Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 20/04/2013

Welcome to what is effectively, the first report of the fishing on Gigantica for the 2013 season.

As some of you may be aware the lake has been flooded for some time, which prompted us to take the right action and close the lake for health and safety reasons.

The weather’s dragging here as it has in the UK.  This has ensured that we’re well behind the seasonal normalities and to be fair personally I'd guess we are about 6 weeks behind the weather as per an average year.  Water temperatures are still incredibly low, and as such I have been advising everyone to use the zig rig.  Bottom temperatures are incredibly low and as the sun rises in the sky and warms the upper layers, obviously the fish follow suit and come looking for the warmer surface water.

Personally, I would not bother fishing on the bottom for some considerable time.  Adapt to the situations in front of you either here or in the UK and get your hook baits where the fish actually are.  No point being on the bottom if the fish are mid water of higher, especially in 25ft of water as we have here. 

I Know it takes faith to break from tradition and fish zigs, many people have never used them or have very little faith in them but believe me they are an incredible method for catching early spring fish.  As the sun warms the water, we will start to see hatches of insects that will obviously draw fish to the upper layers so they can gorge themselves on nature’s free feast.  A perfect time to be presenting zig baits very high in the water column.

A lot of anglers have asked or brought Zig Bugs, feel free too use whatever you have faith in.  Myself, I use simple foam or cork and have great faith in both.  The warmer and brighter the sunshine the better this method is early in the season.  You will see or hear fish crashing, as they awaken from there winter lethargy.  The crashing, I believe, helps clean the collected parasites from the colder months but this very action in itself burns energy.   Energy that the fish have to replace as they begin to warm up as the suns shines, and the now endless building of spawn for the coming sexual antics. 

Personally, small hooks with either the N-Gauge hooklink from the Guru range or the Kruiser Control hooklink from the dedicated surface range that Korda sell are my preference.  I also only ever use a Hybrid Lead Clip and as light a lead as I can get away with and I do not use a tail rubber.  I’ve been shown, a small (3-4mm) section of 2mm Silicone that Korda sell, gently pushed on the hybrid clip in place of a tail rubber discharges the lead every single time, which I feel when using hook lengths of more than 10ft is absolutely necessary.

Don’t be afraid too use the zigs through the night either, last year some stunning fish were caught through the night.  I’ve also found that adapting to the conditions has a massive effect on the chances you will get.  With bright sunshine go high, if it clouds over drop them slightly, with rain again I drop them even deeper in case the rain effects there comfort zone and the fish sink a little deeper to suit.  There’s no doubt that zigging is a very difficult and time consuming method, but it really is an awesome string to your bow this time of the year.

On the Road Lake the first weeks anglers, took seven fish with varying methods of catching, but Solid PVA bags and pellets proving the most successful method so far. 

The second weeks anglers, staff and contractors who are building our new toilet / shower block caught consistently.  Again using PVA bags over beds of applied pellets, taking up to nine fish in a night.  Throughout the week there were 40+ fish caught, up to high twentys with the avergae being around 20+. 

Mainline New Grange and Hybrid boilies along with Baitcrafts T1 taking the majority of the fish throughout the week. 

As the weather now improves, I can see some huge captures coming from the Road Lake in the coming weeks.  Beds of pellets, with solid PVA bags or sticks fished over the top will easily be the going and most productive method on this lake as the large shoals begin to really get there heads down. 

Log on next week for the going methods and what is or isnt catching on both lakes, along with what rigs are doing the most damage and the fish being banked.

Danny T