Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 17/08/2024

Here’s the weather

With the bites starting to pick up all over the lake recently it was looking good for this weeks anglers across the lake, with the fish spreading out a lot more especially during the hours of dark there was a chance for everyone to bank some fish this week, and it didn’t disappoint. 

Kicking things off we have Laurence Burchall who fished in Turtles Corner, who really managed to get his week off to a flyer almost immediately. The first night couldn’t have gotten much better for Laurence as he managed to bank the biggest fish in the lake within about 2 hours of casting out which was Hanson at 67lb on the nose, Laurence was fishing a mix of Maize and Boilie at 21 wraps picking the fish off as they sit between Turtles and Tea Party 2. Laurence managed to keep his bites coming fairly consistently day to day and finished his week with a total of 10 fish overall, keeping the bait going in little and often was the correct approach as he wasn’t over baiting the swim but keeping it topped up for when the fish arrived, aswell as Hanson, Laurence managed Eye-Q at 51lb 8oz aswell as a 41lb Common, his other 7 fish were made up from mainly twenties and thirties, so to leave with a new PB and a few other really good fish under his belt its safe to say he couldn’t have hoped for much more from his week. 

Next up we have Richard Darch who fished out of Billy’s, Richards main target area was the tree line to his right as the fish were spending a lot of time between T2 and Turtles, so Richard thought they would be creeping round the corner behind the Dot Island and that’s how he would secure a few bites. Richards week began strong with a 43lb Grass Carp which was also an overall PB for him, but within the next 24 hours the lake threw up a bit of a surprise, as within 48 hours of its last capture Hanson made another appearance this time slightly lower at 66lb so I guess she’d been sulking for a day or so, Hanson came from 18 wraps at the overhanging tree and fell to a Pink Krill flavoured wafter, this meant that this fish had smashed 2 PB’s within 48 hours which is unusual for this fish as she doesn’t make appearances to the bank as frequently as some of the other carp within Road Lake, other than that Richard managed 2 other fish which were both twenties so 4 fish in total but once again with the biggest fish in the lake gracing his net he went away more than happy. 

After this we have Benjamin Darch son of Richard who managed to throw up probably the biggest surprise of the week. Ben started off his week in Dunkerque but after a couple of nights in there he knew the fish were mainly holding up at the other end of the lake so he moved and thought he’d try his luck in the Poo, unfortunately for Ben this move didn’t work out for him either as within a day of him being in the Poo the fish activity died down and they was back out between Birches, Brambles and Dunkerque, but Ben put the effort in and made the move into Brambles for his final 2 nights and this was definitely worth the effort. Ben landed 4 fish overall after his final move, as he didn’t have too much time in this swim he decided not to bait too heavy and mainly cast solid bags into areas of showing fish. He started things off with a mirror which weighed 35lb and was a new PB which he was absolutely buzzing with, Ben bettered this very quickly by quite literally pub chucking a solid bag into the darkness knowing the fish seemed to be everywhere, but this clearly done the trick, within an hour of his new PB ben called me over to have a look at what he thought might be a 40 in his net, as I came over I realised he had one of the most sought after Carp in the lake in the Shape of the Jackal which weighed 59lb 12oz a fish that hadn’t seen the bank for almost 2 years, an absolutely prize moment for the young lad and we was all over the moon to share it with him. 

Next up we have Zac Lendore who fished in Decoy normally a flying swim however at the beginning of this week the fish seemed to mainly be on the half of Turtles and T1, but Zac knew the fish always had the possibility of returning to the bund to which he could really smash some fish out in a short space of time so he decided to fish It out in Decoy and hope the fish play ball. Zac’s hopes came to light around Wednesday as it started with a few fish showing and the activity just gradually grew and grew and he knew this was his chance, Zac totalled 17 fish over all catching plenty during the day from 17 wraps down his right hand margin, and then in the evenings mainly catching them from around 15 wraps straight at The Beach, Zac was also using Solid bags but throwing sticking boilies and spombing a small amount of Maize over the top which was working for him. Included in his total of 17 fish were a fish called Frankie weighing 50lb 5oz, and After Work weighing 49lb 15oz, the rest of his totals were mainly made up of twenties and thirties so although a slow start things definitely worked out for Zac. 

Pat Goodwin fished in Tea Party 2 which always looked like it was going to do fish but proved to be slightly trickier than expected, Pat fished various spots over to the far margin using Spinner Rigs and match the hatch hookbaits to try and tempt the wary Carp, he fed a mix of Maize and Boilie over the area and managed to bank himself 3 fish overall including a 52lb Mirror named Stubby so although it wasn’t as busy a week as he’d hoped banking a 50 meant it was still a good week overall. 

Then we have Jay Axton who took on Shingles, now overall it was a fairly tricky week for Jay but he managed to bank himself 2 fish this week including a new PB of 51lb 8oz in the shape of the Box Mirror, Jays other fish was only a double but he didn’t care breaking the 50lb barrier was a major target for him and he was over the moon with that capture, Jay caught both of his fish at fairly short range spreading boilie around in an area and then shifting his rigs around to hopefully nick a fish milling around picking up boilies. 

Next up its Craig Shenton who fished in Tea Party 1, Craigs week started off really well but petered off towards the back end when the fish headed up towards the Beach, Craig banked 13 fish overall fishing 20 wraps towards Turtles Corner using solid bags and Noodle Rigs, then fed a mix of Maize and Boilie over the top. Craigs captures included 1 mid forty which was a fish called Flying Dutchman which tipped the scales at 45lb 8oz and most of his other captures were made up from plenty of 20’s and 30’s so he didn’t quite get into the real units but definitely made the most of the opportunities he had infront of him. 

Lastly we have Ryan Maxwell who fished in Double Boards a swim that has hit some fairly good form recently and seemed to continue that for Ryan. Ryan banked 5 fish total for the week which included a fish called Jack at 48lb 8oz which was his biggest for the week and it also threw up a couple of thirties and then a couple of smaller fish. Ryan fished a Combi Rig with a Krill wafter 12 wraps to the reeds opposite so that he was fishing towards the small hump on the lake bed out there as it’s a small feature in a fairly featureless area of the lake which is somewhere the fish definitely like to hover around. 

Until next time tight lines 

Rob