Details: Video clip - Danny Fairbrass lands the Giant at 72lb
News from October 2009 this... but we've only just received the video clip so thought it worth highlighting again;
In October 2009 Danny Fairbrass banked Gigantica's largest resident - the Giant at 72lb. He'd already had several 40's and a 50 before catching the Giant on his final night. Just look at the size of this magnificent creature!
Date:
January
2010
Details: New Improvements Planned at Gigantica...
Hi David
Just to let you know, upon my return from my annual holidays ( early March ) I will begin work on the Gigantica social area. Expected completion within 4 weeks. This will consist of a large seated area in the form of 4 generously padded, relaxing sofa style benches under a covered area with a surround style sound system along with the 47" Plasma TV for all the World Cup matches.
I am currently just finishing the site refurbishment to bring it back up too its best condition with the addition of a new 2m high security fence around the entire perimeter to increase the sites & clients safety.
To finish, in time for the season proper, I will be undertaking a huge landscaping programme. This should see Gigantica become an even more beautiful venue.
We have even greater plans for the site at the end of the year which we keep you updated as and when the works begin.
I will forward images of all new work as and when completed for your site.
Regards,
Danny Turtle
Date:
November
2009
Details: New 50 common THE NUDE PATCH comes from Alcatraz
Anglers 10
Fish 6
10 Army boys made the long journey from Germany on a lake exclusive.
Big winds with lots of rain made the going tough.
234 came out of The Stink at 44lbs which is a new PB and a new top weight for that fish, Danny F had the fish in the later part of September at 38lb 12oz, thats over 5 pounds in a month!
all the boys have vowed to return and give the place a proper pasting!
Date:
November
2009
Details: Fat Boys world tour 2009. Jonesy and Palmer eat but do not Haul!
Anglers 3
Fish 1
The weather took a massive turn for the worst this week and made it difficult for UK Eating Team, Peter Jones of Tackle Box, Dartford and Keith Palmer. With minus 4 at 7pm and bitter winds these two accomplished anglers and supreme eaters had their work cut out for them. warming through 8 Gallons of curry is normally a half hour job for underwear model Keith yet in these conditions it took over two hours to fully cook this gastronomic giant.
They fished in Stink and Alamo and Danny T did a night or two in Oblivion and at the end of the week Danny still couldnt explain why they had not caught, especially as some nights there swims were 'black with fish'. Danny T managed a 25lber on the last morning from Oblivion after a night of fish crashing one after the other, 'i should have caught more they were black on me, he said'.
it seems that at this time of the year the fish are affected massively by the weather, it can fish its head off or be super tricky, thats the chance we all take for the fish being at their biggest weights of the year.
Date:
November
2009
Details: Stevie Cowell lands a stunning 36 14 on a tough week
Anglers 6
Fish 2
Danny F and 5 mates fished this week. weather looked awesome 14 in the day 9 at night and all southerly based winds, yet the lake fished hard. danny f started in oblivion and moved after 2 days to alcatraz, the fish then moved into oblivion and cleared up all his bait, he says 'i ignored my own advice and moved, had i stayed put i would have caught a few. but after making one mistake I stuck to my guns and stayed in alcatraz and managed a pretty 19 pounder that went straight in the stock pond to be grown on'. Steve's fish was a real stunner and he said 'its the best looking fish i have ever caught in France, when can i book for next year!' despite fishing hard the other guys failed to catch, Ivan lost one when a tangled hooklink snapped half way through the week. Danny says 'in hindsight i wish we hadn't used the boats and baited lighter at the start but no-one expected the fishing to be so different from my session just 2 weeks earlier on 24th October. The lake had risen 4 inches whilst i had been away and i think this new cold water had affected the fish in the short term. I expect the lake to stabilise in the next few weeks.
