Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 30/04/2017

April Round-Up

Would you believe it, we are nearly a quarter of the way through the year already. With the weather continuing to stay warm surely summer is at last on its way.  Gigantica wakes up more and more each day and the fish are becoming much more active day and night. 

First Week

Conditions looked good with strong south easterly winds greeting the anglers. With a rather nice spring feel in the air and daytime temperatures of up to twenty-five degrees; night temperatures averaging around eight degrees everyone was keen to get started.

On Thursday morning at 7am, Buzz the Gigantica Bailiff who was fishing in The Alamo had a screaming take on his left had rod, which was cast 112 yards in-line with Baxters Hole. After a long hard battle he finally landed a cracking Gigantica carp called "The Weld" which weighed in at 51lb. An IQ D-Rig baited with a Mainline FYBER Wafter soaked in the new Butter Corn Goo did the trick. He baited with ten Spombs of chopped Mainline FYBER Prototype Boilies mixed with Hemp and Maize.

Second Week

Rowan Hill who was set up in Bob’s Beach, had all three rods cast in a line at 80 Yards, and after seeing the swallows flying low over the lake, he decided to put out three Zigs 18ft, 20ft and 22ft. It wasn’t long before he was into one of the Gigantica residents, landing Baby Brutus at 47lb. A 20ft Zig Rig with a piece of Black foam was the key to success. So if you ever see swallows flying low over the lake that you are fishing they are probably catching insects which are hatching from the lake and the Zigs could well be worth a try.

Darren Procter went into Alcatraz and decided to fish all 3 rods at 31 rod lengths in-line with Big Southerly. It wasn’t long before he was into to his first fish of the week a nice 17lb mirror. Just after landing it his other rod was away, this time a 24lb 8oz Common was the culprit. Darren was baiting up every evening around 8pm with 3kg of whole and chopped Mainline Cell Boilies. The next morning around 7am Darren was in again, and a 40lb 12oz mirror called Baby Weld graced his net. Then it started to get a bit chaotic. As the photos were being taken his other rod was away,  this one went 49lb a cracking common called Wide Angle, and the action continued. Throughout the rest of the week Darren went on to have a further eight carp the biggest being Pierre Cardin at 55lb 4oz. A simple IQ D-Rig with a Mainline Diamond White Wafter tipped with Korda Fake Food Plastic Corn was doing the business. What a fantastic result; some great angling rewarded in full.

Third Week

Another typical spring weeks weather here on the Main Lake. The angler’s experienced varied conditions with some warm sunny days, cold overnight temperatures and even a bit of hail thrown into the mix. The fish were very active throughout the week and well spread around the lake.

Many of the anglers who arrived on Saturday were experiencing their first trip out to Gigantica. With the trees and foliage around the lake now in full bloom it was a beautiful looking lake which greeted them on their arrival; along with some carp putting on an aerial display to get the juices flowing. After the walk-round, and with the draw completed, everyone set up in their respective swims full of anticipation with what lay ahead of them in the week to come. 

Dean Turner set up in the aptly named Pole Position was first off the mark landing the “Trans Pretty One” at 29lb 6oz. A coated braid Combi Rig baited with a Banoffee Wafter proved the downfall of this lovely looking Mirror. He was fishing  at 20 rod lengths to the left hand edge of the Alamo swim.

Not far behind him, Roy Prodger who had opted for the in-form Alcatraz had two bites in quick succession, landing a 28lb Mirror and the beautifully scaled “Pixles” at 35lb. He went on to catch a further two twenties during the week, giving him a memorable first trip. He fished two rods at 31 rod lengths towards Big Southerly and the other at 27 rod lengths towards The Stink. All of the fish were taken on Wafter Hookbaits fished over a tightly Spombed area.

Dan Hickman also got in on the action early in the week fishing out of Big Girls. The carp really love this swim in the spring, where the marginal shelf is regularly patrolled as the fish drift right into the corner to bask in the afternoon sun. He offered a Snowman presentation fished at 17 rod lengths, two thirds of the way along the left hand margin.  He was rewarded for his efforts with a 26lb 4oz Common.

Midway through the week the weather took a turn for the worse giving us hail storms which consequently knocked the fishes activity down for a couple of days. Undeterred, the lads all plugged away and on Friday things kicked off again in style.

Tony Lewis across in the Alamo was busy relaxing in the afternoon sun, when out of the blue he received a double take. He quickly turned a difficult week into a brilliant one when he landed a 27lb 6oz Mirror and “The Koi” at 46lb 4oz which was a new PB for him.  In true Gigantica style, he was duely christened with a couple of buckets of water! The bites both came from 28.5 rod lengths fishing out towards “Baxters”, the winning combination was the Ronnie Rig, baited with a Mainline Banoffee Wafter.

