Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 31/05/2025

We’ve Hit A Century

 

This week we had a lake exclusive booking of one of our own members of staff here at Gigantica, Ben “The Wizard”.  With many regular faces on his trip and a couple of new faces, which as ever is good to see, we had high hopes of a few fish being caught.  But as ever with this time of year the fish can also have other more pressing things on their minds.  I am sure that most of you reading this will be aware of what special moment occurred this week but read on to see how the whole week went for the guys.

 

We can’t start anywhere else this week but other than with Scott Hesling.  

Scott had a great draw picking out ball number two and positioned himself into Bob’s Beach without any hesitation on his swim selection.

He decided to fish this swim reasonably short for the amount of water you have at your disposal in front of this swim to fish at, opting to angle at 17.5 wraps towards Alamo in front of him.  As it was for all of the guys this week it was a very slow start to the session and Scott was the first angler to have any action and this came just after midday on the Monday, as I was making my way around the lake to deliver some lunches I came into his swim to see him rod bent into a carp.  26lb 8oz “The Crayfish” was his reward, not a monster by Gigantica standards but very welcomed.  What followed after this on the same day was just simply mind blowing.

3:33pm, ping!, WhatsApp message on the group.  Just so happened to look at it straight away to see a picture of what looked a very large common in a net, my mind straight away went to what I thought it was…….and it was!

It didn’t take long for Scott’s swim to fill with everyone from the main lake and several guests from the road lake, where we were all looking down in the net and staring in awe at “The Immaculate Common”.  What a sight!  

Right, off I go to fetch what was required.  We have a special sling and mat for this fish due to its size, so with the kit collected including the camera it was back to the swim to get the fish prepared for the big weigh in.  I zero’d the scales out to the sling and got someone else to check it before weighing.  What was it going to go?  Was it going to be I and around its usual weight of 96/98lb?  The first lift I double taked as the scales went over 100lb, not just over but a few pounds over.  Right, down we go and let’s go again.  I called 105lb from the first lift, and again on the second lift I confirmed the same reading.  105lb!!!

I’m not sure any of us expected that, especially Scott himself.  Fish secured back in the water I turned and congratulated Scott straight away.  And now for him it was time to get into the water and “do the do” in lifting his prize for the camera.  And Scott absolutely hero’d the lift, what a champion!  A good number of lifts done on both sides it was time for him to have his own moment in the water with it cradling it in his arms before it made its way back into the bluey green haze depths of the lake.  As you would expect and few buckets of water went his way after it swam off.  The whole moment and the rest of the day just felt magical.  What a moment to be involved with and around.  Celebratory beers certainly followed that day, and why not!

Not that I think Scott minded but it went quiet until Thursday for him on the fishing front.  Around 7am in the morning he landed his next one, “Twisted Scale” at 35lb 2oz, again from the same spot as his previous two fish.

This one was then followed up at a similar time on the Friday.  Scott phoned me to say he thinks he might have a 50lb’er in the net, and it was exactly that, “Two Scale” at 50lb on the nose.

No more action came his way this week, but I think from the Monday after noon Scott was living on ‘cloud 9’, and probably still is.

His first three fish, including The Immaculate, were caught on spinner rigs set up on a standard lead clip set up, running, with a size 6 barless Wide Gape hook on 25lb Boom material and a very pungent fish smelling 12mm pink pop up.  Scott baited with around 15 Spomb’s a day, and his mix comprised of 15mm boilie, house pellet and hemp along with some crushed flake maize and covered with ISO Fish Smart Liquid.

His last fish was caught on something similar but a little different, something more straight out the class of DF.  Spinner rig set up, size 6 Longshank X hook (made barbless obviously) with a D rig kicker, shot on the hook and a match the hatch bottom bait trimmed off with a pink topper.

Upon his return it was off to the local pub where, unbeknown to him, family and friends had gathered to celebrate with him.  What a trip and what a welcome home. 

Bloody well done Scott!

 

How do you follow on from the above?  Well you do that with the second biggest common in the lake.  And this fell to first time angler here, Jon Smith who chose a swim to match his strengths Scotties Corner.

Jon sat patiently on his hands for the start of the week, baiting with a throwing stick spreading his boilie only approach around the 17.5 wrap spot off the leaning tree by Co’s where the weed has started to grow again.  And just after lunch time on the Wednesday he was away and playing his first Gigantica carp. Fish in the net and what a first fish to catch, “Lippy Common” at an equalling top weight of 71lb 4oz.  I think Jon was being a little jubious about lifting this one for the camera, but he done a super effort despite after the third click of the camera we heard the cry of “I’m done, that’s it”.  But he wasn’t, a couple more big pushes of adrenaline we managed some more pictures.  