Date:
November
2009
Details: Danny Fairbrass catch report
Just received this from Danny who was fishing the lake last week;
"I had 19 fish last week to 44.08. Darrell Peck had 7, inc a 41 common (new fish), 50.08 mirror (first time at 50) and a totally new 58.12 we have called ‘The Unit’. Pics to follow shortly."
Date:
October
2009
Details: BLACK EYE comes from The Pink at 42lbs 8oz. The Belgiums conquor The Beech
Home made fish meals got the Belgium pairing in The Beech 11 fish including 3 forites, SHOULDERS 42LBS, plus two other 40's we have not indetified yet.
Co's produced a 36 common
Pole did 3 fish inc a 38 common.
Fish were caught form all over the lake to a variety of methods, big beds of boilies being the best tactic this week, by far.
Date:
October
2009
Details: Bitterly Cold Easterlies and very few anglers made it a super tough week
Anglers 2
Fish 0
The weather definitely beat the two Bristol boys on this week. they didnt help themselves setting up in the teeth of the easterly on the advice of Dave Fuidge aka FUDGY who fished Pole Position with great success in May! Hot swims change from week to week so choosing a swim based on a spring capture was, in our opinion a bad idea but when someone has a plan in their head its very hard to get them to change. Co's point out of the wind would have been a better bet but some people simply will not listen to full time bailiff Danny T!
Date:
October
2009
Details: Rigadon slides into the Tree Line and snatches them from under Stotty's nose!
Anglers 5
Fish 3
Nick the Greek had a 35lber off Co's and lost one at about 120 yards and our little star Rigadon aka Sleepy Neil slid into The Tree Line for 5 nights and caught a stunning 39 named Sasquoch and 42 we have not yet identified fishing about 60 yards straight out away from the trees. CELL and indian Spice doing the business, if it aint broke dont fix it.
Ian Stott returned for his 3rd week in less than a year and blanked in The Beech! Accomplished swim hogger Ian who is considered one of the best anglers in his remote village in East Anglia had a mare of a week, we all now how you feel Mr Stott! Stotties a mate so i'm sure he will enjoy the micky taking but in all seriousness our experinces at Gigantica have taught us that there is a very fixed winning method when fishing in open water, fish all 3 rods at the same range about a rod length apart, feed 2-10kg boilies on day 1 and keep feeding between 2 and 5kg a day until the bites start coming, if nothing happends for 3 days the fish are probably not on you, stop baiting until you start catching, Ian kept baiting no matter what and simply overfed his swim. He put in over 10kg on the last night after a week of no bites, crazy! if you are going with lots of bait, consider the time of year and always start with a big bed, dont end with one.
Also Ian purchased his CELL from a rolling service not from us or Mainline, for some reason bait rolled by Mainline is better than dry mix made and rolled by bait firms, we have experinced this fist hand and cant explain why it is. you have been warned!
Date:
October
2009
Details: Darrell Peck lands 7 including an unknown 58lbs 12oz mirror christened THE UNIT
Anglers 5
Fish 32
Weather started perfect, mild and sw winds. Danny Fairbrass in Co's Point had to wait 24 hours for his first bite then had 6 in a night to 42.8 (Northern Scaly), his action continued during the week ending up with 19 fish to 44.8, all falling to CELL snowmen or bottom baits over lots 20mm freebies at 110 yards. Darrell Peck moved to Oblivion and caught from the first night taking 7 fish including a TOTALLY NEW 50+ nicknamed THE UNIT at 58lbs 12oz, what a result for the lake and for Darrell. He managed two other good uns a new 41 common named THE VIRGIN and BRUTUS at 50lbs 8oz, its first time over 50! Darrell used 15mm Fruitella snowmen on CELL botom baits and fed 3-8kg CELL per night. Darrell commented 'I broke my French pb by 30lbs and was amazed how quickly the fish responded to large beds of boilies'. Billy moved into Alcatraz when Darrell moved out and took a brace of 30 commons in the first hour! The weather deteriorated towards the end of the week and runs slowed down, still an amazing week! This session was filmed for SKY SPORTS show THINKING TACKLE and will go the air Feb/March 2010.
