Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 15/07/2023

Scaley Bangers Alert!!!

 

Arrival day was upon us again, and with a fresh bunch of keen anglers awaiting the 1pm gate opening time they arrived just in time for a very wet walk around of the lake, before taking part in what I think is the high light of the day for me…...the draw of swims.

With temperatures still very high for the start of the week but cooling off slightly in the later part of it with a bit more breeze and a much fresher feel to the air the week was to bring a couple of insanely incredible looking carp and a good number of the growing stock fish that have been introduced over the last few years in to Gigantica.

 

First off it would be rude not to start with one of the most incredible looking fish I have ever seen. 

Greg Bailey, found himself plotted up in the ever popular Co’s Point for the week.  Concentrating two of his rods at 28 wraps out in front of him and one set a bit shorter at 15 wraps it wasn’t until the Monday night/early hours of Tuesday that Greg started to get amongst the fish with two 38lb carp gracing his net through the night, one a piece coming from both spots he was fishing at.

Wednesday morning came and shortly after the breakfast run, I received a call from Greg saying he had a decent fish in the net.  Greg had landed ‘Pixles’ weighing in at 40lb 8oz from his 28 wrap area.

Friday morning at a similar time before Greg landed a smaller resident weighing 16lb, but then shortly after lunch time Greg again phoned me to inform me, he had a fish over 60lb in the sling!

What a fish it was to!  Without doubt one of, if not, the best looking mirror in the lake…..’Fred’ and it spun that dial around to 62lb 4oz, again from the 28 wrap area, and a new PB for Greg.  With some helpers around for the pictures and some blown away spectators the pictures were done in the afternoon sunshine and the fish was soon back on its way back into the depths of the lake. Very well-done Greg, you will not forget that capture for a very long time.

Greg’s final night had him up three more times for fish …….. 19, 24 and 36lb. 

All in all, a great end to the week for him, with the fish being taken on spinner rigs with match the hatch pimped up bottom baits and the bait of choice being Baitworks Royal Marine.  A smelly ol’ bait but the carp here love it.

 

Next up and landing one of the other “scaley bangers” that reside here at Gigantica, we had Ben Mitchell.  Ben found himself picking to fish in Alcatraz, and after a good lead around on the Saturday I managed to put him onto a clearer area amongst the weed at 28 wraps just to the right of Big Southerly as he looked.  2 rods were fished in this area with his third rod being fished at a slightly shorter area at 16 wraps to his right slightly where he had seen some fish activity.

It was Sunday when Ben managed to net his first of the trip, ‘El Capitano’ at 28lb 14oz, taken from the 28 wrap spot and on a spinner rig with a lead clip set up and a Baitworks Pineaphell pop-up.  Later that evening Ben went on to land another carp, a nice looking 27lb Common again from the same area as before.

It all went a little quiet after this for Ben, with a couple of fish lost and him on a multi species challenge it seemed, it wasn’t until Wednesday when he managed to land himself a nice 34lb’er.

Then at first light on the Friday he phoned me to say he had an expected 50lb fish that he had just landed.  Oh my……what an incredible way to start the day.  ‘Patched Fully’ weighing in at 52lb 4oz, this time taken on a solid bag but again at the 28 wrap area.  What a fish to end your trip on.  Something like that makes the journey home that much nicer.  Well done again Ben.

 

James Edwards slotted into fish Big Southerly for his weeks stay James managed to get one rod out 14 wraps towards the snag to his left and a couple rods a bit shorter out in front of him for the first night due to a bad back.  This wasn’t an issue though as he managed to land ‘Lashes’ at 47lb 2oz at around midnight.  This fish came from the snag area at 14 wraps.

Sunday morning James found himself in again, this time from one of the rods that he had put short in front of him at 12 wraps.  This time landing ‘Double Jabba’ weighing 28lb.  A good first day with a couple of fish landed then it all went a bit quiet for James but he did manage to get his rods out to the hump area at 25 wraps and was rewarded with one of our 2022 stockies at 22lb, which he christened J1R (Just 1 Rod) and then on the last morning whilst packing down landed ‘Lennies’ at 44lb 12oz……another spawned out 50.

Well angled James, he kept at it and managed a few fish for his work.

 

Next door in Scotties Corner we had Neil Jaundrell.  Neil managed to get off to a good start, having the first fish of the week at about 8pm and landed ‘Nathan’s’ weighing a healthy 36lb 2oz.  This was taken on a solid bag fished 17 wraps to the left of the weed bed towards open water.  Saturday night led to more action for Neil, going on to land ‘Monster’ at 23lb 1oz plus two others weighing 36lb and 26lb.  Great first nights angling.  As with next door (Big Southerly) it all went a little quiet for a few days but Neil plugged away and managed a 28lb mirror on the Thursday and then a couple of small doubles to finish his trip off.

Well done Neil on your session.

 

Jimmy Martin found himself pitched up near the club house in Pole Position and what great company he was all week.