This fish was caught on something a little different to what we are used to seeing anglers use here, which is nice to see.  Jon used a rig that he is confident in using back home for his bottom bait fishing.  It was set up on a helicopter rig with a stiff boom type material knotless knotted to a longshank style hook with the hair loop comprising of a crimped loop.  This loop is where he tied of his fishmeal bottom bait and pink topper to with bait floss with a soft section under the bait to allow it to pivot allowing the hook to lay flat with the bait above it.  A little different, but an aggressive rig in the hand.

Jon managed one more on the very last morning from the same spot and tactics as before.  This one weighed 38lb.

Well done Jon, well fished and a pleasure to have met you.

 

Another of our members of staff had joined in on Ben’s trip, Greg Baillie.  A previous regular visitor as a guest and now one of the bailiff team, Greg came out 11^th in the draw and opted to go into Tree Line.

Not setting up until the Sunday afternoon, after spending a bit of time with the other lads and a catch up with his brother who was also fishing he set about his efforts in the “whole” in the tree line at 21 wraps.  To make life easier in positioning his rig Greg utilised the use of his baiting pole by pushing this out of the gap in the trees, casting over it and then putting his rig on and placing it on to the spot with a couple of scoops of bait spread in the area.  Greg also baiting further along the treeline in both directions from his spot so the fish would get used to finding the bait not just localised on one spot.

First bite came on the Monday on a solid bag approach landing “Cornification” at 39lb 8oz.  The action continued steadily for the rest of the week for him, with all his bites coming from this zone and method.  Tuesday he landed “Big Baby” a new 20lb stockie at exactly 20lb.  And later that evening caught “Dinnaa” at 27lb.

During the night another smaller one followed at 22lb, with his biggest of the week coming next on the Wednesday afternoon in the shape of “Slate Grey” spinning the scales around to 56lb.  This one was caught on a spinner rig baited with two grains of slow sinking maize on the 21 wrap spot in the hole.

“Cheesy Quaver” was Gregs last fish of the week weighing 36lb and put him level top rod of the week landing 6 fish.

Well done this week, fished it well and it showed.

 

One of our long-standing regular guests here is Chris Clarke, who has spent many hours on the bank at Gigantica.  Chris drew ball number one and positioned himself in the swim with the best view of the lake Co’s Point.

It took a while for Chris to get amongst the fish; in fact it wasn’t until the Wednesday lunchtime until he landed one.  “No Show” at 32lb 8oz opened his account this week.  From here on for the rest of the week it was steady action for him.  Later that evening at around 8pm he called me telling me he had what he believed was a 50 in the net.  And that it was, “2 C’s” putting the scales around to 51lb.  This was caught on a snowman presentation on a D rig fished out towards the ‘flat oaks’.

Also fishing with his usual solid bags in the same area he landed “Good Year” at 22lb and a scale perfect 29lb 4oz common on the Thursday afternoon in quick succession.

Putting out another 6kg of bait on the Friday morning Chris had a double take in the evening.  This comprised of one of our original fish, “Black Scales” weighing 35lb 2oz and one of our new stockies “Clarence” 19lb 4oz.

Chris baited with his usual mix of boilie, pellet and covered in a liquid mix.  Six fish landed was a good steady week with how it has fished of late.  Well done mate, see you soon no doubt.

 

Jack Link, also no stranger to the Gigantica complex came out ball number five in the draw and parked himself in Alamo.

Opting to put all three rods out on one zone out at 30 wraps in the direction of the ‘dome tree’, he was also off the mark on the Monday like some of the other lads.

Landing a nice 27lb common.  This was caught over a spicy fishmeal boilie mixed with pellet and a match the hatch hook bait presented on a semi stiff fluorocarbon hook link tied off to a longshank pattern of hook.

After this Jack left it until the last day, Friday before getting amongst more action, when in the evening around 7:30pm two quick bites came his way.  This brace of fish was made up of “Tamborine” weighing 29lb 12oz and “Foreign Legion” at 43lb 6oz.  A switch in tactics produced these two fish, when Jack swapped over to fishing solid bags with a pink coloured fish smelling wafter hook bait.

A phone call later that evening had me out doing some night shots as he had landed a new 50lb’er for the lake in the shape of “Fluey” at 50lb 4oz.

A nice end to the week for Jack that’s for sure.  Jack consistently baited with around 15 Spomb’s a day of a mixture of boilies and pellet doused with liquid goodness.

Well done Jack, nice to see you again.

 

Another angler this week who is no stranger to the place was Chris Irving who decided to fish from Big Southerly.

