Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 07/08/2021

                                  Record Breaking Week for The Fat Fish Group…….

The Fat Fish annual trip was finally here and with the numbers lower than the usual turnout with just 5 able to make it the choice of swims was let’s just say a little overwhelming. Regular visitor to Gigantica John Allen joined them as did Jason Vandemerwe who has been helping out around the venue, making the numbers up to 7 anglers for the week of which could spread themselves out around the lake in an attempt to keep the fish moving.  With the weather forecast to be a lovely sunny week with temperatures up to 30 degrees with westerly winds and fish showing all over the lake it was looking to be a great week of fishing ahead…. 

First up is Andy (Pandy) Norris who chose to spend the week in Birches. Andy wasted no time getting set up and finding a nice gravel bar at 18 wraps straight out in front of him, baiting up with 5kg Mainline Cell and 5kg of maize and pellet mix fishing all 3 rods to the area with  D rigs and yellow wafter hook baits.  Andy's first take came early hours Sunday morning, 4am I had a call to say I  have a 50+ in the sling..  it turned out to be a fish called Rose Bud weighing in at 53lb, not bad for your first road lake carp!! Well done mate. Baiting up with around 7kg throughout the day everyday Andy caught steadily throughout the week, amongst Andy’s captures a lovely scaley original called “Billy’s Pretty One” @ 25lb, a cracking common called  “Golden Virginia” @ 38lb, “Cooper @ 33lb to name but a few. Andy managed a total of 26 fish for the week, now that’s pretty good going for your first visit to Gigantica !! Well done mate great angling.

Next up is Shane Hull who chose to fish Decoy. Shane started the week with a good bed of bait around 8kg of Mainline Cell, maize and pellet spombed out at 16 1/2 wraps to the end of the gravel bar where he fished with 2 rods using a D rig and yellow dumbbell wafter, his 3rd rod was fished at 14 wraps to his right towards to bund wall. It didn’t take long for the action to start for Shane, the fish found the bait Sunday morning and the takes just kept coming all week in fact he was getting double takes whilst trying to spomb bait out! With the majority of takes coming from 14 wrap spot Shane decided to place 2 rods in the area resulting in a 64 fish haul for the week with the biggest being an absolute cracker of a common named “The Jackal” weighing in at 51lb backed up by plenty of other 20’s 30’s & 40’s including “The wedge” weighing 46lb 4oz  “The Archer” @ 43lb, “The Jewel” @43lb 8oz, “The stalker” @40lb, “Pac Man” @41lb 8oz, “Walkers” @ 36lb . The list goes on lol. I believe this is the most fish ever caught by a single person in a week so massive congratulations to Shane on his first visit to the Road Lake. Top angling and great week mate. 

Up next we have Paul Norris who’s chosen swim was Brambles, situated between son Andy and Andy’s friend Shane, maybe to keep an eye on them ? Or maybe just for the social lol. Fishing at the same distance 18 wraps to the gravel bar as Andy next door was the strategic plan for the week. keeping the bait on the same line always works well in these swims holding the fish to the area for longer periods of time. Paul started with a good amount of bait on the first night using 5kg Mainline Link and Cell mix and 5kg maize and pellet mix, a real banquet of food offerings! Fishing all 3 rods to the area with D rigs and wafter hook bait Paul’s first take came Sunday morning resulting in a lovely common named “Grim Reaper” weighing 44lb 4oz, not a bad start ! Paul’s daily approach was to spomb 6-7kg daily throughout the day to keep the bites coming. This proved successful with a total of 26 fish including a few crackers and 2 PB’s . First PB for Paul was a mirror called “Big Pecs” weighing 50lb on the nose followed by a cracking common named “Long Common” just under the 50lb mark weighing 49lb 12oz. With plenty of other 20’s 30’s and 40’s along they way including “The Model” @44lb 12oz, “Cracker @42lb 8oz, “Wilbur” @36lb and “The Cage Fighter”@37lb to name but a few. An awesome weeks angling mate and congratulations on a PB mirror and common in the same week !! 

