Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 30/11/2019

November round up,

Week Commencing 02/11/2019

With the weather set to be up and down temperature wise for the lads this week, it was always going to be a tricky one from the off…but the boys were not deterred by this and confidence was high throughout the camp! Once the walk around and draw were out of the way, everybody got started!

Geofferson Longley came out number 1 in the draw and after seeing fish on the walk around he decided on “Bob’s Beach” for the week and didn’t hesitate in getting started…having a lead around towards the Stink and the Alamo Geoff decided to fish at 25 wraps towards the Alamo, a little bit of a softer drop than towards the Stink but the fish were showing there and Geoff planned to fish solid bags so the softer bottom would not be an issue. Geoff had a quick bite early Sunday morning and landed a 33lb 8oz mirror! Great start... Geoff kept the bait going in little and often, opting for DNA Secret 7 with lots of added liquid attraction. Waiting patiently for his next bite which came at 4am on Wednesday morning Geoff knew straight away that he was into a better fish, the fight was immense and the carp kept trying to take him down the right margin which is notoriously snaggy with zebra mussel coated branches that can cause serious problems, Geoff managed to coax the fish back out in front of him and it stayed deep for a while, it eventually started to come up in the water when Geoff got a glimpse of a big Common under the surface….Slipping the net under “The Virgin” at 59lb 12oz!! A new P.B Common for Geoff and definitely going to be another 60lber for the lake next year! What a mega mega common, everybody reeled in and came round to witness the pic and the buzz was shared by everyone! Geoff fished multirigs inside his bags. This was to be the last of the action for Geoff but what an epic result! Well done mate

Chris “0161" Clarke was on his second week in a row and with another good draw he managed to land himself Co’s Point again, good things were expected as having the same angler in the same swim for 2 weeks consistently can only be a good thing. Same distance, same rigs and the same baiting approach should equal good results. Chris didn’t bait up on Saturday as he had baited up on the Friday and not ahd a bite Friday night, so it was rigs back out on the spot at 29.5 wraps to the tits…this approach worked as he landed a 20lb 2018 stockie on Saturday evening on an IQD rig with a white SFH wafter! Sunday morning and Chris was in again landing another 20lb mirror, this time on a solid bag. Chris had to wait until Tuesday for his next bite which resulted in “Snags Linear” at 53lb what a result!! After a few snaps the old warrior was put back to make another anglers week and Chris set about putting the rod back on the spot and getting some more bait out…baiting up after a bite will keep the fish in the swim for longer and personally I don’t think it makes a difference if there are fish there feeding and you are spombing over the top, in 20ft of water the noise will be minimal and disturbance kept to next to nothing. The proof was in the pudding and Chris landed 2 more stockies throughout the night. It then went quiet for a few nights until Friday night when Chris decided to put a solid bag off the spot towards “the flat oak” which resulted in a 23lb 8oz mirror! Good solid angling from Chris who has been one of the most consistent anglers we have had on this year! 

Dean Ennis found himself in The Alamo for the week and is a very competent long range angler, deciding to fish at 29.5 wraps between Baxters and Alcatraz he baited with a mixture of Manilla, maize and pellet fishing D-rig Snowmen over the top incorporating a krill bottom bait with a white manilla pop up. Deans first bite came on Monday night and what a fish to start things off! “Soveriegn” at 54lb 12oz and its first time over 50lb! To say Dean was happy is an understatement, after a fair few trips and catching consistently he had never really got into any of the bigger fish here on the Main Lake! Well that changed and his first 50lber out of here was an absolute cracker!! The action slowed after that for Dean with the fish seemingly pushing further out into the middle as the days went by, this made Dean have a rethink and he decided to push further out with them, putting a rig out at 33.5 wraps towards the big tree left of beach and putting 10 spombs over the top. This change of approach worked with Dean landing “Ying Yang” at 29lb 4oz on the Friday night!

Paul Clements fished in Treeline for the week and landed a 32lb original in the shape of “Ed lamp” fishing further than most at 28 wraps towards Stink, Paul baited with 2kg of Royal Marine and Monster Red, fishing a slip D over the top with a Royal Marine Wafter.

Steve the bailiff dropped into the empty Big Southerly for a few nights and fished 2 rods on the small gravel hump at 25.5 wraps to a small dip in the trees left of Alcatraz…Baiting with 10 spombs of pellet per day and fishing his trusty spinner rigs with pink almond infused pop ups he had an absolute rip roaring take on Thursday morning and after an insane fight that led him a merry dance all over the place he slipped the net cord under “The Vicar” at 56lb 8oz!! A new P.B common and a very happy Steve!! 

12 fish landed in total with 4 of them being over the magical 50lb mark! Not bad going and the big commons seemed to have a feed this week with 3 of the 4 50lbers being commons! A great week had by all and I look forward to catching up with you all soon!

Week Commencing 09/11/2019

With some cold snaps forecast for the next couple of weeks it looked like the fish could shut up shop, but the lads were not discouraged and tried hard all week despite only 1 fish coming out on the first night to Ash Rich who was fishing in the Alamo with his pal Jim. Fishing at 28 wraps with a solid bag tripped up the 30lber.

Week Commencing 16/11/2019

This week was the fish grading and stocking week with DF, Frenchy and Andrew Gibbens coming out on the Monday with Fishery Manager Andy to start proceedings for the stocking this year…

On the fishing front it was slow with Dean Ennis making a return to the lake soon after his previous success in Alamo and dropped into the Beach, things started off well when he landed “Penny” at 27lb 4oz on the first night fishing 25 wraps to Alamo and using solid bags (as Geoff was on the week that Dean was last here) that was it for bites for the week until Andrew Gibbens who was fishing in Alcatraz landed …. At …. Fishing solid bags at range towards Big Southerly. Slow on the fishing front but we like the thank the guys and girls who helped us with the grading and the stocking this week, your help was invaluable and made the process a lot easier…more hands make less work! 

Week Commencing 23/11/2019

With the weather still all over the place it seemed like it would be another hard week.

Paul Carpenter fishing in Alamo landed 2 20lb commons one on a 4ft zig and one on a spinner rig both fished over 10 spombs of hemp, maize and pre-soaked boilies.

Adrian “Buzz” Burrett made a return to the lake and dropped into Co’s landing a 27lb mirror, fishing at 27.5 wraps to the flat oak, using Essential Cell and DNA Switch fishing Essential Cell pop ups and plastic maize over the top.

Rich “The Chase” Winter plugged away all week in Pole positon trying many different tactics to trip up these elusive carp. Eventually he nicked on the Friday on a 4ft zig fished over his baited area at 27 wraps to Stink

Week Commencing 30/11/2019

Aaron Gurney fished in Co’s and went on to land a 21lb mirror from 27.5 wraps to the tits.

That’s it for November with the first week fishing well and then the cold snap causing the fish to really slow down on the feed, with a mild December forecast we are hoping the fish turn on for a munch again before the year is out!

Until then,

Tight lines,

Steve