Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 09/10/2021

Cold nights hit Road Lake but that didn’t stop the big girls having a Beach Party!!........ 

Well it has to be said the nights certainly drew colder and the fish mainly decided to feed during the daylight hours. The fish showed signs of grouping together so certain pegs produced more than others but one thing for sure they were still on the feed. What a group of lads we had this week, lots of laughs and banter which is what it’s all about, so without further a do lets see what happened on this weeks Road Lake catch report!!......

No stranger to a few fish is this first peg but it wasn’t all going to be plain sailing for Lee Smith over in “New Beach” Things started well enough for Lee as on the first evening he hit it off in style as on the very first evening a lump of a mirror decided to grace his presence in the form of a fish name “After Work” at 49lb. IQ Drigs were the weapons of choice for Lee fishing with “Sticky Baits” Krill Active wrapped in matching paste. It has to be said the fish definitely weren’t in Beach this week in massive numbers and although Lee managed to trickle on average a fish a day out it was the only swim really doing night time bites. His average stamp of fish was fantastic considering the conditions, only 1 20lber and that was 28lb 2oz. On average 8 kilos a day of skticky krill active and laced with maize and pellets deployed at 21 wraps to the far bank just this side of the underwater snags was what it needed to keep the action going. 2 low 30lb commons and an upper 30lb mirror graced his net before the run on the bigger stamp happened!!!! A lovely 40lb 8oz mirror name “Century” came for an early evening photo call but that wasn’t all!!!! How about a big one on Big Fish Thursday??? “Eye-Q” at a new top weight of 57lb was Lees reward for sticking to it, although he was a little bit wobbly at one point a stern word in his ear and he stayed put and what a reward this fish was!! Well done Lee top weeks angling pal and what a fish to top it all off!!......

Over in “Shingles” we had Jeffrey Wong who was a first timer here to Gigantica, after the draw Jeffrey and his partner Stien made their way to their swim for the week and set about setting up camp and to figure out the approach. Combi Rigs and Spinner rigs were the choice of attack and after a discussion took advice on having at least 1 rig using 2 grains of SSM and the others tipped with yellow plastic corn. Jeffrey baited heavily, around 10k a day of Mainline Link and Cell with a spattering of maize directly at the dot island at 18 wraps. Initially all was quiet, I think Jeffrey would honestly say he was wobbling a little by the Monday!! It’s so hard sometimes when you see fish being caught around you but, on these venues, you have to play the long game. They will come onto you at some point in the week and as long as you have enough bait there for them you can hold them in your area!! This situation is exactly what Jeffrey experienced and after a chat with him to stick to it but ease of baiting on the Tuesday it happened. Within a short time frame he had 2 fish on the bank, a 23lb Common and then one of Road Lakes lumps a fish named “Lesters” at 40lb which not only made a Jeffrey happy but it was a PB and of course his lovely partner Stien was on hand to do the honours. This started the ball rolling and more of the same followed. Regular baiting after every fish and keeping the swim active saw Jeffrey beat his PB twice more with “Raspberry” at 44lb 4oz and then “The Submarine” smashing that one at 46lb. Jeffrey you and Stien were a pleasure to have and you fished really well, we look forward to seeing you back one day soon……

A man who is no stranger to Gigantica is man who goes by the name of Ian Oakley, Ian has fished on the Main Lake and Road Lake and is always very successful with his approach. One of the most patient anglers I have met and is always in good spirits. The swim for the week was “Double Boards” with the knowledge that the fish love to cruise down that margin to the right hand side into “Bacheliers” water. Choosing a 6 wrap spot down the margin and 11 wraps out into open water. Ian was using Royal Marine boilies from “Baitworks” 2 kilo a day and 5k of maize per day. The week couldn’t have started any better as when the first initial baiting was done his rod was away with a 31lb Mirror before the evening meal was even delivered!! After that it was a bit of a slow affair but the fish did regularly visit and Ian included a 24lb mirror then a beautiful 35lb 12oz common. The capture of the week from Double Boards came in the form of a mirror named “Percy” at an equalled top weight of 43lb. This swim can be an unfancied one but Ian proved with the right approach and patience there are still fish to be had from here. Well done mate standard size 4 wide gapes on 15lb dark matter braid with a line aligner kicker doing the business once again with match the hatch boilie bottom baits doing the business………….