Date:
October
2009
Details: Danny Fairbrass lands The Giant at 72lb!
As reported in Carp Talk this week Danny Fairbrass caught the largest resident in Gigantica, known as The Giant, at 72lb exactly.
He'd already had several 40's and a 50 before catching The Giant on his final night. It's all captured on film and will be appearing on the 2010 Korda Carp Tackle, Tactics & Tips, Volume 3, due out in the New Year. Once the films available we'll get it on-line here for you to see.
Carp Talk, 17.10.2009
Date:
September
2009
Details: Essex Mick bags Fudgies at 61 and a new fish named Chunky at 49 14!
Anglers 9
Fish 29
Mick from Essex managed 7 out of Pole Position inc CHUNKY at 49 14 and FUIDGIES at 61 fishing just boilies about 80 yards out. Mick was over the moon with his result and cant wait to get back next year.
Micks mate Steve in Alcatraz had 2
BLACK EYE came out of the Tree Line AGAIN at 42lbs, that fish loves that swim.
9 fish inc 4 pbs's came from Co's point
Date:
September
2009
Details: Ting Tong smashes CO'S POINT taking 31 fish. Drop Tail at 52lbs 12oz from BIG GIRLS
Anglers 8
Fish 56
weather was warm and sunny with mostly northerly based winds, later in the week the wind swung in all directions with mainly clear skys. Tong hit the ground running and caught from the first night. he fished all 3 rods at 90 yds with al least 10 yards between each hookbait. he didnt use a marker rod and simppy sprayed 20mm CELL boilies all over the area. He fished superbly ending with 33 takes landing 31 fish, showing what can be caught if the lake is fished dead right, hookbaits were either indian spice or tutti snowmen with a 20mm cell underneath or double 18mm CELL bottom baits. his only bad luck was that he didnt connect with any of the A Team, his best was just short of 37lbs. Dannt F fished in Pole Position and had 13 takes landing 12 inc PIPS at 41lbs again over large amounts of CELL. Adam Penning chased the fish and struggled with 2 to 29 and Dutch Jon had 4 stunners from the TREE LINE inc BLACK EYE at 41 and THE SNAGS LINEAR 38lbs. Andy and Chicken Legs had nothing in Pink and Stink so they fished a rod each for the day in Big Girls and Andy had Drop Tail at 52lbs 12oz another new pb, he then moved into Oblivion and had two more inc a 37 common.
Date:
September
2009
Details: Danny F bags THE GIANT at 72lbs
Anglers 7
Fish 34
Danny moved into Co's Point after Ting Tongs super week as he continued to film the free DVD for 2010. he carried on were Tong finished and caught from the off sadly loosing his first bite which seemed like a good un. the fish came steadily and he ended the week with 24 bites landing 19 inc 3 real special ones DISCUS a new fish at 44.8, DROP TAIL at 55lbs out just a week earlier after going missing for 12 months and THE GIANT at 72 pounds all on either 20mm CELL bottom baits or snowmen with homemade CELL pop ups, like Tong he fished at 90 yards and fed boilies all week using almost 50kg by the end. ALI went in Alcatraz and managed 7 to upper thrities Tom Dove had 5 from Alamo inc THE TWIN at 53lbs both using CELL, of course. Fred from Holland had a new 40 we have named FRED which is one of most beautiful fish, he was well pleased and will be back with his mates next year. all these fish and more will be on CARP, TACKLE, TACTICS and TIPS in shops FREE of charge next Feb/March.
