Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 23/09/2017

Well it's that time of year again when the Korda staff descend on Gigantica for their annual trip. Having a couple of extra spaces allowed us to invite a couple of the tackle shops along for the ride as well. Everybody met at Korda HQ at "death 'o clock" on Saturday morning, ready for the journey out on the "happy bus" to France. Arriving at Gigantica around midday on Saturday, they were all keen as mustard to get going; so Buzz the Bailiff took them on a lap of the lake, giving all the latest information on recent captures, bait application, rigs etc. Once completed, it was time for the dreaded draw which decides the destiny of everyone for the week.

Spencer Smith decided to go into The Poo, which is the swim he was successful in last year; so he knew where he was going to cast his rods! He baited up with a kilo of boilies over each spot, and it wasn’t long before he had a carp in the net. The whole lake erupted as they found out it was one of the big girls at 50lb plus. The big mirror known as "The Nose" weighed in at a whopping 52lb, it's first time over 50lb; making a total of ten carp over 50lb in the Road lake! His new PB was landed on an IQ D-Rig, with a Gigantica Banoffee wafter as a hook bait. Spencer also went on to have Mirrors of 36lb and 26lb. Over the week he used a total of 30kg of Mainline Link boilies. The productive spots were 2 rods at 10 wraps in-line with Shingles, and the other rod was at 8 wraps in-line with Turtles Corner.

Mike Grantham of Southern Angling Specialist fame, decided to go into Billy’s as a few fish crashed out in that area during the walk round. He decided to fish two rods at 18 wraps straight out towards the gap in the trees on the far bank, and his other rod was at 16 wraps towards the right hand tree lined margin. Mike started off by spombing out 5kg of boilies over both areas, and it wasn’t long before he was into his first carp of the session. The culprit was a cracking 40lb Mirror, which came on his middle rod in open water at 18 wraps. A simple Blow-Back rig utilising a Size 6 Korda Krank hook baited with a snowman presentation. Being an unnamed fish, Mike decided to call it S.A.S after the initials of his tackle shop. He also went on to catch a 35lb 4oz Common, 4 x 20’s and another unknown 44lb common which he named `Tish` after his misses. During the week he used 30kg of Mainline Link boilies.

Simon Wilcox went into Birches, and after a bit of work with the marker rod he opted for fishing his left hand rod at 15 wraps to the left hand side of the swim, middle at 18.5 wraps in-line with Billys, and the right hand rod at 18 wraps to the right side of Billys. Simon started things off by spombing out 2kg of chopped and whole boilies over each rod and on Monday morning he had a screaming take on his left hand rod, which turned out to be a 31lb 12oz Mirror to get him off the mark. At almost the same time the next morning he was in again, this time a lovely unnamed 46lb Mirror which he decided to call it Arun's after the name of his tackle shop. Simon was using a simple Combi-Rig with a Banoffee wafter, soaked in the Buttercorn Goo as his hook bait and used 20kg of boilie during the week. He finished his week with a pretty double on the last morning, ending a very enjoyable week.

James Wolff AKA `Wolfie` opted for Bachelier's and found a nice area for two rods just off the left hand margin at 20 wraps, where there is a gap in the trees, so it makes it nice and easy to bait up accurately by hand bait, with minimum disturbance. His right hand rod was at 21.5 wraps straight out in front. Wolfie baited with 3kg of Mainline Link boilies over each area, getting through 30kg during the week. On Monday morning he got his first pick up on the left hand rod on the tree line, which resulted in a 32lb Mirror. Like many of the others, he also used a simple Combi-Rig with a Size 4 Korda Crank hook and a snowman presentation. Wolfie fished well and picked up fish steadily during the week, going on to have a further 3 x 20's and then on the final morning he had a belting 39lb Mirror which was a new PB for him. Well done Wolfie!

Spencer Chunn was set up in Turtle's Corner and was fishing all three rods towards the island at 16.5 wraps. After a slow start, with the majority of the fish being down the other end of the lake, it wasn't until Thursday that he finally had his first take. This this turned out to be a lovely 38lb Mirror, which came on an IQ D-Rig with a Mainline Baits Link boilie tipped with a grain of Korda Fake Food Yellow Corn. The next morning Spence was in again, this time a 22lb 8oz Mirror, followed shortly after by a 32lb Common. The carp had definitely started to move back up to his end of the lake, and after every fish he baited up with a further 2kg of boilies with the Catapult to try and hold them in the swim. In a purple patch early on Saturday morning Spence was in again, this time with a 42lb Mirror, followed by a massive 44lb Mirror which turned out to be a new PB. What a great way to end the week. The new Mainline Link boilies are a true winner and a bit special; doing numbers of big fish at Gigantica over the last few months.  

Mark "Tackle Out" Rigby decided to go into The Decoy and started off having one rod at 17 wraps which was cast up the right hand margin towards the bund; his other two rods were cast at 16 wraps straight out towards the bar in front. He started off by Spombing out 3kg of Mainline Link boilies over each rod and over the next few days he had fish crashing all over his baited area. It took until Wednesday evening before he had a screaming take on his right hand rod, which resulted in a new PB 42lb Mirror....result! The next evening he was in again, this time with an 18lb Mirror and a 15lb Grassy. All the fish came on IQ D-Rigs with a Mainline Baits Link boilie tipped with a single piece of plastic corn. Over the week he used 30kg of the new Mainline Baits Link boilie.

Dave Barlow went into New Beach and fished all three rods at 22 wraps straight in-front of the bund. Baiting up was a simple affair, just walking round to the bund and baiting up with the catapult. He started off by putting out around 5kg of Mainline Baits Link Boilies, and fished with the German Rig and a balanced Link boilie over the top. During the week he used 20kg of boilie in total. Dave went on to have Mirrors of 37lb, 29lb and a pretty double.

Richard Geer went into Tea Party 1 and was fishing at 20 wraps in line with Turtle's Corner. He started off by putting out 5kg of boilies over the area, and was using a Blow-Back Rig and an IQ D-Rig with a Link wafter as his hook bait, it was a very tough week for Rich, but he still managed to snare himself one during the week.

Buzz opted for Shingles once everyone had taken their pick and fished all 3 rods at 18 wraps in line with the island. He started off by putting out 5kg of the New Mainline Baits Link boilies with the throwing stick, and that evening just as it was getting dark he had a small 20lb Common. The next evening he had a 35lb Mirror, and he put out another 5kg of boilies, this time using the Spomb to allow him to introduce some chopped baits and mix things up a bit. The next morning, he landed The Unknown Common which weighed in at a very healthy 44lb. He was using an IQ D-Rig with a Mainline Baits Link Wafter as his hook bait.

Well that’s it for another year for the Korda Social. It was an amazing social week, the lads all had a fantastic time and landed some excellent fish along the way. Five new PB's and a Fifty Pounder along with seven different forties got all the lads gagging to come back again.

Tight Lines..