If you wandered into “Turtles Corner” this week you may have thought that Christmas cam early :D as its resident this week was none other than Santa himself haha, Steve Wrightdoes strike a remarkable resemblance to our white bearded friend. Jokes aside you couldn’t ask for a nicer man to join us for a week on The Road Lake. Steve again has the patience of a saint a plan that he sticks too and is a bugger for not giving you a call when he’s caught a few fish lol. Not too interested in photos he’s here for the experience but I did manage to make him call me after I shouted at him for slipping a 40lber back haha. Using mainline Link and Cell with maize fishing out at 20 wraps just to the right of the dot island with all 3 rods was the plan. Now it has to be said the fish were massively active in the bowl and surely it was only to be a matter of time!!!! And it was!!!.....A steady trickle of fish and many of them coming to “ringing the dinner bell” Steve banked 8 fish in total and set himself a new PB twice with a stunning 43lb 40z Mirror and then again with “The Archer” at a whopping 47lb 4oz!!! top angling from a top bloke and we will see again next week as he is booked on for a double week…..let’s see where you end up next week pal……..

A swim that was in good form previous had a very different result this week, I’m speaking of “Billys” and a very accomplished Wayne Gregory was this week’s resident. Its amazing how different 2 weeks can be as Wayne adopted a very similar style to how Terry Edmonds approached it and who had a storming week. However, the fish were behaving differently and grouping up and not so widespread. Wayne deposited on average 5 to kilo of “Mad Baits” wicked white and nuts boilie over a widespread and fished wicked white pop ups over the top. I have to say this bait smelled and looked the “nuts” but if the fish aren’t in front of you, you could be using caviar and you would still not see action.  Wayne decided to introduce maize to the mix and managed to pick up 3 fish up to 25lb but as quick as the action started it stopped. A move into “Bacheliers” for the last 2 nights still didn’t produce more action but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Another week with the exact same approach fishing the 20 wrap area in Billy’s or the 21 ½ spot in Bacheliers would have produced far different results but Wayne always kept the faith and like he said to me “I’m used to blanking, I fish hard waters”, that’s the spirit pal hahaha, I’ll take you up on that “Welly” session soon and we can bag some chunks there………

Let’s have a Tea Party shall we where we have 2 mates having a social, but we shall start with Brett Cork in “Tea Party 2” who pretty much from the off had my laughing all week. From the very first fish he captured there were stories to tell. Now I know I said fish pretty tight clutches but Brett took this to the extreme and when a savage take catapulted his rod into the lake and he dived in after it I was just howling!!!!! With laughter aside and to get back to the job in hand he did actually bank himself a very impressive 19 fish from “Tea 2” the spot itself was 14 wraps just to the right of Turtles was the area and regular ringing of that bell yet again doing the business. Plenty of sweetcorn, pellet and Mainline Cell was the key. Brett commited 10 kilo initialy then topping up regular, around 8 kilo a day to keep the action going. Spinners, Loops and Booms and IQ D- Rigs were the weapons of choice and cell bottom baits tipped with corn or 2 grains of slow sinking maize kept the action steady!! Plenty of 20s and 30s topped off with 3 x 40lbers including “Bomber at 42lb and Bretts new PB “Fraser at 44lb 12oz!!! Massive congratulations to you Brett it was a great week and we look forward to seeing you again pal…..keep in touch……

Last but by means no means least (do I say that every week??) we have the other half of the dynamic duo Stu Couper in “Tea Party 1” Now…….Stu must be very hard of hearing as he totally got the spots mixed up that I had explained on the walk round. I think he was nearer fishing Bacheliers than the spot to fish in Tea 1 haha but with a stern word and re directing his rods he was bang on it. 18 wraps towards Turtles is such a productive area and thank god he changed as what a week he had. Depositing an initial 10kilo of Mainline Link, whole, chopped and crumbed with the addition of some Aqua Dynamix in 12mm, pellet and corn with a good helping of smart liquid. Stu kept the rig side of things very simple, he went for 3 spinners on a lead clip arrangement and used some green bogey coloured popups that I later discovered were called “Lime Fizz Pop Ups” from “MG Baits”, I have to say they smelt very nice and certainly did the business as the fish loved them!! Stu caught 23 fish for the week on the approach he adopted and regular baiting was key!!! Nothing it has to be said could prepare him for what happened on the Tuesday morning though. Within the space of 45 minutes Stu had landed 4 carp!! No big deal I hear you say? Just wait till you hear how big they were !!!!! No 1…..”Walkers” 38lb 8oz, No 2…..”Box Mirror” 51lb 8oz, No 3…..”A-Star” 51lb 12oz and to top it off No 4…..”Diamond Geezer” at 52lb!! what a spell and what a stamp of fish!!!! What a week pal it was a laugh a minute and you fished your socks off!!!!...........

So there we have it another great week some serious fish caught but signs that the fish are starting to group up but ones things for sure if you get on them they are looking huge and packing the weight on!!! What will next week hold??

Till next time guys n gals, tight lines, be lucky and bag a chunk.

Phil