Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 17/08/2019

The heavens opened on us during the walk round and throughout the evening which made a few of the angler’s dive for shelter but a few persisted through the weather. We had a couple of groups on this week with one, in their words not mine known as the Bristol massive… throughout the week the weather stayed fairly consistent with temperatures staying in the low to mid 20s. The fish were spread around the lake with most angles catching within the first 48 hours! Conditions looked good for a few fish… 

Aaron burke (Big Ron) fished Turtles Corner, after fishing the same swim on last year’s trip he did not hang about getting the rods and bait out on the spots. Aaron decided to fish 24wraps out towards the tall tree, fishing all 3 rods tight together. Despite the rain he pushed through to bait up 5kg over the spot. The effort paid off, as at 11pm that night Arron had netted his first fish of the trip being “Mr Massive” at 50lb. He consistently put fish on the bank each day. Monday he was rewarded with a 31lb mirror and 3 other fish.  It wasn’t until Thursday morning where he was rewarded with another gem from the lake this being in form of “Big Mac” at a new top weight of 57lb8oz!! he caught the fish on a spinner rig using a sticky signature white pop up.  But he didn’t stop there, that night he had another take which resulted in “Jeffs mirror” at 36lb8oz. Friday saw Aaron land another 3 fish up to 30lb 4oz but that still wasn’t it for him… as Saturday morning he landed a 40lb common which was “Little Top Lobe” at a new top weight and new 40 for the road lake! Big Ron set his stalls for the week keeping things simple and sticking to his spot all week. His bait mix consisted off mainly pellet and then 16mm sticky krill boilies, he added a couple of handfuls of 10mm pineapple boilies in his mix to imitate maize. This mix was then glazed in a Fish oil and left for the pellets to absorb before spombing out. He went through 65kg of bait throughout the week, with 40KG being made up of the fishery pellet. Just like his baiting approach, his rigs were kept simple using spinner rigs. Although changing his hookbaits throughout the week paid off, changing from white and yellow pop ups to white and yellow wafters also match the hatch krill bottom bait with bright coloured toppers. Ending the week with 16fish which included 50s,40s,30s and20s, A proper red-letter session for Aaron, top angling Shagger!

Next up is Joe Reed who came out last in the draw but still got his top choice swim, this being the Beach. He decided to fish 24 wraps towards the bung, baiting from the bung with pellet and sticky krill 12,16 and 18mm boilies. Baiting with a mixture of half’s, wholes and crumb. Joe had his first fish Sunday in form of a 24lb common.  Monday saw joe land 3 fish throughout the day, with the pick of the bunch being a 36lb8oz common which he got to name! Tuesday morning, he had fish but this time it was something a bit more special… he landed “The Long Common” at 48lb 8oz which was also a new PB for joe. The next flurry of fish joe had was Thursday where he landed 4 fish with the be biggest being “lazy mirror” at 36lb 4oz. The rig which produced most the bites for joe was a spinner rig with a white kicker fished with a white krill wafter. Although changing the hookbait put a few extra fish on the bank with the other baits including fake pop up corn and white krill pop ups. Joe baited up to 6kg a day with 75% of his mix being made up with pellet.

Nigel Badger decided to set up in The Goo and fish 3 rods at 15 wraps straight out. Rig choice was a blowback rig fished with wafter for the week. Nigel first fish came early hours Sunday morning in form of a 30lb common. The next night at the same time he was away again, this time with one of the lakes larger residents… this being “Rons” at 54lb. Nigel had bites at the same time being between 12am-2am each night until the last couple of nights where the fish moved off him! A pattern occurred and he could time his bites like clockwork! Nigel ended up with 7 fish throughout the trip and managed a 50, 40,30 and a 20!  Nigel found that the best choice of hook bait was a blowback rig with a dumbbell pineapple wafter. 

Craig Bastin came first out the draw and headed straight for Dunk. Another one who persisted through the heavy rain, it paid off as he had a fish in the net at 10pm on Saturday! This being a 35lb 4oz common known as “Daly Bread”, this was caught at 13 wraps straight out over 5kg of sticky krill boilie. Tuesday, he decided to move into Birches due to more fish activity in front of there. The move paid off as an early morning bite produced “Loerchen” at 38lb8oz.  Friday, he managed to pick up another 2 fish with the biggest being 25lb. Craig fished 20 wraps to the right of Billy’s, baiting with 5kg of boilies a day. His rig choice was German rigs with 2 grains of slow sinking corn.

Brad Orchard set up in Decoy after having some unfinished business with the swim from a previous trip. Brad settled to fish 16 wraps down towards the bung and then 18 wraps straight out towards the tree in the corner by the Cage. Sunday night he managed to land a 37lb mirror from the 18 wrap spot. starting out baiting heavy with straight boilie over both spots, after a few days he released that the people catching were all using the Gigantica pellet in there mix. Started introducing pellet on the Thursday and this produced a bite early hours Friday morning in form of “Goose” at 34lb. Brads rigs for the week was spinners baited with a verity of wafters and fake baits but it was the slow sinking fake corn which produced for brad. 

Rodger Morris started the week in Shingles but with no success on Thursday he moved into Brambles due to more fish activity down that end of the lake. Rodger set his stalls fishing 18 wraps out and giving them a good amount of bait. Started off baiting with 6kg and introduced another 6kg on the Friday. Early hours Saturday morning Rodger was into his first fish of the week. This being in form of “Swaley’s Mirror” at 40lb. Rodger baited with sticky baits krill and fished a matching wafter over the top presented on a spinner rig. 

Dave Watts headed straight for Tea Party once his number got called out in the draw. After a frustrating week watching fish crush over his spots, he persisted with his spots and it paid off! Saturday morning, he was into a 43lb mirror known as “4 Scale”. Dave baited with a mixture of boilies from mainline and sticky baits, then fished 2 grains of fake corn on a hair rig over the top on a spot fishing 16 wraps towards shingles. 

Russ Orchard started the week in The Poo but with no success, Thursday he moved into Dunkerque. The move paid off… 6am the following morning he landed a 23lb common Blank Saver! He fished 10 wraps towards Decoy and fished a solid bag with a link out the bag bottom bait boilie. Baiting with a scattering of link boilies this approach paid off for Russ. 

Scott Badger fished in Bachelliers, the game plan for him was to fish two rods towards the big tree at 21 wraps and baiting in a line down the shelf. Sunday night he had his first fish on the bank in the form of a 26lb mirror. The next bite came at the same time the next night which was a 25lb common. Unfortunately, the fish moved off him for the rest of the week and was unable to get amongst a few more fish. Armed with spinner rigs fished with banoffee pop ups done the trick. The baiting approach was a mixture of link and Fyber boilies with additional pellet. 

Oliver Badger decided to fish Billy’s after seeing fish present in the walk round. He started off short at 16 wraps due to seeing the fish moving about at that range. Baiting with a mixture of mainline link and pellet. The fish soon moved on him Sunday night which resulted in two fish with the biggest being 25lb. The fish fell to a banoffee pop up on a spinner rig and a cell wafter with a fake maize topper present on an IQ-D rig. 

Overall a good weeks fishing on the lake as every angler caught fish! A good crowd which fitted in well and had a good laugh with a few fish throwed in equals a top week for all! The “Bristol massive” had everyone calling each other shag or shagger by the end of the week… just can’t write it!  A good weeks fishing for the lake with 3 50s landed and 8 40s! The theme of the week was putting the bait in and most importantly adding the Gigantica pellet to the mix defiantly got the fish feeding. Well done to everyone on the lake who worked hard to put a fish on the bank! 

 Top Angling by all! 

Kierren Waters