Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 22/06/2019

“It’s hot! Damn hot! The twelve anglers arriving for their week were certainly going to get the hottest weather of the year so far. With daytime temperatures reaching well above thirty degrees and dropping to a chilly 27 degrees at night, it was going to be a hot, sticky affair. With spawning now out of the way, the fish should be well up for a bit of bait…..or so we thought!

Dan Price got his dream choice and set up in Turtle Corner for the week. Following the advice of Andy the bailiff, he set up his stall fishing three rods straight out in front at 19.75 wraps. He baited up with around 5kg of Sticky Krill and Gigantica Pellet to get the ball rolling, and then kept topping up with 10-12 Spombs after every fish. Saturday night, and he got off to a great start when he landed four fish in quick succession, the biggest being a new PB with “Lovin’ Life” at 43lb 8oz and the pressure was off for the week. He landed another fish on Monday morning at 37lb before the fish left the area. It remained quiet until the early hours of Saturday morning, when Dan finally got another chance, but disaster struck when the fish dropped off during the fight.

Nick James was on the Road Lake for the first time and chose Dunkerque to spend the week. A swim which commands the central area of the lake, and is usually good for a few bites. Bait for the week was from the CC Moore stable, and a mix of Pacific Tuna and Gigantica pellet, which he put out at 18 wraps towards the old Tea Party 2 swim. Starting off with a 6 kg mix, got the fish rooting around and in the early hours of Sunday morning he had his first bite. Like Dan, it also turned out to be a new PB, with a mid-forty Common called “Twin Patch” at 45lb 8oz! Nick persevered all week, but it just never happened for him. He’s definitely coming back to settle the score.

Marc “Bawl Bag” Pearce had Tea Party for the week and wasted no time in getting out a decent blob of bait to get the ball rolling. He introduced 8kg of Baitworks Royal Marine and Gigantica pellet at 18 wraps towards Turtles fishing snowman hookbaits on Combi-Rigs over the top. It took until Sunday afternoon before he got his first bite, which turned out to be a pretty 20lb Common. On Sunday evening the pack of fish did the off’ and things went a little quiet. He managed to tempt a bite on a 14ft zig with black foam on Friday evening, but the hook slipped after connecting with the fish. Unfortunately the fish didn’t come back in numbers, but Marc fished well, and would certainly have caught more if the fish had been feeding well.

Ricky Durrant started his week off in Double Boards, but when Bacheliers was vacated on Wednesday he was straight round there. Seeing a couple of fish moving on the far side, he fished a strip of bait out at 23 wraps and cast across a D-Rig with a homemade fruity white Pop-Up, topped with a piece of Korda fake IB Maize. On Friday morning he got the bite he had worked so hard for and landed himself a lovely 27lb 8oz Common. The fish fought like an absolute tiger, and also beat him up on the bank. We didn’t laugh much......honest! In a repeat performance on Saturday morning, Ricky landed another Common, but this time a bit bigger at 30lb which he named “Ric’s Tale”. It was a great way to end the week, and a good reward for the hard work he put in.

Paul Rayment fancied Shingles to start his week off; and having a view right down to the Beach saw fish move in there in numbers on Monday morning. A quick move was made to the Beach and he went out to 23 wraps towards the bund. Fishing a snowman hookbait on a combi rig he picked up a 47lb 12oz Common.

It turned out to be a really difficult week on the Road. With the fish having spawned twice in May, we thought that the fish had got spawning out of the way. This turned out not to be the case, as the super-hot spike in temperatures saw the fish spawning on Wednesday and Thursday, which meant they were not interested in eating angler’s bait, when the chance of some “nooki” presented itself. There are some things which we can control at Gigantica, but the fish behavior and the weather are unfortunately out of our control. 

The hot weather is forecast to abate in the next two days, and it will be business as usual. That's why we go “fishing”, not “catching”.

Until Next Time…..

Bonne Peche and Tight Lines

Andy

Team Gigantica