With the end of the week rapidly approaching, everyone settled in for the last night, wondering if there were any more surprises in store. At 5am on Saturday morning, Jason Dewale fishing over in Stink has his beauty sleep disturbed by a 19lb 8oz Mirror. Taken off a 15 rod length spot out towards the “Treeline” swim, a Banoffee Wafter once again did the damage.

With most of the tackle packed away, and just the rods left out, Joe Hill who had been patiently waiting all week in “Co’s Point” had all but given up hope when…….you guessed it: another double take! Much chaos ensued, but with some expert netting both fish were shuffled into the landing net. His persistence was rewarded with “Scrappy” at 24lb and “Cookies & Cream at a very healthy 36lb. Joe had fished all three rods very close together at 27 rod lengths straight out in front with White Pop-ups on the Ronnie Rig. This can be a great tactic in “Co’s Point” as when a group of fish arrive you have the chance of picking up more than one bite, as you don’t have to recast after a fish. Recasting straight after a bite usually results in the fish vacating the area; however, putting out some more bait straight away can keep the feeding period going and due to the depth of the water is tolerated by the fish.

What a great bunch of lads we had on this week, we really enjoyed their company. With the fish moving about more and more, we’re confident that it won’t be long before one of the A-Team makes an appearance. Lets see what next week brings.

Fourth Week

The ten anglers who made the trip out enjoyed another productive Spring week at Gigantica. Only one of the anglers had visited us before, so there were a lot of people looking for their first Gigantica Carp. The weather for the week gave us mainly Northerly winds which kept the temperatures moderate, with overnight temperatures averaging 3-4 degrees. The fish were very active during the Saturday while the lads got plotted up, and a quick bite certainly looked like it was on the cards.

Last man to pick a ball out of the draw bag was Nick Carter, and everyone had very kindly left him ball number one! He opted for Co’s Point and set up his stall fishing at 25 rod lengths straight out in front. On Sunday morning, he called to say he had landed a future monster of Gigantica. One of the stockies from November 2016 had slipped, taking a liking to his Urban Baits Nutcracker bottom bait presented on a Ronnie Rig, which had been soaking in Wonderberry Goo. Nick was baiting up every afternoon with the Nutcracker, and on Thursday morning his persistence was rewarded with a beautiful 39lb 4oz Mirror known as “The Resident”. What a great way to celebrate his birthday trip.

Radu Mitrea had opted for Alcatraz and with fish showing in front of him; surely it was only going to be a matter of time before he had a chance of a bite. At 8.30am on Monday he received his first bite from a Gigantica carp, and a 27lb 8oz Mirror, known as “Decoy” made him a very happy man. But just like busses; he had only just finished taking the pictures of his first capture when his other rod tore off with a 33lb 8oz Common attached…very nice!

Over in “The Stink” we had John Hardy fishing for the week. John was very quiet during the walk-round and was clearly taking in all the information we were passing on. He chose to fish 3 different spots; two at 24 rod lengths, and one at 15. On Tuesday morning at 9.30am he got off the mark with the “Godfather of Soul” at 39lb 8oz. That, for John was mission accomplished as far as he was concerned. Little did he know what the Carp Gods had in store for him during the rest of the week! The next morning he had another bite and landed Epicano at 31lb 8oz, on it’s first visit to the bank since 2014. Where on earth do they go for so long? John recast his rod just prior to taking the photographs of Epicano, and no sooner had the pictures been taken than the recast rod was away again. This time a 30lb 4oz Mirror known as “Yorkie” being the culprit. Things were shaping up nicely, and on Friday morning they just got a whole lot better. A phone call at 9am revealed that he had landed a bit of a chunk, which he thought was going to be over 50lb. However, his initial estimate of a comfortable 50’ was slightly short of the mark. As it turned out, he had landed another of the fish on the missing list since 2014…he had only gone and caught the mighty “Target”. The immense beast was hoisted onto the scales, tipping them round to 67lb 8oz, and a new PB by over 20lb. He baited accurately, but lightly with Urban Baits Nutcracker, and took all his fish on standard bottom baits, straight out of the bag. Twelve inch, coated braid combi-rigs and a simple knotless knot to a size six Korda Wide Gape hook was all it took. Top angling indeed. 

Barry Edwards had opted to fish in the remodelled “Treeline” swim. During the February work parties, for the safety of our fish we have removed a lot of the dead trees and sub-surface snags. The fallen tree is still in the water until it can be removed and Barry set a small trap in the margin by casting across to the Treeline bank and placing the bait by hand. It was on Wednesday morning that the Black Eyed Linear picked up his double hookbait consisting of a Mainline FYBER bottom bait and Cell Wafter in Coconut Goo. The old warrior tipped the scales round to 34lb 4oz.

