Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 10/07/2021

England vs Italy !!!!! 

In more ways than one ……..

How do we start this emotional roller coaster of week? Not only did we have the football to look forward to on the Sunday, but the fishing had improved massively the week before.  If this wasn’t enough, we had 2 crazy Italians fishing, so you just know the week is going to be full of highs, lows and general good times all around. The weather was due to change too, the previous week had seen some high temperatures and high pressure with lots of the fish hugging the margins and up in the water. This week we had wind (AWESOME) rain (YES) and lower pressures (RESULT). The stars were aligning for a good week and the mission was on!!!! Without further ado and less waffling on let jump over to Co’s point where this week’s journey starts………………….

Ahhhhh “Co’s Point”, what a swim, possibly one of the most popular swims on the lake commanding the middle body of the lake. Adrian Dobrinskyj had the absolute pleasure of making this swim his home for the week. No stranger to Gigantica Ady wasted no time in getting set up and decided to fish the area known as “The Tits” and an all 3 rods on the spot tactic. When you speak to Ady you can tell that this man knows his stuff, Ady had come armed with Sticky Baits Krill boilie and mixing it with maize and hemp he started of deploying on average 5 kilo a day on the spot at 28 wraps. Nothing complicated about Adys fishing but my god if there was ever an advertisement at Gigantica for fishing tight and baiting accurately this was it. I can’t emphasise how important this tactic is and one that people get wrong on a regular basis. I for one want 3 chances of a bite when the fish move on me and this is something learnt also from the seasonal regulars and its deadly. How does 2 original fish on the first night up to 46lb (Cookies and Cream) grab you for a correct way to approach the week! Regular topping up of the deadly mix of bait and using standard blowback rigs with sticky bait bottom bait tipped with an orange pepper and peach snowman was the winning method. Ady consistently caught every day getting into the stockies a little bit but the nice ones into mid 30s. Something special happened on the morning of the Wednesday though!!!! Not 1 but 2 of the lakes beautiful big ones decided to pay him a visit. Typical slow big fish bites saw “The Cheese” at a weight of 54lb 8oz and “The Clean Fish” at a clonking 60lb 8oz both want a big cuddle with the man. I still get blown away at the size of the fish in this lake and to say that there’s that 1 fish that is nearly 37lb bigger is ridiculous!!!!!!! So halfway through the week and a 60, a 50 and loads of back up fish!! Im sure most people would take those results before they arrived but Ady wasn’t done yet!! After another few stockies on the Friday he decided to add another, YES another 60lber to his tally!!! A fish named “The Vicar” a collosal common paid him a visit and at 60lb on the nose she looked absolutely stunning and it was a pleasure to share the moment with you my friend! What a week and Ady got Co’s rocking, well done to you and we had some amazing laughs along the way didn’t we, keep in touch and let’s sort that session (ooer) out back in the UK!!.................

