Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 17/05/2025

Surely not spawning already?

Another new week and another 12 anglers on the road lake, with recent weeks producing amazing numbers would it carry on the same form? Read on to find out.

First up we have Paul James on his second trip to Gigantica coming out 7^th in the draw, Paul decided to set himself up in Billy’s with previous weeks doing so well and showing fish on the walk round. Going with the tactic of solid bags at showing fish, Hook bait choice of sweet corn wafters and micro pellet, feeding essential cell boilie 15mm with the throwing stick only. It didn’t take long for the first bite to come after the rod’s only being out a couple of hours, with ‘Not All About The Hat’ 44lb 10oz what a great start this was. Not long after Paul got himself into a mid-double and naming a fish ‘The Tears of Guardiola’ 23lb 6oz to carry on with the good start! With majority of the bites coming through the evening it wasn’t a surprise when I had the phone call around 2am, ‘Tom I have a potential 50 in the net’ whilst taking the call while all 3 of my rods were wiped out, ‘Fun times’! After weighing the fish Paul had landed ‘Le Flair’ 49lb 4oz. Well done mate, nice to see the solid bag tactic is producing so many biggun’s! With such a great start it’s always frustrating when not producing after, however this wasn’t due to the angling, the fish decided to start spawning all over the lake in numbers. This was it for Paul, landing 4 bites and making the best of the situation when the carp were on the feed. 

Next up we have Dan Humphrey a regular of Gigantica and Norton Disney. Coming out 3^rd in the draw and his 1^st choice of swim setting up in Dunkerque, after producing good number’s the week before. Dan started off fishing 11 wraps towards the dot island. Feeding 15mm-18mm Fish meal boilie. Using spinner rigs with match the hatch 14mm pop ups, when the spawning calmed down dan then switched up to solid bags, using micro pellet with match the hatch hook baits. With the fish showing while dan was setting up he decided to chuck a few singles out before deciding his spot’s. What a great tactic this was landing ‘The gilder special’ 24lb 15oz, also with a couple of mid doubles. After a few quiet days and signs of spawning a change of tactic was needed, using solid bags which has been a great tactic for the larger residents of the road lake, with his next bite coming in ‘scorchio’ 47lb and a new top weight for this carp. The absolute hero dan is, he managed to wipe all three of my rod’s out, his own, and dropping a bite, well in mate great effort! With very little fish action in the daytime and following my advice, he decided to re cast his rods as late as possible to make sure his solid bags were fresh for early morning bite time. Ending the week with a unique Common known as ‘Tatty’ 24lb 14oz. Great week for dan landing 7 carp. Well done mate and thanks for the wipe out!

Coming out 10^th in the draw we have Dan Andrews on his second trip to Gigantica after previously fishing the main lake. Dan decided to set himself up in The Beach after seeing a few shows on the walk round. Fishing 12 wraps towards The Decoy that would be the tactic for the week. His rig choices were, Gigantica solid bag mix, 2 slow sinking maize and cell Dumbell wafters, Feeding 18mm essential cell, House maize and pellet with fish smart liquid. With the fish holding up in the bund dan did well to land 3 mid doubles, 2 low 20’s and ‘Jacko’ being the biggest at 29lb 8oz. Sticking to a light bait approach he managed to draw the carp from the bund with them basking from the spawn mid-week. Well done on the bites mate, it was a tough week and stuck to the game plan, finishing up with 5 bites landed.

We had Gary Wood who landed 4 carp up to 31lb fishing The Decoy, with a couple of the guy’s landing one to save a blank, and myself landing a low 30 from The Cage.  22 bites coming from the week, Spawning playing a massive part in a dip of the recent impressive form on the pond. We hope for better next week!

Tight Lines,

Tom 

Team Gigantica