Date:
September
2009
Details: 'Jammy' Clarky flukes STAPLES at new top weight of 67lbs 12oz
Anglers 8
Fish 16
This is the Frampton syndicates first ever lake exclsuive on Gigantica and big things were expected from this group of super talented anglers. sadly, the lake didnt respond to a toatlly new bait Shellfish B5 and this coupled with the fact over 200 fish had been out over the previous month or so meant the week fished harder than expected.
as our headline says the worlds luckiest angler 'Clarky' fluked the lakes second biggest known resident STAPLES at an all time top weight of 67lbs 12oz, what a weight for this male fish, this shows our policy of a mixed diet of boilies some pellets and particles is working, in all seriousness well done mate the micky taking is just CARP ENVY from Danny T and Danny F. Clarky's long suffering missus Katherine had THE CHEESE at 35lbs 10oz, first time out for a year!
Dishy Dave Waker (See CarpWorld) had a 18lb 12oz mirror from Alamo and openly admitted to Danny F when back in the UK that sticking to the Shellfish B5 was a mistake in view of all the CELL that had gone in over this season, he also said none of them expected to need as much bait as they did. B5 is a brilliant bait but it struggled to interest ths fish hooked on a fully established food source, in this case CELL.
Date:
August
2009
Details: Alan takes FUDGY's at 57lbs 8oz part of a 10 fish catch from Co's point
Anglers 6
Fish 16
Alan who manages the packing department at Korda spent a weeks holiday with his girlfriend and son in Co's point. after following Danny's advice to the letter he bagged the majority of the fish out that week including FUDGY'S at 57lbs 8oz and THE NUDE FISH at 37lbs, NUDE PATCH COMMON at 42 and half tail common at 32. All fish falling to CELL/Indian spice snowmen over large amounts opf boilie at between 70 and 90 yards. WHY DONT MORE PEOPLE TAKE DANNY'S ADVICE?
TREE LINE produced 2 fish inc The English fish at 27lbs 10oz
Date:
August
2009
Details: Pete bags THE IMMACULATE at 43lbs
Action was spread all the way round the lake and only two people actually blanked. the group were using Dynamite Baits Monster Tiger Nut and the fish repsonded well to this, bearing in mind it was the frozen version, not the shelf lifes.
THE IMMACULATE common came out for the first time this year at 43lbs, the picture shows pete was well pleased to get it! we had shaky photo's and no weight of this fish from last year so its great to finally get an accurate weight!
Date:
August
2009
Details: Closed this week to re-dig the stock pond
the stock pond had been started in the winter of 2008 but after falling water levels it was re dug to house up to 40 doubles from thre main lake with the viw to growing them on to over 25lbs and then reinroduced back into the main lake. the ongoing plan is to keep removing the smallest fish and growing them on until the lake only has 30 plus carp in it.
Date:
August
2009
Details: Si and Tom smash the Alamo, taking 36 fish inc 7 forties. John takes Single Scale at 59 and Fudgies
Anglers 6
Fish 50
Si and Tom made the effort to speak to Danny T before their trip and totally took his advice and spent all their pennies on 70kg of CELL which they brought with them from the UK. They doubled up in our only 2 man swim The Alamo and fed heavily from the start and the fishing just got better and better. their rigs were super simple blow back rigs with indian spice pop ups fished snowman style with a cell bottom bait underneath.
John from Cornwall had SINGLE SCALE at 59lbs 2oz and FUDGY'S at 60lb 4oz as part of a 12 fish catch from Pole Position, fishing at Danny T's range of about 60 yards using his own boilies which shows like eds catch in August that if you aply the right bait at the right times you can catch on anyhting.
All in all a brilliant week with not just loads of fish but big uns too!
Date:
July
2009
Details: 42 linear comes from TREE LINE
Anglers 3
Fish 13
BIG SOUTHERLY produced a new pb of 34lbs.
Date:
July
2009
Details: Two 43lb commons from TREE LINE and ALAMO
Anglers 4
Fish 18
A lady catches her new pb at 27lbs fro ALCATRAZ
Danny T takes 6 from POLE POSITION inc a 42. Danny only fishes on quiet weeks and keeps to 50 yards range in the summer to show how close the fish can be caught, he fed 20mm CELL fishing Indian Spice/Cell snowmen ove the top.
