner, where fish had come the previous week and this paid off for him on the Tuesday when he caught his first of the week, 24lb 8oz and going by the name of “Clover”.  A lovely fish to start off with.  

Two further fish came along on back-to-back days on the Thursday and Friday for Jonah, firstly a very nice 34lb 8oz common followed by “Nuts” at 26lb the following day.  That was the end of the action this week in Stock Pond, all the bites came from the corner spot where he baited with just Cell boilie, soaked in Fruit Smart Liquid, by walking around to keep things as quiet as possible in there.  Gigantica Isotonic pop-ups fished on spinners was his winning approach, and a very successful and proven approach on this lake.

Great company this week and always smiling.

Next door we had Mark Wright in Pole Position.  Mark stuck hard to his spots out at 30 wraps in the direction of The Stink and his first fish came on the Wednesday “Kick Back” just shy of 30lb at 29lb 14oz followed the next day with “Mr Universe” just short of 40lb this time at 39lb 8oz.

As with most of the other guys we have already talked about Gigantica Isotonic specials doing the bites for Mark on spinner rigs with Krank hooks fished on a heli set up fished over boilie, corn and Smart Liquid.  Well done on your fish.

Next along that bank in Alcatraz we had “Corky”fishing, and again fishing as the angler the previous week had done out at range it wasn’t until the Wednesday that he managed his first fish after losing his first two bites.  “Archimedes” weighing 35lb 4oz was his first prize around dinner time followed by a fish each day for the next two days, “Unicef” at 21lb 4oz and “Snapper” at 28lb.  Bites have been coming first thing or late evening in this swim, and this was also true for this week.

Corky had baited with approx. 8kg of bait (around 2kg per day) comprising of Vitalac, corn and Smart Liquid before his first bite and then topped up after each fish following this.  Again, unsurprisingly, yellow Isotonic pop-ups on spinners taking the fish this week for him.  Well done this week on your fish.

Over in Big Girls we had Shaun’s brother Lee Outhart.  Lee dropped into this swim from ball number one on the draw due to its recent good run of form.  With the cold weather we encountered at the start of the week fish did not seem to want to be visiting this part of the lake, but as the weather got much hotter near the end of the week, it was no surprise that they started to appear more in the corner swims, and it was the same for Lee.  During the early hours of Friday Lee managed to land his first fish safely and whilst dealing with this one experienced anther bite on one of his other rods, but sadly this one got away from him during the fight.  The one that he did manage to land weighed 32lb 14oz and goes by the name of “Lucifa”.  Well done on sticking it out this week, we knew that the warm weather at the end of the week would be more in your favour.

Lastly this week to get a fish in the net was Dennis Frost who fished from Big Southerly.  Sticking it out at the usual 26 ½ wrap spot to the left of Alcatraz he managed to land his only one of the week on the Wednesday, a very nice looking 31lb 8oz mirror called “Solid Scales”

This fish fell to his purple-coloured Shellfish pop-ups fished again on spinner rigs comprising of Boom and Krank hooks.  His mix was almost identical to a lot of the guys this week, Cell boilie and corn mixed with Smart Liquid.

Well done Dennis on your capture.

And that is it for this week, a lake exclusive booking and a great bunch of guys they all are.  Very enjoyable week all around.

The trees and bushes around the lakes are starting to take a more of a green shade to them, as opposed to the bare look of winter.  Spring is finally here!

Tight lines all,

Gareth “Gino”.