Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 29/06/2024

Storm smashes Road Lake

This week we had another full lake of anglers all very eager to get fishing but were in for a rough first night with big storms forecast to go straight through us.

First up we have Peiyer Degryze, from Belgium, who came out mid draw and opted to go into Billy’s. It was Peiyer’s first trip here at Gigantica and was soon off the mark Monday with a 25lb mirror he caught from the spot under the overhanging tree at 18 wraps. Peiyer started his week off by baiting up with his own mulberry boilies and house maize, putting a good bed out to start with also baiting up his other spot 20 wraps towards the boat, then fishing blowback rigs with match the hatch bottom baits over the top. From Monday onwards Peiyer was getting a bite a night and getting them in the very early hours of the morning having 4 bits from under the tree and 1 off his one towards the boat. The biggest fish he managed of the week was one named ‘Churchill’ at 37lb 8oz, a fish that hadn’t been out in nearly 3 years.

Next up we have Darren Park who came out last in the draw and went into Dunkerque but soon made the move to The Poo after seeing the fish were down the opposite end of the lake. Once arriving in The Poo Darren put a good bed of bait out consisting of Royal Marine boilie, house pellet and maize fishing at 14 wraps. Darren was also soon off the mark catching his first fish the first night after making the move, a fish known as ‘Layla’ at 37lb 8oz and a new PB! The action then unfortunately slowed down for a few days until his next and final bite came Friday night a mirror weighing 28lb. 

Over in Turtles we had Simon Freeman who had a terrible start to the week unfortunately losing his bivvy in the storm around 10 at night leaving the rest of his gear out in the rain, luckily his friends and family were there to help out and we did what we could to get him back fishing again the following morning. When he eventually got fishing again Simons spot out at 21 wraps towards the dot island was still holding a lot of fish and he was soon away with a few of our fish for the future to upper twenty then that evening managed to catch a fish known as ‘Hooters’ at 36lb which was also a new PB! Simon then went on to have a total of 12 fish fishing 21 wraps at the dot island with spinner rigs using slow sinking maize on spinner rigs, over house maize and Mainline Cell.

Up next, we have Craig Hughes who was also on his first trip and managed to pull out the ball everyone was after, ball 1. After seeing fish along the margins of Tea Party 2’s far bank on the walk round, Craig didn’t hesitate to jump straight in there. Off the Mark Sunday night with a long lean unnamed mirror at 33lb Craig had already broken his French PB! Baiting up with house maize and Mainline boilie, Craig was using spinner rigs with yellow wafters and slow sinking maize which landed him both of his fish for the week.

Tom Kent was over in Beach this week and managed to get in there after pulling ball 10. Tom was here on his third trip with us on the Road Lake after suffering from two hard weeks with no fish under his belt he was hoping his luck would change. Starting off with a straight boilie approach using Mainline Link and Cell with spinners over the top, the fish just didn’t seem to be up his end of the lake for the majority of the week. After hearing a few fish move up Thursday night Tom decided to introduce a bit of house maize into his mix the following morning when soon after he managed to get his first and only fish of the week, one known as ‘The Wilde’ at 28lb 13oz. Tom was still over the moon managing to break his blank on the Road Lake and will be back again to try and get amongst the big girls.

Overall, a very tough week post spawning and the weather at the start of the week didn’t help either but still a good group of lads who enjoyed their week, with PBs broken and who look to return.

Roll on next week,

Tight Lines.

Greg