Rene returns to catch the CUT TAIL common from ALAMO we;; spawned out at 43lbs, a low weight but good news for later weight gains!
Date:
July
2009
Details: Sparky and his Brother take 6 from Co's Point
Anglers 8
Fish 18
Sparky and his brother lost as many fish as they hooked and Danny T couldn't underdstand why he lost so many. Sparky moved to Stock Pond for the last night and had two more.
Ian Stott manged 3 from The Alamo to low 20's and vowed to come back! Like many people Ian refused to listen to Danny T and fished his own way which cost him many bites. he is an accomplished angler in the UK and this shows just how critical it is to follow Danny T's advice on what bait and how much to use and when to feed it.
Date:
July
2009
Details: Danny T continues to rape Pole Position inc THE HEAD and 234 both at 40 plus!
Anglers 4
Fish 22
Koen has 3 off of Co's Point to 33lb a nice common.
Danny F has 8 from The Alamo inc a 36 and 37. A 5 day trip for Mr F mainly to dive the lake between BIG SOUTHERLY and THE PINK to remove any snags they find. danny reports 'Danny T and i were amazed at how many snags were present in this area, we removed loads, some huge branches sticking bolt upright from the bottom, others semi buried but covered in zebra mussles. some snags were covered in line and rigs, all of which were removed. We have made this area far more fishable, its no wonder Ting Tong lost so many from here in June, both neighbouring swims will continue to benefit from what snags we couldnt remove and both are now far more fishable. on the fishing front i had a great few days in The Alamo, i learnt alot, mostly that if i had fed more i would have caught more, on the last day i put 2 kilos on their heads after a bite at 5am and had one 10 minutes after, had I rebaitied sooner after each fish i would have caught more. our carp are now addicted to large beds of boilies, too little bait will often go unnoticed!
Jack on work experience had 2 from The Stink
Danny T had 9 from Pole Position inc THE HEAD at 41 and 234 at 41, Indian Spice and Cell at 50 yards again, this swim just keeps producing the 40's close in!
Date:
July
2009
Details: Hamish bags THE GIANT at 68lbs and Ed takes 18 fish to 40lbs
Anglers 9
Fish 47
Weather SW all week straight into The Alamo
Ed doubled up in The Alamo with another Dutch mate of ours and at first the action was slow. When his fishing buddy left after a few days and Ed started applying more bait and fishing all his rods at the same range he started to haul. He was using a secret protoype dutch fishmeal boilie with a simple blow back rig and bottom bait, he finished with the best haul so far this season with 22 bites and 18 fish up to 40lbs ROBERTS FISH. In total he used 40kg of boilies, every time i got up for a piss in the night Ed was baiting up, he fished hard and deserved what he caught showing us all how its done!
Jack and hamish on work experince from Sparsholt Collage had 19 fish from Co's point at 70 yards inc The Giant at 68lbs, well done Hamish you are gonna have to get some muscles if you plan to come back! all fish on CELL/indian spice over lots of CELL freebies.
In The Beech Ralf only managed an 18lb'er on a Zig, he needed more bait in the swim as the fish were there.
Date:
July
2009
Details: End of July report
Goodmorning,
So, the end of July has arrived and with it, some impressive catches.
Koen from Holland had an early flurry of four fish, from Co's Point topped with 2 30+ fish, a mirror and the half tailed common.
Koen used his own homemade boillies for what turnt out too be a frustrating week for the Dutch angler.
We had two Sparsholt Colledge student's arrive for a two week stint of hands on fishery maintaince and a chance to experience the real world enviroment of holiday fisheries.
Hamish & Jack, both excellant workers, toiled hard throughout the day, felling trees and helping me re-build several of the swims to a larger European standard, fishing empty swims at night.
Both anglers worked hard and caught fish fron the off, plenty of 20lb - 30lb fish from a variety of swims, culmanatting in the second weeks fishing, in a totally re-built Co's Point. Both anglers thought smart and double their approach by fishing one area and using double their baits, helping tighten up the shoals, and making multiple captures and every night occurance.