Mark White fishing next door in “Bobs’ Beach” had a lot of fish showing in front of him during the week, but despite changing between Zigs and fishing on the bottom, it took until Friday afternoon before he had the take he had been patiently waiting for. He landed a 31lb 8oz Common known as “The Mosaic” using a Pop-Up, which he had tipped with Green Plastic Corn, fished at 21 rod lengths towards the Stink.

A final tally of ten carp landed for the week, in what are still tricky conditions weather wise, was a great result for the lads. All of the bites came off the bottom, even though some zigs were tried during the week. Anyone coming out during the next few weeks would be well advised to come prepared to fish on the bottom, but with zigs as an alternative option, as there were some insect hatches during the week which saw the carp up on the surface. Don’t worry though if you forget any rig bits, we stock everything in the tackle shop, which you will need to fish at Gigantica.

Fifth Week

With fish being caught consistently around the lake, it was a full house, with twelve anglers booked on for the week. The weather was unpredictable; as has been the case for the last few weeks. The weather forecasters must just be guessing at the moment, as we had moderate temperatures around thirteen degrees during the day and down to 4 degrees on a night. After the usual routine of the Saturday changeover the fish took a while to settle down, but Sunday afternoon heralded the first fish of the week.

Julian Strode who was fishing in Alcatraz was first off the mark. Just after lunch, he latched into a lovely looking 32lb Mirror known as "Eddies". He was fishing a white CC Moore Northern Special Pop-Up on a Ronnie Rig. After a couple of quiet days he also managed another lovely looking fish called "Soft Focus" which weighed in at 39lb 4oz. He was fishing at 24 Rod lengths towards Scotties Corner and 31 Rod lengths towards Big Southerly.

Gigantica regular Danny Armitage had set up in Oblivion and decided that he would fish two rods on zig rigs, and one rod on the bottom. It turned out to be a successful decision as he was rewarded with two fish during the week which both fell to 16ft zigs. He fished the red zig aligners with black foam out at 31 rod lengths, picking a nice 28lb 12oz Mirror known as The Exocet and a 37lb Mirror which does by the name of "The Slate Grey".

In a similar vein to Danny, Lee Jenkinson was set up next door in The Alamo and fished identical tactics. Once again it was the zigs which proved to be successful. After losing his first bite as the lead did not come off on the take (which is imperative with this method), he quickly recovered, taking four fish during the week. Two twenty pound Mirrors and two thirties were his reward; the largest of them being Nathan's Mirror at 35lb 8oz.

Ryan Westby set up in The consistently productive Stink swim. He fished two different spots, both at 24 rod lengths and baited lightly each day with boilie and some maize. On the rig front he chose to fish with the Ronnie Rig and used Mainline 15mm IB Pop-Ups. He landed two fish during the week, the first being a 24lb Mirror and second was a fish known as Cut Tail Scaley which took the scales round to 35lb.

The biggest fish of the week fell to Lars Neilsen who was fishing out of Bob's Beach. He patiently fed the swim with a small amount of bait, so that when the fish arrived in the swim there was not masses of bait for them to eat (a common mistake anglers make here), which extends the amount of time it take to get a bite at this time of year. It was Thursday afternoon when out of the blue his Banoffee Wafter was picked up, and after a spirited tussle he slipped the net under a nice Mirror known as The Punisher. His first Gigantica Carp weighed in at 45lb 4oz, and made him a very happy man indeed.

Mads Andersen had picked the Treeline and adopted the patient approach after taking the time to carefully find his spots. He fished one rod off the end of the fallen tree, one close to the bank and one in open water. After baiting the spots lightly, he saw a lot of fish showing in front of him, surely it was only a matter of time before he got a chance. The chance when it came was just before breakfast on Thursday morning. Keeping the carp well under control he was rewarded with a lovely scaley Mirror known as Bite Mark at 32lb. Another first time angler who caught on their first trip, well done.

Daniel Schneider set up for the week in the popular Co's Point swim. He was fishing at 27.5 rod lengths straight out in front and baited with a mix of Mainline Cell and Essential Cell. At 6am on Monday morning he received his first bite, and after a few minutes playing the fish, it unfortunately managed to shed the hook. Later on that morning he was away again and this time he landed one of the future Gigantica giants, with a very pretty little Mirror which had been stocked in November last year, from the fish which were spawned and reared on site. It was perfection in miniature; a truly stunning carp for the future.

Well that's it for April; it's been a very productive month considering the very variable weather we have experienced, with a very creditable 49 carp being landed. The lads who have visited us have been great company and we look forwards to seeing them all again in the future. The weather will no doubt start to warm up now, and it won't be long before it's shorts and T-Shirts every day.......bliss!