Next up Jason Foster who as a rule doesn’t usually do well in the draw chose to fish a swim he had always fancied, Tea Party 1. Armed with a new spod rod Jason set about getting some bait out to his chosen area, having fun with his new spod rod Jason put around 10kg Mainline Link, maize and pellet mix out to get things going. Fishing 2 rods at 21 wraps just right off Turtles and his 3rd rod 16 wraps at the spire using spinner rigs and yellow wafter hook bait. Jason had 6 takes of the 21 wrap spot by Sunday and the biggest being a lovely common named “Bronson” @34lb , Jason decided it was time to try out a zig fished an 11ft on the 16 wrap spot, having not had much success in the past with zigs was a little unsure but the results spoke for themselves. Jason kept the bait going in by spombing pellet and boilie crumb over the zig which proved to be a winning approach With a total of 42 fish caught for the week with most coming from the zig Jason was now hooked on zigs. Jason’s biggest for the week was a lovely mirror named “Cracker” weighing 44lb along with plenty of 20’s  30’s & 40’s to keep the action going. To name a few “Jack”@40lb , “Churchill” @31lb, a beautiful scaley called “The Honeymooner”@25lb, “Hooters”@31lb, “Andromeda”@40lb, “God knows”@41lb 8oz, “The Sergeant”@38lb, “Lazy's Mirror”@37lb 8oz, and just to mix it up a bit a Grass Carp weighing 28lb 8oz. Fantastic week and Awesome angling mate well done. 

Next up we have Phil (golden balls) Newman who somehow manages to land a good swim every trip and this week was no exception with Turtles Corner being his chosen swim. Phil is a no messing about angler and got to work straight away by getting an 11ft zig out at 21 wraps to showing fish resulting in a 36lb grass carp before 5pm ! Phil fished 2 rods at 21 wraps between the dot island and the big tree and his 3rd rod to the 14 wrap margin spot fishing with spinner rigs and snowman hook bait using a mix of Mainline Link, cell and maize as free offerings starting initially with 10kg on the 2 spots and topping up daily in the morning and afternoons. Phil totalled 34 fish landed with 6 fish lost to hook pulls with the biggest of the week being a 44lb 4oz mirror named “Charlie”, along with some cracking fish among his haul. “Lamby”@34lb, “Elevenareef”@39lb, lovely common named  “Krak off”@40lb 4oz, “Ron’s Common”@34lb, “Phil MaCrakin”@42lb 4oz, “Jack”@43lb 12oz the list goes on. A great week for Phil who adapted his angling approach to suit conditions , Top angling mate well done. 

Next up John (the resident) Allen who decided on Bacheliers for his week, John likes to do things a little different to others and decided not to fish the regular hot spots, John set about finding an area at 23 wraps out towards the spire as this would make a good night time marker and a margin spot about 6 wraps to the right of the swim in shallow water. Baiting with a few kg of ground down maize and a few boilies in the mix and a little honey mixed in to tempt the carp John fished a D rig with a wafter as hook bait. Sunday night I had a message from John saying he had just lost a big fish that had towed him up and down the lake a few times and after a bit of tussle in the left margin had unfortunately come off! Unlucky mate. A few small commons around the 20lb mark came John’s way throughout the week with the biggest being a 27lb common putting John’s total for the week to 8 fish. Well done mate 

Last up but by no means least Jason (The Belgium Snipper) Vandemerwe landed in one of his favourite swims New Beach, having fished the swim before knew exactly what his approach was going to be. Fishing all 3 rods at 21 wraps towards the 3 trees on the horizon, fishing 2 rods on spinner rigs and Mainline Link wafter and 1 rod on 11ft zig Jason set about getting a good amount of bait to the area using around 10kg Mainline Link boilie and maize mix. Spombing over his zig regularly seemed to really get the takes going with most of his 53 fish haul falling to the zig. Jason knew he was playing a numbers game and had to get trough the smaller fish to the better stamp with plenty of decent fish gracing his landing net over the course of the week. Biggest fish being a cracking common going by the name “Unnamed Common” weighing 45lb with plenty of back up 20’s & 30’s, “Little 2 Tone”@36lb, “Riley”@39lb 12oz. As always, top quality & relentless angling from Jason. Well done mate. 

Well what can I say, you lads absolutely smashed it with over 250 fish landed for the week that’s a new record for the road lake and one that I’m sure is going to stand strong for a good while. An epic week with a few PB’s broke, plenty of banter and laughs along the way. Well done lads see you again soon. 

Be good, stay safe, & keep those nets wet…….

Dean