A short 30 wrap cast to the left of Co’s and I reckon you would land right on the head of a crazy, bearded, zero filtered man named Greg Jones in “Big Southerly”. After about 5 minutes chatting with Greg it was clear that this man lived his life the way he wants to on his terms and if you don’t like his crazy and maybe weird ways then sod it. The bromance was real and my god we had some laughs this week but let’s get one thing straight from the off. All weird stuff aside this man can catch fish! I mean he’s landed carp to over 100lb and who the hell can come to Gigantica and say there isn’t a PB residing in the watery depths, but this man can. Himself and Ady came as a pair (not in that way) and you can tell they have homed their skills over the years. Same baiting methods, same hook baits, same rigs. Over the years allot of time effort and expertise has gone into how they both approach a water and it obviously is a winning combination. Greg chose to fish out at 25 wraps to “The Hump” with 1 rod towards the snags to the left at 14 wraps. The main spot saw a similar 5 k of mix Sticky Baits Krill boilie with maize and hemp deployed daily to get it rocking and a big fish approach of just boilie down to the snags hoping for something special to happen down there although the 14 wrap spot didn’t happen, unless we count tench and no Greg we don’t haha although we did stage a photo that couldn’t have been less carpy with as much stuff in the background as possible!!. Now back to the fishing in hand and “The hump” I’ve lost count of the times this spot has produced big fish! Gregs week started stead picking up a few stockies over the first couple of days but it wasn’t until the Monday when the call came that something special laid in the folds of his net. I can’t explain the beauty of this fish, with red markings all over her she looks just stunning, “The Stranger” certainly is. This fish doesn’t grace the bank to regularly and at a weight of 51lb 12oz she was just awesome to witness! The old sticky baits bottom bait with orange pepper and peach snowman again doing the business, this accounted for another stocky before the next lump turned up. Whilst conducting the strangest photo shoot (rig and bait shots) Gregs right hand rod melted and when I say melted, IT MELTED off. I grabbed the camera to take some in action shots and looked at the rod, it was properly bent with that typical slow pull type of bend. The mood changed to serious and the camera was put down whilst Greg played this fish like a pro into the waiting net. “The Face” lay there with a back on her that could hold a saddle. She was weighed at 50lb 4oz and I was filled with fish envy!!!! What a creature and she looked stunning in her pictures. Big Southerly did a typical big southerly week. She always throws you a couple of whoppers along the way and that 25 spot is awesome!! Well done my friend keep being you as you are awesome!!!!......... 

Anybody heard of a swim called “Bobs Beach”? no? well your crazy!! No introduction needed as we all know this is where that colossal creature was last caught. Stuart Minney had decided to choose to target this area where it produces fish that come from no other area in the lake. Being slightly deeper than the main body of water, this side of the lake and the slight silt that is full of blood worm. Stu decided to fish heli systems to combat the silt and give him perfect presentation. 20 wraps towards the rocks in between Stink and The Alamo was the designated ambush point and Spinner rigs loaded with double SSM and Snowmen consisting of Mainline Link and pineapple popups. It was a good start ever as on the second evening after already losing one Stu landed a beautiful original scaley one named “Trans Pretty One” at 31lb 8oz, she enjoyed a little photo shoot in the arms of Stu and got his week off the mark. Deploying a mixture of mainling Link and maize onto the spot between 3 and 5 kilos a day had done the trick. The very next evening saw another original stunner grace his net. “Black Scale” lay there, the distinguishing scale pattern giving her away straight away she tipped the scales to 32lb just down in weight after spawning. This saw the last of the action for a while but 1 thing about Stu is he never faltered; his patience was something to be admired. Knowing that Beach doesn’t always do big numbers of fish but always with a chance of a monster he stuck to the spot and as advised eased the baiting from Wednesday until the fish told him otherwise. On the final evening his patience was rewarded with yet another original in the form of “Jasons” at a clonking 38lb. Stu it was a pleasure to fish with you and get to know you. Your angling was tight and accurate and a good time was had all week!! Stu decided to take advantage and stay on to do another week next week so tune in and see how he does in a new chosen swim!!! 

It was a week for international visitors as we not only had English lads but Italian and in Daan Pikaerts case “Belgian”. Daan previously fished the “Main Lake” last year and has also fished “Road Lake”. Choosing to go into “Baxters” this time he chose to fish out at 21 wraps towards “Stink” I always say in regard to Baxters, Beach and even Treeline if its fishing open water that these swims always evenly fish if everybody fishes a similar distance. Stu and Daan did this exact same thing and the results were very much the same for the week. Just like Beach Daan caught on the second evening with a beautiful fish named “Rays” again another original. She swung the scales to a weight of 36lb 12oz and made Daan a very happy chappy. After sitting looking across the lake into big girls all week Daan had noticed that there was allot of activity in “Big Girls” with the action slow in “Baxters and in a full on down pour he packed up for the move!! He chose to fish the overflow from the stock ponds at 21 ½ wraps and 9 wraps to the big tree to the left. Armed with that old Main Lake favourite Mainline Link and lake cooked maize the move paid off with more action including “Gogglebox” which is an up and coming low 20 stocky. Although no big numbers of fish for Daan there was plenty of banter and although he threatened to cut my hair at least 5 times a day I managed to keep those flowing locks!!! Hahahaha its always a pleasure my Belgian friend, see you next time on your Road Lake mission!!!.........

