Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 03/05/2025

Captain Badback!

Well what a week, very long one this one, many carp caught from all over the pond, a total of 52. The fish seemed to act very funny this week, moving around the lake in massive numbers and fast, one minute a swim could be empty then the next, there’s four fish in slings. They did seem to spend majority of the time in stink, I think this is due to the tench spawning along that margin, they were in close and the anglers were bringing the odd bit of weed in with eggs on. So on that note lets start with Stink as he was `top rod for the week and managed the biggest fish too. 

Keith Roberts managed to land a total of twelve fish, all coming in from short range, when arriving in the swim the fish were all clattering out short so Keith opted to fish ten to thirteen wraps out and no more and even being in that short his bobbins were still dancing from liners. Keith started his week off very quickly on the Sunday in fact with a fish known as “What A Angler” at 25lb 12oz, and he then went on to catch steady throughout the week. “Two scales” at 51lb was one, a new 50 for the lake, “Little Kicker” at 47lb being another but the cherry on the cake has to be “The Dustbin” at a new to weight of 67lb 4oz! Our biggest stocky to date, putting on massive gains from being stocked back in 2016 at 10lb 8oz, 70lb next year maybe. Keith went back to his old school tactics with the throwing stick, putting in 50-60 baits around each rod and repeating the process after each fish, keeping things nice and quiet. Blow back rigs around 10-11inch long with either a match the hatch wafter or a snow man, Sticky Baits Manillia with matching glug and wafters was his bait of choice.   

Son of Keith, Brandon Roberts parked himself in Co’s Point, after there being sixteen fish from this swim the week prior he was buzzing to get in there. Not as many fish for Brandon but a very good average, a total of four fish but check these out, starting of with “Septimus” at 52lb 4oz, “The Centurion” at 56lb 8oz, “Yorkie” at 35lb 12oz and the biggest being “Split Pec” at 65lb 12oz, not bad at all. Brandon fished hard all week, working the zig up and down but all his fish came from the bottom. Three of the fish came the 31 wrap spot towards the tits and the biggest one Split Pec came from very short, very very short at 4.5 wraps, this is becoming a recurring thing in Co’s around spring and summer time, if you look back on catch reports from previous years you will notice a trend of fish being caught from around 5 wraps out and this is due to them traveling from Treeline to Scotties corner. Brandon was feeding Sticky Baits Krill Active and Krill in 18 and 20mm with a good helping of our house pellet. Nine inch or so spinners with match the hatch wafters over the top.

Next up we have Sean Lacey AKA “Captain Bad Back” over in Alcatraz, Sean came out 2nd in the draw and with Co’s Point gone it was a no brainer, 19 fish the week before so he was in for a good shout. Sean started off fishing at 31.5 wraps but with the back playing up (and didn’t we here about it ALLLLLLL WEEK), he came back to a much more comfortable spot at 22 wraps towards the scary tree. Sean spent the first two days with no fish in the swim and watching them show over in Stink. But the fish decided to move on the Tuesday evening and he certainly made hay. One minute no fish, the next morning five were waiting in slings to be photoed. “Slate Grey” at 55lb being one and “Half MoonScale” at 50lb 12oz was amongst the others. With a total of eight fish he also managed “Fight Club” at 44lb 4oz, “Sashsquash” at 52lb 8oz, a very nice set of fish for the photo album. Majority of his fish were caught on a 18ft zig but he did also mange a few on the deck with IQ D-rigs match the hatch wafters with a little yellow topper, casting these over a bed of DNA Boilie and house pellet. 

Lewis Smalley started of in Treeline but after two days being in doomsday corner and no fish in the area he decided to get on his toes and move into Pole Position after seeing the fish migrating from stink over into that area of the lake. What a hero move this was, after the first night going by in the new swim and the sun coming up he was away on a short spot at 19 wraps slightly left of the swim towards the scary tree. “The Koi” at 60lb was soon in the net and great relief for him. A few days went by and after loosing a couple, he then managed to land a 2nd fish called “Scrappy” at 33lb 8oz. Scrappy came from a different spot, a long spot to the right of stink at 31wraps.IQ D-Rigs, Match the hatch wafter over a bed of Boilie, Corn and house pellet.

Paul Krkbride in Alamo had a nice steady weeks fishing landing a total of seven fish, Paul had a great game plan at the start of the week, starting of short around 17 wraps and to feed long at 30 wraps, keeping the long spot for a backup just incase nothing developed in short. But the week didn’t plan out that way for Paul as Paul managed all his fish on the zig. All coming to the 18ft zig, and all bites coming around the evening when the water was at its warmest. “King Fully” at 47lb 12oz was Pauls biggest fish for the week but what a awesome fish it is, one of the very sort after scaly mirrors in the lake. Paul kept the Zig busy, casting it around the swim at all different ranges every hour or so.  

Pete Flounders came out early in the draw and parked himself in Scotties Corner, a swim he favoured that suited his style of fishing. The first night was a great success, landing two great originals. “The Leather” at 49lb 12oz and “Petal” at 43lb 8oz, all coming to the corner spot over on the far margin at nine wraps. Combi rigs with pink induce wafters over a bed of corn, boilie and pellet. Pete did make a move into Baxter’s after seeing the fish migrate over to Pole and Alcatraz, but the fish didn’t quiet come round the corner to him, but it was a good effort and a great move on paper.

Brother of Pete, Rob Flounders was on the opposite side of the pond in Big Girls, the fish didn’t seem to venture into this swim as much as what we expected, but he still done well to catch a few, a total of three with “Pixles” being the biggest at 47lb. Fishing to the go to spot that’s been producing fish recently, 11 wraps hard left towards the rushes, feeding boilie and pellet, same rig and hook bait as Pete, combo rig with a pink wafter. 

Ged Day had a comfortable week, closest to the fridge in Stock Pond. Ged also started of slow but again the fish moved in on mass one morning and ended up with four fish in slings, nothing massive for Ged, the biggest being “Bucket “O” Pullet” at 31lb but still 5 fish in total. All coming from along the tree line. Couple out at 26.5 wraps over the bar into the far corner and a few from the 17 wrap spot half way up the tree line. All falling to wafters on spinner rigs feeding boilie and house pellet. 

Myself, I decided to have a little play over in Oblivion and I knew my window for having a fish was very small, only being able to fish the nights I knew I had to get round there after dinner and get the zig out ASAP. This worked well for me as I managed 3 fish on the first evening and two fish on the 2nd evening, all bites coming between 19:00 and 20:30. Fishing the zig long, not clipping up but around the 30 wrap mark. 18ft was the number with black foam, red topper. I did feed two short spots, one down the right hand margin at 9 wraps and one towards Beach at 15 wraps, these spots didn’t produce fish, the fish didn’t come close enough to me for me to pick one up. So 5 fish in total with the biggest being “The Chinese Common” at 49lb 12oz.

Thats all guys, as you can see its fishing extremely well of late, the guys managed a total of 52 fish in total for the week and lets hope the good times continue, see what next week brings. 

Until Next Time 

Tight Lines 

Ben