Chris had to wait it out until Friday when two very quick bites came his way.  The first being a fish by the name of “Double Jabba” weighing 35lb 8oz, that hadn’t been out for a couple of years.  This was caught from 26 wraps to the left of Alcatraz and just like his second fish was caught on a solid bag set up fished over a combination of hemp and boilie only.  Whilst wrapping this rod to get it back out on the spot his rod fished out towards the snag at 14 wraps in the direction of The Alamo hooped around and he was into his second fish.  

This one was 25lb 2oz and goes by the name of “CarpFix”.  Another bite did come his way but sadly lost this one after a tussle in the marginal weed. 

A flurry of quick bites made the week a bit sweeter in the end for Chris, and we will see you soon back here at the Big G.  Well done bud.

 

 

This week’s host and our very own Ben Morgan came out the draw with ball number six in his hand and put his name into fish from The Stink.

It was on the Tuesday that I was called into camera duties for him.  Where Ben had landed “The Unattended”, a recapture for Ben, but at 51lb 8oz it was a very welcomed regardless.  We managed to get some shots of one side of this fish before it done the off out of his arms and it was away.  

This was caught on a solid bag approach fished out at 30 wraps to the left of Bob’s Beach as you look out from the swim in front of him.  Using a 12mm dumbbell fish-based wafter tempted this fish onto his hook, and he baited up with a combination of house pellet and a spicy fishmeal boilie.

Despite all his best efforts it was our silver coloured fish in here that plagued him right up until the end of the week.

Well done mate, and thank you from all the other lads for arranging this week’s trip and social.

 

Andy Bevan slotted into fish from Baxter’s Hole, a swim that offers you both open water fishing and a nice tree lined margin that this time of year looks prime for it.

Andy persevered with the right-hand gap in the corner, where he baited with a combination of crushed Essential Cell and house maize and pellet covered in Smart Liquid.  With the assistance of a baiting pole, he positioned his rig nicely on the marginal shelf, which was a blow back style rig baited with two grains of slow sinking IB maize.

And it was Wednesday evening that his patience was rewarded with “Flecktarn” weighing just shy of the 30lb mark at 29lb 4oz.

Well done on the fish, great to see you back here again.

 

Another of our regular guests on the Gigantica complex was Nick Warburton, the Yorkshire Italian.   Nick dropped into Big Girlsand despite plenty of fish moving around the far tree line they proved tricky to catch all week for him.  But he did manage to land one fish this week, a 38lb mirror during the Wednesday night.  This fish was caught at 19 wraps fished out towards the outlet pipe and red marker.  A spinner rig baited with one of our almond flavoured Gigantica Special hook baits worked this time around for him.  Nick used the advantage of walking around and baiting from the far bank, where he introduced a mixture of boilie, pellet and maize. 

Nick also lost a fish on the final night, but he fished on despite the tough conditions throughout the week.

As ever mate, great to see you again.  See you later in the year.

 

This week we had first time visitor to the lake Chris Meredith.  Chris didn’t have a favoured draw that resulted in him slotting into Oblivion, which had produced a couple of fish the previous week so there was always going to be a chance.  And a chance there was when early on the Thursday morning he gave me a call informing me that he had landed one.  At 35lb 8oz it was a nice result for him.  This fish goes by the name of “Fish Fingers” and was caught from 10 wraps along his right-hand margin aiming out towards Scotties.  It was caught over a bed of Cell boilie, house maize and pellet with a basic hair rig presented with two grains of slow sinking corn over the top of.

Well done mate on your first Gigantica carp, and a pleasure to both meet you and have you here.

 

Last, but by no means least we have Tom Southall who has been working here over the last few weeks helping with jobs and some bailiff duties.  Tom fished the evening and nights between work from Pole Position and consistently baited a spot out at 16 wraps towards The Alamo, and like some of the other lads left it right until the Saturday morning to land his only fish of the week.  “Ryan’s Riches” was his reward weighing 31lb 8oz.  Caught on a spinner rig baited with a 18mm bottom bait with a yellow topper to aid attraction.

Well done on your last-minute fish, and thanks for all the work carried out during your stay here.

 

Well, what a week we have all just gone through here.  Sadly, at the start of the week we heard the very sad news of the passing of one of our customers who infact was due to be here fishing on this week’s exclusive trip, and that was Martin aka WeeMan.  You will be missed by many that’s for sure.  This then moved on to the massive highs the following day of Scott’s incredible capture of the Immaculate, and everything else that came the angler’s way this week.

Plenty of laughs along the way from this group, well done guys on a very challenging week.

 

Tight lines, Gareth “Gino”.