Before I get onto the final portion of this week’s catch report there were also another couple of anglers in the form of Jason “The Belgian Sniper” Van Der Merwe and myself, Jason amazingly managed to go into “The Alamo” (don’t get used to that my friend) and chose to fish out just to the left of the big tree left of beach at 27 wraps. Jason’s angling was as good as ever although he will admit that he committed too much bait at the start and should have had a few more. He changed the amounts of bait introduced which in turn produced more bites. Obviously with Jason only fishing the evenings as he is helping us out this Summer, to produce 8 fish mostly from the mid-week onwards was good angling. Deploying Spinner rigs fishing with Link wafters tipped with white maize was producing the goods. Good old Mainline Link yet again with maize and pellet in the mix as loose feed over the top. Roughly 3 kilos a day was the desired amount that worked to pick up the bites. Biggest fish of the week was “Air Con” at 39lb 12oz and no Jason im not giving you 4oz to make it a 40lber hahaha. Myself (Phil Swift) resided in “Pole Position” ohhhhhhh I love Pole, fishing to the “W” at 28 wraps was the winning area. Its clean and I absolutely love fishing 3 tight rods and baiting over the middle rod to keep it all perfect for the ambush. I’d say on average I was getting a couple of fish a day but I myself made the mistake of not baiting after having the initial hit. I think if I had done there would have been more fish joined the party. Maize, pellet and hemp with a splash of oil as loose feed and again 3 kilos a day was deployed. Again, fishing spinner rigs (one trick pony) on size 4 Kurve Shanks did the business. Star fish of the week for myself was a fish name “Pearly Linear” which is one of the biggest original stockies in the lake at 42lb, what a stunning creature she is !!!!!!!...............

Last but by no means least we will have a little wander to Italy and the dynamic duo that is Daniele Bedini and Matteo Bini, what an absolute laugh a minute with these two!!!!  Both competent anglers Daniele chose to go in “Alcatraz” and Matteo chose “Stock Pond”. I always try and tell a truthful story in the reports and im sure Matteo will tell you also that it was the wrong time to have bought some new equipment. It takes a while to get used to new rods and he struggled a little getting the bait out onto the right area, but I will tell you this, his smile never faltered, and he kept the faith the entire week. Spots wise he decided to have a single rod on the 27 ½ wrap spot and then fish 2 rods at 24 ½ to the pumps in the margin and baiting in a strip from the bank. Matteo got his first Gigantica carp on Tuesday in the early hours from the long spot and what a beauty it was, “Welton’s” is a smaller original fish that was more than welcome!! Unfortunately, this was Matteo’s only carp but he did also manage a tench and oh how we all wished it was a carp as he had really put in so much effort. Next time my friend the time will be yours and those big girls are waiting!!!!

The other part of the dynamic duo was bivvied up over in “Alcatraz” and fishing out at 28 wraps towards the left of “Stink” Daniele had a much more productive week. Daniele holds the weeks record for most species caught landing carp, a bream and a couple of tench haha but he stuck to the spot and produced on a regular basis. The biggest of the bunch was a stunning common named “Rustys Revenge” at a clonking 42lb!! the Mainline link doing the business again mixed with maize, pellet and hemp but the solid bag stealing the limelight in the occasion with a single grain of maize being the method to attract most of his bites. The funniest story involving bailiff Phil having a take on his left-hand rod which kited over Daniele’s right and middle rod and then Matteo hand lining in the fish was just one of the laughs amongst many. We can’t wait to have you boys back and make sure you bring more of you crazy Italians.

Well England may have lost in the final of the euros against those Italians to the joy of Daniele and Matteo but the English definitely showed the way on the fishing front haha. Altogether we landed 47 carp, 3 short of the 50 total I had set them but what a week. It may have been rainy, wet and windy but the spirits were high all week and everybody left with massive smiles and eager to return.

Till next time guys n gals, tight lines, be lucky and bag a chunk!.......

Phil