Bailiff Comments

Week Commencing: Sat 12/10/2024

Big Moon = Big Fish

With a super moon on the horizon there was always the hope the lake was going to throw up some big fish and it definitely didn’t disappoint, with three 60’s banked this week for the first time this year it somewhat proved the moon phase puts big fish on the bank.

Firstly we have Andy Moores who fished in Dunkerque a swim that had some good form of big fish recently and seemed to continue this trend virtually from the off. Andy banked two fish this week but one of them was a special one and was the first 60 on the bank this week. Andy fished a couple of areas, having two rods roughly 16 wraps towards the dot island and one rod 10 wraps towards Decoy, it was infact the rod aimed at Decoy which produced the biggen, All About the hat weighing 64lb 8oz, and spread Creamino boilies over the spot and fished a spinner rig in amongst them with a 12mm yellow wafter as the hookbait, with All about the hat being a new PB for Andy it meant he was one of the first anglers set for the PB wall on Friday. Andy did catch one more fish this week from the other spot towards the Dot Island, this fish was Raspberry which weighed 45lb on the nose and was a nice parting gift as this actually came on the final evening so as it goes although he didn’t catch loads of fish banking over 100lb of carp from 2 fish he couldn’t have asked for much more from his week with us. 

The next 60 banked this week actually came to myself, I set myself a target of a 60 pounder when I began working for Gigantica back in April and to say its been slightly more difficult than anticipated is an understatement, obviously work and the guests come first and picking from remaining swims after the anglers doesn’t make it easy to get on fish, however with the fish moving around a lot more through the hours of darkness lately I knew this time of year was my best chance yet. From the remaining swims after the draw I decided to fish in The Poo, purely for the reason that I know this swim is known for throwing up big fish, I baited a relatively large area to begin with at 16 wraps and fished all three rods spread across the bait, with my first night under my belt and hearing a ridiculous number of fish out in front of me ranging from in front of The Goo and then all the way to my hard right, aswell as some in really close I thought I was bound to catch something, when I woke in the morning and realised it was a fishless night I knew I had to change something as I believed if I had it right I should have caught, so going into my second night I switched tactics, I left one rod out on the baited area but fished my left and right rods way off the bait and and fished them short, I put a large mesh bag on filled with maize and crumbed boilie and with two pieces of real maize on the hair as a hookbait, I cast the rod roughly 10 wraps out either side, one infront of The Goo and one towards turtles at roughly the same distance, both of these rods happened to go on my second night the first fish being a 27lb mirror but the real prize was from the right hand rod aimed at Turtles, I knew it was a good fish when I netted it but virtually slipped it straight into the sling really without looking at what I had, it was only when I went back to do the pictures did I quite realise that it could have been what I was after all along, turns out I had completed my target and had Foster’s in the sling weighing 64lb 4oz to which I done one more night in the swim after this with no fish and to be honest was happy with my capture so called It a day after that. 

Phil Allen fished in Tea party 1 an area that seemed to be currently holding a large number of fish, Phil’s first night really got the ball rolling for him by landing 2 fish very early on, a 45lb Mirror and a 38 Common both caught on solid bags fished roughly 15 wraps towards Shingles. Phil’s totals for the week were 8 fish including two forties, three thirties and a 60… The 60 was a brand new PB for Phil and is largely considered the best Common in the lake, The Jackal was on the missing list for almost 2 years then has showed up roughly twice in the last 12 weeks but this time at a new top weight and for the first time pushing into the magical 60’s bracket, this meant there is now a total of 15 fish that have been over the 60 bracket on The Road Lake so it shows how much the fish are packing on the weight, and that means of course that they’re getting on the munch.

Not only were there three sixties out this week but there was a lot of big fish coming out all round, including multiple fifties which leads us on to Michael Watts, Michael fished in The Beach this week a swim that regularly produces fish and lots of goodens, Michael managed 11 fish total fishing a multi rig at 24 wraps over to the bund, he went round and fed a mix of House Maize and Boilie which kept the bites coming virtually all week. Out of Michaels 11 fish banked he managed two fifties, the biggest being the Korda Social Common at 57lb 12oz, a new PB for Michael, the other 50 banked was Eddy which weighed 51lb 12oz which came early on in the week and was actually Michaels first PB, Alongside the two fifties banked for Mike he also landed two forties with Hobnob at 48lb 6oz and Cheggars at 43lb 6oz, the rest of the fish were made up mainly of thirties and twenties so Mike had a good range of fish for his week including some real whackers. 

One of the other real chunks this week fell to Stephen Daynes in Shingles, Stephen only managed one fish this week but what a fish to do it with, fishing 17.5 wraps directly straight ahead and also using a multi rig this time with a Pango wafter as the hookbait, Stephen managed to bank himself  A-Star a fish that hadn’t been out for over a year at this point and with a new top weight of 58lb 8oz one fish was all Stephen needed to feel that his trip was worthwhile. 

The last thing I want to mention is some of the good forties that come out from elsewhere around the lake, Sean Cannon who began his week in Brambles but after two nights felt he needed to move to Double Boards as there were clearly a good number of fish holding down this end of the lake, Seans swim change quickly paid off as within the first few hours of getting set up he managed to bank himself a new PB of 49lb 8oz with the long common, fishing 15 wraps towards Bacheliers and using a Parrot rig with a snowman as the hookbait, unfortunately after this Sean never got stuck into anymore fish in Double Boards and then for the final night made the move once again back to his original swim to which he landed a final carp weighing 38lb. Paul Truett fished in Birches and kept to his spot roughly 18 wraps out towards Billy’s, it didn’t seem to be producing much but every night he was hearing fish in the area of his bait so he stuck to his plan in the hope fish would get their heads down and give him a bite, in the end it did happen for Paul and he was another one who managed to get himself on the PB wall on Friday with a Common known as Riley which tipped the scales at 47lb 8oz. Lastly John Bentley in Decoy unfortunately didn’t seem to have the same luck as everyone else when it came to fish size as he managed 8 fish all coming from the right hand margin at 16 wraps, with 7 of the fish being under 30lb John was just praying that a chunk would turn up, luckily as the week went on he did manage a mid forty which was Castro weighing 45 on the nose which was a bit of a saviour for Johns week in reality. 

So that concludes this weeks fishing, as you can see the big girls really got on the munch and the whole idea of does the Moon phase lead to big fish, well if you use this week to judge it then id definitely say there is some truth in that. 

Until next time Tight Lines,

Rob