Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 19/07/2025

Carp Fishing Socials – Week 2

This week we welcomed Carp Fishing Socials for their second weeks lake exclusive

First up we have Matt Sandy who drew ball one and to everyone’s surprise and going with his gut, went in Stock Pond. Matt started the week fishing two rods at 20 wraps towards the corner and one out towards Oblivion at 18 wraps, fishing white squid pop ups on noodle rigs over a bed of Krill boilie. Matt kicked off his week landing a 30lb 4oz mirror on the first night and the bites started coming steady in the nights from then on. It was Monday night though when Matt broke his PB for the first time when he landed ‘Split Pec’ at 59lb coming off his 20-wrap spot, now glad he went with his gut and chose to go in the swim. That PB didn’t last long though as come Tuesday night in the early hours, Matt’s 20 wrap rod went again, another rare one and one of the most saught after carp in the lake was soon in his net. ‘Target’ at 68lb 8oz smashing his PB by nearly 10lbs just 24 hours late was turning into some session this. Matt’s week was made but it didn’t stop there, with most of his bites coming during the night and after losing two, Matt ended his week on a total of 10 fish.

Next up we have Roy Prodger who got ball 12 this week and got in Tree Line. Roy started off fishing 21.5 wraps towards The Stink and fished it with two rods and kept an eye on the hole halfway up the tree line, putting a rod in it when he saw signs of fish. Roy was another one who got off the mark the first night where he managed his first fish but then decided to move into Oblivion once it became available the next day. After moving to Oblivion and having a good lead about Roy settled on 25.5 wraps towards the left of Bob’s Beach and chose to fish all three on the spot. Feeding a mixture of house hemp, Mainline boilie and Himalayan rock salt, Roy fished 3 white topped snowmen on 9-inch blow back rigs. Roys first fish came Monday morning in Oblivion landing 2 fish out of 3 bites the biggest being a 34lb 8oz mirror. With bites coming between 8am and 3pm Roy was putting 5kg in a day and come Tuesday afternoon he landed his biggest of the week being ‘The Clean Fish’ at 66lb 4oz. Roy went on to land 14 fish byt the end of the week having ‘Paw Print’ at 55lb 8oz and finished the week off with ‘The Leather’ at 50lb on Saturday morning, great session. 

Over in Bob’s Beach we had Roy’s cousin Lee Prodger who had visited us before and had also fished Bob’s Beach previously. Going off what had been producing recently, Lee decided to fish all three of his rods 18 wraps towards The Alamo fishing snowmen over a bed of Mainline boilie and house hemp. Lee was another one off the mark on the first night having a 35lb 8oz mirror the early hours of Sunday morning and the bites came regular from then on landing all his fish during the night time with the first 50+ coming Sunday night around midnight where he landed a 50lb 8oz common, this came after Lee saw a few fish short and to his left so decided to put a rig on it with a handful of boilie through the throwing stick and it went off within an hour, great angling. Lee then followed this up with a 32lb common in the morning. Lee then went on to have 11 fish including ‘Sasquash’ at 53lb and ‘Alcatraz’ at 60lb which is his new PB. 

Next up we have Luke Benham who started his week off in Oblivion but after a slow night and seeing fish in Big Girls he moved down a peg. This paid off for Luke as he then got off the mark on the first night when he had ‘Scrappy’ in the early hours of Monday morning at 31lb. Luke caught this fishing 21.5 wraps towards the outlet pipe over a bed of boilie. After a slow night after and seeing a lot of fish showing in Pole Positions water, he decided to make the move across. Fishing two rods at 16 wraps towards The Alamo and one 19 at Big Southerly, Luke fished hinges with Pro Stim Liver white pop ups over a bed of boilie soaked in matching liquids. This turned out to be a great move as come Wednesday night he had 2 40s in the shape of ‘Sammy’ at 48lb 8oz and a 42lb common. Come dinner time the next day is when he broke his PB, having a screaming run right on dinner service landing ‘The Terminator’ at 52lb sharing the moment with his good mate next door it was a great moment for everyone to be a part of. 

Next door in Alcatraz we had Ryan Mullins who got an early draw and got his first-choice swim. Ryan was here for his second week and going off what he’d seen decided to go long to the left-hand side of his water going 32 wraps at what’s known as the scary tree, as yet again was off the mark the first night with one of the old scaley originals known as ‘The Leney’ at 43lb 8oz. It then slowed up for Ryan with him only landing two more smaller Main Lake residents throughout the week.

Opposite in The Stink we had the lady herself, Lauren Stanford. Lauren started the week fishing short towards Tree Line after seeing a lot of fish showing short in the first 24 hours, but after a slow start to the week and seeing fish show more towards Baxter’s side, she had a quick lead about around where they were showing and moved 2 rods across. After the short disturbance, Lauren let the swim rest for the day and got the rods out and come Wednesday morning at first light had her first fish in the net after losing one in the early hours. Her next and final fish came in the early hours of big fish Thursday when she managed to land ‘Pixles’ at 45lb 4oz one of the Main Lake originals. Lauren was fishing snowmen over a bed of house hemp and Mainline boilie.

Over in The Alamo we had two mates Josh Mayer and Sam who decided to double up in the famous swim and work as a team throughout the week. With a lot of fish showing short they both fished short to avoid cutting one another off fishing 16.5 wraps just before the weed. Sam was the first one to catch, fishing the left-hand side having a daytime bite on Sunday catching ‘The Old Water Boy’ at 16lb 8oz. Fishing over a bed of mixed house particle and boilie Sam caught what he came here for, a 40lber having ‘Bobbins Dancing’ at 40lb on the nose. Unfortunately, that was it for Sam but Josh then picked a couple up Tuesday, after giving dinner a miss due to the fish being on his spot he went on to catch ‘Derwent’ at 38lb and ‘The Spectator’ at 31lb 8oz. Josh caught both of these on a solid bag casting at showing fish with match the hatch boilie as a hook bait. 

A very good average this week after a much smaller one last week, plenty of laughs along the way and great to see plenty of personal bests get broken. 

Tight Lines,

Greg,

Team Gigantica.