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Bailiff Comments
Week Commencing: Sat 16/03/2019
We are finally back up and running after the winter closedown on the Road Lake. With the much warmer weather conditions, and the fish showing on dusk and through the night, we had high hopes for the early season anglers snaring a few fish. The key to success in the early season is to be vigilant, and let the fish tell you where they are feeding.
WC 9th March
Dennis Clemson and his partner Yvette Workman were the first visitors of the year, and they had the luxury of having the whole lake to themselves. Setting up base camp in Tea Party, the plan was to fish the nights over a baited area, and then prime some spots in the other swims and spend the days being mobile and trying to pinch a couple out of the edges. Dennis got the dream start that we all wish for, when on Saturday night he called to say he had a good fish in the net already! The culprit turned out to be a new fifty pounder known as “The German” at 50lb 4oz, which he followed up with a 29lb 8oz Common. He caught the fish over 3kg of Mainline Cell boilies mixed with our pellet. A White Cell Wafter did the trick. The weather then took a turn for the worse and put the fish down for a few days. On Friday things came back to life and Yvette got in on the action with a Leather of 23lb 8oz and then unfortunately one dropped off. She fished identical tactics to Den. They both had a great week and are back again later in the year.
WC 16 March
With four first time visitors booked on for the week, they were going to have plenty of scope to move onto showing fish which can be a massive help at this time of year. The weather was still fairly mild, with sunny days and a couple of cooler nights. We didn’t have to do the dreaded draw, as the lads were all mates, and came to a gentlemen’s agreement.
Sam Booman went into Turtle Corner and started off fishing a boilie approach, utilising the throwing stick as the venues he fishes in the UK don’t require him to use the Spomb. The fish were really active during the evenings and early morning, but he hadn’t managed to get his first fish under his belt. After a bit of help from Andy the Bailiff, he was “Spombing like God” to his spot at 19 wraps. A significant change was made to the bait which Sam introduced. Instead of whole Baits out of the throwing stick (a great summer/autumn tactic), the mix had the attraction levels increased. The boilies were chopped and crumbed, and some 4mm pellet added along with some liquids. This approach will hold the fish for a little longer and keep them coming back to the spot.
The next morning Sam called to say he had caught one, and a lovely 33lb Mirror opened his account nicely. He soon got into his stride, and after a couple of fish unfortunately dropped off, his next fish was one of the long scaley mirrors at a fraction under 30lb. When you see the pictures, we’re sure you’ll agree that the weight is immaterial; what a stunner. Things then went a bit quiet until the early hours on Saturday morning when a cracking Common finished off a good week for Sam. Now he knows the tactic, we predict he’s going to smash it up on his next trip.
Kevin Barret went intoTea Party and out to the 16 wrap spot with one rod, where Dennis had caught The German. He moved the other two rods around, trying different spots. But despite there being plenty of fish in the area, no bites were forthcoming. Kev has been around the block a few times (in carp fishing terms!) and stuck with fishing how he likes, which was baiting up with whole baits (Mainline FYBER) with either the catapult or throwing stick. Later in the week he started to introduce particle and crumb laden balls of scalded pellet, which had the desired effect. On Friday morning he finally had the bite he’d worked hard for, and a nice scaley 20lb Mirror was his prize.
All four of the lads made a monumental effort to catch, and were all deserving of a chunk or two, but unfortunately on this occasion, it was not to be. They have already booked for next year, and the things they learnt this year will be invaluable on the return trip. Definitely unfinished business to complete. It was a brilliant week, with a great bunch of lads, the time simply flew by.
We have taken the decision to reduce the number of anglers on the Road Lake during March every year. This will give scope to all the anglers who visit during this month to move around the lake. This will come into effect in 2020 where we will only have six spaces available instead the usual twelve. There are some absolute monsters to be caught in March; it’s a great time to be on the bank.
Until next time……….Bonne Peche
Andy
Team Gigantica