Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 14/02/2026

Seeing Double

We are certainly starting to see more signs that we are now through the winter days, noticeable longer daylight hours and much better average temperatures we are at the door of spring and those zigs beginning being super effective here at Gigantica.  Read on to see how the lads got on last week………

Let’s get going then with the angler who managed the biggest fish of the week, and that was Jon Caul who slipped himself into the swim that was inform the week prior, Alcatraz.

Fishing out long, as per the week before to the right of Big Southerly, Jon was into some action early on during the Sunday morning when he managed a nice 28lb 8oz mirror…..one I couldn’t find on our records on the website.

What followed was a couple of quiet days, but with Jon finding his rhythm it was the Wednesday when a couple more fish came his way, a lovely original scaly on called ‘Two Faces’ that weighed 44lb and this was backed up with a stocky from 2024 weighing 22lb. 

The following morning was a repeat of the day before, two fish caught through the night, a new one called ‘Jupiter’ at 14lb and also ‘Sherriff Keith’ that weighed 25lb 8oz.

But the best was to come when around midday on the Thursday Jon had messaged me to say he had a good common resting in the net.  And that it was.  ‘Roblox’ was his prize and once we weighed it in the water it was confirmed at 56lb exactly.  What a nice way to finish off on.

As mentioned above, Jon fished out at 33 wraps and baited the area with Live System, both crushed and in 10mm, this was mixed with corn and house hemp.  Over this Jon presented yellow pop ups on long spinner rigs and size 2 Krank hooks.

Moving onto Korda’s very own Darrell Peck, who took a very last-minute decision to come to us taking one of the cancellation spots that had come up.

Darrell drew midway and choose to drop into Bob’s Beach, having fished in this swim before he had a plan with what he wanted to do from the off.

A fresh stocky came along as his first taste of some action, with it safely slipped back it was Tuesday morning when I was greeted with two slings and a net each harbouring fish awaiting photos.  These turned out to be ‘Pud’ weighing 26lb, ‘Brillo’ 10lb’s heavier at 36lb and lastly ‘Apostrophe’ at 36lb 8oz.  A much better nights angling for Darrell.

And it was also the same story the following morning, three more fish awaiting photos.  These turned out to be ‘Pumped’ at 32lb, ‘Mushroom Tail’ weighing 36lb and lastly Darrell’s largest for the week ‘The Upfront Common’ that was just under the magical 50lb mark, spinning the scales around to 49lb.

As you would expect Darrell fished his trusted multi combi rigs, with size 4 Wide Gape hooks and white Cell wafters.  These were placed over a bed of corn, hemp and a test bait from the Mainline stable – the ISO Sweet boilie. 

Around 30 Spomb’s a day was on the menu for the fish this week, keeping them interested and grubbing around for more.

Jumping over to the other side of the lake and directly opposite Darrell was angler Mark Brown, and he was pegged up in The Alamo.  With some strong winds forecast yet again this week and blowing straight into Mark, he opted to set his stall out and fish at a range where he would still be comfortable to fish in the winds in a couple of days’ time.  This was out at 30 wraps and towards the ‘dome tree’ to the left of Bob’s Beach as he looked out.

Mark was on to the score sheet on the Sunday morning, where he managed to land ‘The LFD’ that weighed 26lb 8oz and whilst I was on my way around to photo this one and entering into the swim he was at the front of the swim, rod in hand and bent into his second fish of the day and this was ‘Little Smithy’ that weighed 32lb.  Mark had said to me he just hoped to catch one fish this week, so he had now gone on and doubled his expectations.

It was through Sunday night that Mark had a flurry of quick bites, one after the other around an hour apart each time.  Coming around and doing the pictures for Mark, we had a new fish, now called ‘Doc’ at 11lb 8oz, ‘Baby Grey’ at 32lb 12oz and finally Mark’s biggest of the week and one I identified on the mat as being ‘James’ and this went to 48lb 8oz on the scales.

That was all the action for Mark this week, despite his best efforts it just seemed the fish shifted over more to the other side of the lake, but he certainly made the most of the chances that came his way early in the week.  

Just like many people of late, Mark had opted to use spinner rigs with size 4 hooks and 25lb Boom and baited these with small yellow Cell pop ups and fished on running lead clips.  This set up was chosen after reading recent catch reports.

A very similar and usual bait mix was used by Mark, corn, hemp and boilie – some crushed and some whole.

Over to angler Dean Power who after pulling ball two on the draw, made no hesitation to put himself into the vacant Co’s Point.

After a few frustrating days it was Monday when he managed his first fish of the week, a small stocky.  Then it wasn’t until the Wednesday when his next piece of action came along, this being a nice 37lb 8oz mirror that is called ‘Rising Star’ and is one of our original scaly fish that reside in here.  This fish was caught out at 30 wraps to the ‘flat oaks’ and caught on 2 grains of slow sinking corn on Longshank Beaked size 4 hooks and fished on spinner rigs with a D Rig Kicker and a Shot on the Hook.

But it was then on the Thursday morning when he had his final fish of the week and a 50lb’er to boot.  

Once weighed and put on the mat in the water and unveiling it from the swim, I couldn’t believe my eyes……..it was ‘James’ again, a fish that Mark had caught Sunday night over in The Alamo.

This was also caught from the ‘Flat Oaks’ but to the right-hand side of this spot.  This one though was caught on a match the hatch dumbbell with a Northern Special topper.

Bait wise Dean introduced a mix of corn, flake maize, whole and crushed Live System boilie with liquid bloodworm for added attraction.  Dean put in around three 17ltrs of bait for the week to get the fish feeding on his spot.

Lastly now for this catch report we had Courtney Pody who after pulling out the last ball in the hat dropped into the vacant Oblivion.

Just like with Mark next door in The Alamo, Court also used the ‘dome tree’ as his visual marker but fished out at 33 wraps and opted not to introduce any bait the first night and just fish singles and manged a bite on the first night.  This turned out to be ‘Flecktarn’ that weighed 31lb 12oz.

This fish was caught on a combi rig that was baited with a yellow Manilla wafter.

Sadly, this was the only piece of action that came Courts way, but as with all the lads this week he certainly made for good company during the week.

A 24 fish week isn’t too bad for the time of year; everyone fished their hearts out and did the best they could with the weather that they had to endure throughout the week.

Until next time, tight lines

Gareth “Gino”