After a good lead around out long Jimmy decided to set his traps a little closer in and was rewarded on the Monday with ‘White Spot’ at 24lb 3oz and then on the Tuesday landing ‘Tobs’ at 37lb 11oz.  Both fish being caught from 19 wraps towards the scary tree on solid bags with small pink squid wafters.

Jimmy then managed to lose two fish on the bounce on Thursday morning but went on that day to land two more.  ‘Stairway 2H’ at 25lb 14oz and ‘AJ’s’ weighing 30lb 3oz.

Jimmy’s final prize came on his last night when he banked one of our super stockies the ‘Pearly Lin’ at a new top weight for that fish at 48lb 6oz.  This time coming from 16 wraps just to the right of Alamo.  This fish will break the 50lb barrier this year.

Well done again Jimmy look forward to seeing you here again one day.

 

Regular visitor to Gigantica is Chris Irving and having a good draw opted to drop into ‘Bob’s Beach’ for the week.

Chris went on to have a great first day’s angling landing three fish, one bite on each of his rods.  A 37lb Common in the night and two early morning bites ‘Ryan’s Run’ at 31lb 15oz and ‘Beach Life’ (very aptly named) weighing 32lb 4oz.

As with some of the other anglers it all went a bit quiet for a few days, but then fishing out a little longer at 28 wraps Chris found himself landing ‘Jason’s’ at 36lb 3oz on the Friday and then a nice clean 31lb 4oz common on the final morning.

Chris caught his fish over just boilie and fished Baitworks Royal Marine with Scent From Hell hookbaits.

 

Lee Flynn plotted up in ‘The Alamo’ and set his rods out fishing 27 wraps in front and also one shorter at 16 wraps aiming towards the club house.

Lee’s first fish didn’t arrive until the Tuesday evening shortly before sundown landing ‘The Movie Star’ at 36lb 6oz nice looking original carp this one.  This was caught from the 16 wrap spot on a match the hatch Link wafter on an IQ-D rig fished on a heli set up.

On Wednesday night from his longer spot Lee landed ‘A.W.O.L’ at 39lb 2oz, another of the original stock. An IQ-D rig and a match the hatch Link wafter doing the do again.

Lee’s final taste of the action came 2am on the Friday with ‘The Runt’ at 36lb 6oz.  As before from the longer spot on the same tactics.

Not loads for Lee but some nice-looking fish and a good average weight.  Well done mate.

 

Tom Griffiths landed ball number one and went into ‘Big Girls’ as it had been on form the week before.

Concentrating his main fishing area from where the bites had come the week before (26 wraps just off the head land) Tom went on to catch one of the fresh stockies on the Monday evening, which is now called ‘Skydive’ as if he had blanked, I believe he had to take part in one next door to us.  This weighed 21lb 4oz and saved him from the jump.

‘Ashes to Ashes’ was his next capture the following evening, this one went 34lb 8oz.  Another of the growing stockies.

Tom’s final fish of his hattrick was just before dark on the Thursday with another stocky at 23lb 4oz.

Tom fished spinner rigs with double fake maize and fed a mixture of boilie, house pellet and maize.

 

Another of our regulars graced us with his company this week, Chris Clarke.

Coming out seventh in the draw Chris put himself in ‘Baxters’.

It was slow going for a time for Chris but he managed to land one of last year’s fish at 25lb 7oz, which is now named ‘Baxter’.

This one was caught from ‘out in the pond somewhere’.

Chris managed one more fish, a mid 30lb mirror from this margin area to his right towards the gap in the corner.

Well done Chris, and great company as always.

 

Tim came out last in the draw but still got his number one choice of swim ‘The Stink’.  It’s amazing how the draw works out sometimes.

After losing his first few bites at the beginning of the week he kept at it and was rewarded finally on the very last night landing two carp from his longer area at 28 wraps, both 30lb fish being 32lb and 38lb respectively.

Great perseverance and it all worked out okay in the end.  Well done Tim.

 

Gareth ‘Gino’ Radley (myself) dropped into the vacant ‘Stock Pond’ for three nights fishing this week.  After baiting it for the first day and resting the area I went on to land 8 fish, with the majority of these being 20lb fish I managed a couple of the 30lb mark with the biggest being ‘My Bait’ at 35lb 2oz.

Six of my fish came from 26 wraps towards the pipes in the corner of the lake and also managed one from 7 wraps to my right hand side and another from 17 wraps just to the right of Oblivion as I looked.

All of these were caught on Heli set ups and IQ-D rigs comprising of IQ2, size 4 Chod hooks and hook baits picked straight out of the bag of the boilies I was feeding, this being mainly Mainline Hybrid.

I fed heavy and this kept the bites coming.

 

That’s it for another week here on the Main Lake in Gigantica.  The fish seem well spread at the moment with all areas having some action and it was great to see those two scaley fish this week.

 

Until next time, tight lines.

‘Gino’