Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 23/08/2025

Two hats are better than one ?

This week we have 10 new anglers, joining us as part of a lake social, with temperatures dropping from the scorching heat of late, how would this week play out? read on to see how everyone faired

Firstly, we are going to start with Lyndon Manns on his first trip to Gigantica, coming out 2nd in the draw Lyndon decided to set up camp in The Alamo for the week after the previous week doing bites. The tactic for the week would be 3 Rods spread at 26 wraps to the left of The Beach, the bait approach would be 15mm fishmeal boilie and crumb with iso smart liquid. After a few red wines with the lads on the Sunday evening, the first bite came at 2am Monday, and what a way to too get off the mark with ‘The Weld’ 58lb 4oz. Cracking start! After a couple hours sleep and the sun rising over the Big G it was time to deploy some more bait out around 10 spombs, a quiet morning went by and another 10 spombs were put out at mid-day. The next bite came at 3pm and a cracker, with ‘Baby Cluster’ 68lb and also a new PB for Lyndon. Congratulations mate! Consistently baiting at the right times of day were picking up the bites, 1am Friday was the next bite, and another of the big girls! With ‘ Shoulders ’68lb 12oz’. Two Pb’s broken in a week! Top angling and once again congratulations on another PB. Using his faithful multi combi rig with a Size 4 Kamakura wide gape, with a 15mm balanced wafter, match the hatch style was doing the damage. Also picking up a stockie 14 lb and mid 30 Through the night. What a week for yourself and some great memories made with a few dirty buckets on friday, See you back at the Big G in the future. Well done on a cracking week.

Next up we have friend and regular of Gigantica, Dean Marshall. After a good draw coming 3rd Dean got himself into the forever famous Co’s Point. The approach for the week would be 1 rod at the tits at 29 wraps and 2 rods on the flat oak at 30 wraps. Dean’s baiting tactic for the week would be 18mm whole fishmeal boilie with a little house maize. Sunday morning came round, Dean was off the mark at first light from the tits, with one of the A team, and also being on the missing list not far off 3 years. ‘Chunky’ 67lb 8oz, down in weight from its previous capture showing the fish have had a really good spawn this year. What a way to start the week! The rig for the session, Combi multi with a 18mm fishmeal bottom bait. The next bite came late Monday morning with ‘Osama bin liner’ 33lb 8oz, after every bite Dean deployed 2/3 kg of bait topping up the spots. The baiting tactic was working with ‘Fynn’ 42lb 8oz’ on Tuesday morning also a new 40 for the main lake. Wednesday brought nothing with a weather change. Into Thursday and he was in again with another Stunner one of the scaleys! ‘The King Fully’ 45lb. what an amazing carp! Dean has defiantly got a knack of catching the rare ones! The final bite was on Friday with ’AWOL’ 46lb 8oz, this has also been on the missing list for close to two years, Top angling mate! That was the lot for dean 5 bites and making the most of it with some absolute bangers! Well done mate, pleasure to have you back at Gigantica, see you back out on your next trip!

Coming out Last in the draw we have Ian McDonaldstarting his week in Stock Pond, with plenty of fish in there it seemed a good place to start. However, after 3 nights the carp weren’t getting their heads down and feeding on the 18 wrap spot towards oblivion. With Ian and dean seeing and hearing a lot of carps showing in The Tree Line, Ian got his gear packed down and made the move, settling for 14 wraps straight out in front, a good spread of 15mm fishmeal  boilie with the throwing stick and his Multi combi match the hatch wafter style and a SSM corn topper. Friday was when Ian had his chance, and he made the most of it, netting ‘ The rudder’ 49lb. Great move made from Ian. That was it for the week, but his persistence paid off!

Regular of Gigantica is next up. John ‘UKE’ Mulraney, known for his pest control! Oblivion was the swim choice for Uke after coming out 5^th in the draw, too some surprise with the previous week doing so well. 26 wraps towards the beach with 3 on the spot was the plan. 15mm fish meal boilie with crumb, sweet corn and garlic smart Liquid was the bait approach, with his faithful multi combi rig, size 4 wide gape and a 15mm cell wafter. The first bite came midday on Sunday with ‘Shawshank’ 23lb. With a lot of fish showing in the area but not getting their heads down Uke decided to bait beyond the spot to draw the fish in, the plan worked on Wednesday he managed ‘Indian Spice’ 25lb 12oz.  Shortly after applying more bait out on Thursday, he was in again with Ryan’s Ritches’ 32lb 8oz, a real cool carps! Friday came and it was rig shots for the week. John had not long finished baiting up and as we were getting his rigs etc together, he was away again with ‘Margarita’ 32lb 4oz. 4 landed for the week, None of the A team this time around, but plenty of laughs and jokes with his old pal two hats the Caddie Colin next door in Big girls. Cheers for the brews lads, great week!

First time out at the Big G we have Mark ‘scooba’ Cookman, landed himself ball 1 in the draw, slotting himself into Alcatraz with its recent form. Fishing two rods on the spot at 28.5 wraps, to the slit in the treeline to the left of stink and 1 straight out in front. Straight boilie was the bait approach, 15mm iso fish and 18mm cell accurately, Spinners would be the rig choice, with a 15mm Cell wafter. The first bite came on Tueday with ‘idefix’ 37lb 8oz. A lot of bites have been coming from Alcatraz in the hours of darkness, baiting just after dinner with 10 spombs on each rod was the perfect tactic with the traps set for the night. Mark’s biggest bite of the week came on Wednesday with ‘Squeaky Clean’ 45lb 8oz, backing that up with ‘Del boy’ 29lb 12oz. 3 bites  for the week. Battled it out well on a tough week. Well done Scooba.

Next door we have Greg Jones out on his 8^th trip to the pond, Coming out 9^th in the draw. Choosing to fish the week in Baxter’s Hole. After a few days of moving around, Greg settled in his swim and settled for 26 wraps out of Baxter’s, right of the marker pole. Boilie approach only again was the baiting tactic using a 15mm fishmeal boilie and 15mm Krill active. The hook bait choice would be a match the hatch bottom bait with white and orange toppers snowman style. It wasn’t until Thursday greg got into his first bite, Landing ‘Lucifa’ 28lb 4oz. Keeping noise down to a minimal and baiting at the right times have been doing the bites this week, the tactic carried on and it was early hours Friday Greg managed to land his biggest of the week being ‘Buttercorn’ 52lb. Well-deserved after a tough few sessions previously. Early hours Saturday morning just before the dreaded pack down he was at it again, with ‘The Arrow’ 35lb 14oz. 3 fish for the week, well in Greg.

Across the pond we have Steve Hammond on his first trip to Gigantica, Choosing The Stink, after pulling ball 6. Whole cell 15mm match the hatch, out at 28 wraps to the gap in the tree right of Baxter’s. Steve sat it out patiently and managed to get two carps for the week, A low 20, Along with ‘The Ingot’ 37lb 12oz being the biggest of the week. Unlucky not to get a few more as he really did fish it well. Hope to see you back again some time. Well done on your first week out at Gigantica. 

I managed to land a upper 30 for the week out of Pole Postion, 16 wraps towards Alamo, Baiting 15mm Iso fish and 18mm Cell. Match the hatch with yellow and white corn toppers.

24 Carp landed from the main lake this week, with bigger winds and lower temperatures coming in mid-week, it certainly spurred the carps into a feeding spell. It was my first week back after being away for a couple of months, all I can say is what a pleasure it was having this group on. Top lads and a top social. Hope to have you back soon.

Tight line, 

Tom 

Team Gigantica