Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 13/07/2024

Ze Germans 

This week we had the Korda Germany Social which was all of the boys first visit to Road Lake, everyone began the week with high hopes of what might be, but the fishing on Road had been fairly tricky in recent weeks so it was exciting to see how this one played out. 

Starting things off we have Steffen Frieman who chose to fish in Decoy due to its fairly consistent form and potential for doing big numbers of fish. The week began with Steffen mainly targeting his right hand margin at around 17 wraps as this is normally the best performing spot and also the obvious signs of fish along the bund, the fish was fairly spread out around both halves of the lake upon arrival which did change as the week went on, and ill elaborate further on how this affected the decisions of all the anglers. Steffen managed a few nice fish really early on including the King of the lake Hanson which weighed in at 66lb, this was also a PB for Steffen so he was absolutely made up with this capture and to share it with everyone on the social was a great moment. Steffen began getting regular bites from his right hand margin which led him drop down to just one rod for that spot and had his other two ready to go directly after each capture. Steffen fed the spot with majority House Maize but included various liquids and Boilies also, he realised heavy baiting was the way to go and began just spooning it in, in large quantities to keep the fish there and the bites coming, his rig of choice was a Spinner rig fished with a Yellow hookbait to match the main bulk of his free offerings. As well as Hanson Steffen managed a couple of really nice fish including Mr Mison at 37lb, now the swim itself produced 37 fish for the week, I say the swim because as the week went on the fish had clearly migrated to the bund at the back of the Beach and there were very little signs of fish elsewhere so the anglers decided that to aid the filming and social aspect aswell as everyone getting stuck into some fish that they would all head over to Beach and Decoy with 6 anglers per swim and just go rod for rod on bites, so to say exactly who caught what on what rigs is difficult as between the two swims as it became absolute carnage. As far as im aware it didn’t seem to matter what rig or tactic was being chucked over there as long as the bait kept being topped up and the it was in the right zone the bites kept coming. One of the Notable captures from Decoy which came from Pierre Michel Lehe was a fish called The Decoy which weighed in at 46lb 7oz, Pierre had this on a Heli set up with a Spinner rig and the hookbait of choice was a Pop up soaked in Jungle Juice. 

Next up we have Felix Hetzmannseder who fished in Dunkerque, Felix began the week strong as he caught good fish on his opening 2 nights but the bites didn’t carry on throughout the whole week unfortunately, All of Felix’s fish came from 10 wraps straight at Decoy fishing off the corner between himself and The Beach as this is a spot commonly known for doing bites. He kept the baiting fairly light as there wasn’t huge numbers of fish on him so he just fished for a bite at a time. Felix managed 3 fish from Dunkerque which included two thirties, a 31lb Common and a 32lb Mirror by the name of The Fraud, but the real gem for Felix was a fish by the name of Maggie which tipped the scales at 49lb on the Nose and was actually the final fish for Felix from that swim, however he did have more fish from The Beach when like Decoy they all went round for a social and to go Rod for Rod, however as far as im aware it was mainly twenties which graced his net. 

 Next up we have Andreas Hetzmannseder (Felix’s Brother), who spent his time in Tea Party 2, at the start of the week there were a few signs of fish in the area of the far margin but once again these shows did begin to slow up, But Andi never give up and managed to bank two fish from this swim, he caught both of these at around 20 wraps just to the left of the Dot Island, like everyone this week Andi’s main bulk of his bait consisted of House Maize as this is the key bait for bites on the Road Lake. Andi’s first fish was a Mirror of around 28lb, but the real cream of the Crop for Andi was a Mirror Called Pac-Man which weighed in at 43lb 2oz which was a real result as the fishing down this end was seeming to be fairly tricky. 

Then we have Noah Simons who chose to fish in Birches, not always the most desirable swim this time of year due to the deep water out in front of it, but of late it had been producing fish and aswell as that we see several shows directly out in front during the walk round. Noah also banked two fish during his stay form this swim with the first being a Mid Twenty Common and the pick of the bunch being a fish known as Cage fighter, a Common which weighed 41lb 4oz, Noah fished 20 wraps out straight towards Billy’s as this area is where the fish had been showing, once again Noah’s bait mainly consisted of Maize and Boilie mix with a spinner fished in amongst the baited area. 

Last of all we have to speak about The Beach, unfortunately The Beach didn’t produce any of the larger residents but did do 42 fish up to around Mid Thirty, like Decoy The Beach was mainly fished as a communal swim with 6 of the Anglers going over for a social and to all have a go at banking some fish, all the fish were being caught on a mixture of rigs and lead set ups by the differing Anglers but they was all having them from roughly 25 wraps straight across, and was just sending someone round regularly with a bucket of Boilie, Pellet and Maize mix, it seemed they really couldn’t put enough in and every time the bites slowed for 20/30 minutes it was time to head over with the bucket, every time a fresh bucket of bait went in the bites presumed so that seemed to be the key for catching rather than any particular rig or hookbait.

Thanks for reading

Until next time 

Rob