Should any fishery managers be reading this, I would thoughourly recommend you contact Sparsholt and enquire into their work placement arrangements, both parties, the Colledge lads and the fishery owner will greatly benefit from working together, certainly if you get two young Gentleman like the quality of both Hamish & Jack. thanks for all your hard work lads.
Danny Fairbrass made a breif visit to the pond the third week of July, and as I was actually angling as well that week, we managed to give the scaly warriors a much deserved bashing.
Fishing in the Alamo, and I in Pole Position, almost opposite each other, we fished well, with large quantities of Mainlines excellant Cell boillie. This is now a dominating bait here at Gigantica with the fish actively searching this bait out with preference to other baits being introduced.
Fishing similar set ups, flying back leads, back leads and a proto-type Flurocarbon mainline weve been trialling for several months now, Dan had 9 carp, the biggest, several high 30z, really beautiful fish.
I had a few more but with a slightly higher weight, with regular action almost every night, carp to low 40z were netted and recorded for our ever increasing fish libary here at Gigantica.
All fish falling to the awesome Mailine Cell.
We stock several of Mainlines baits here at Gigantica for our anglers to buy. All catch fish on a regular basis but the Cell is now becoming dominatant due to its great taste profile and attractors, plus the large quantities now being introduced to the lake.
Now the hotter weather has arrived, the fishing is really improving, to those who are willing to adapt and fish harder. We advise the use of the Gigantica particle mix at this time due to the Breams hightened activity.plus the Carp are really into large beds of boilie at this present time.
On the Bream front, weve had several 'match' anglers visit, and with the on site feeder equipment, which is available to all. we have now managed to remove approx 500kg of silver fish and bream. Eventually,over time, we will remove the vast majority of these pests and subsequently, the Carps weights will rocket in the near future.
Back to the Carp, and the last week of the month, and what a week.
Approximately 55 takes for 50 odd fish.
One Dutch angler, Ed Cramer had an astonishing week. With homemade boilies and real hard work in some very hot tempratures, Ed managed no fewer than 22 bites, subsequently landing 18 fish upto 40lb.
We had a real continental mix that last week, two anglers from Belguim, Jimmy & Steve fishing in Pole position and Alcatraz caught several fish.
Jimmy taking almost all. with 7 fish topped with a lovely 31. Steve however really struggled but with a little guidance, finally managed to bag a 20+ on the very last night, perserverance finally doing the job for Steve, well done.
So that brings us bang up to date, the end of a great month, plenty of fish. Great anglers and some funny moments.
Should you need any advice or information thats not currently available on this Angling lines site, please feel free to call.
Until next week, Bon Peche.
Danny
Date:
July
2009
Details: Back online with updated Gigantica catch reports.
July 2009
Good morning Gentlemen,
Its been a while since we’ve updated this report due to some technical issues, but we’re up and running now so I’ll get to the information you want to know....
So, Mark Jackson & his son Tommi from the Northwest visited, and as it was only the two of them, they chose Pole position for Tommi & Mark went into Alcatraz. Tommi managed several fish, upper doubles and 20 lb fish, the biggest, a 23lb fish being Tommi’s new personal best fish. Tommi even managed to stalk a couple of 20lb fish from other swims, very good angling.
Mark, in Alcatraz had quite a good week, building slowly, he went onto bank several high 30lb fish topped by a 42lb mirror. Mark used his favourite NBS5 boilie to bank all his and Tommi’s fish.
Then the Manchester boyz came, and Stuart in Pole had the week of his life, easily beating his previous PB of 31, Stuart went on to land a couple of big 20z, a few bigger 30z topped of with Spilt pec , a mirror @ 50.04 followed up by the Cut Tail common at 51Lb ! Awesome angling, a brace of 50z.
Stuarts Dad, Mick, in Alcatraz also got in on the action, again beating his previous PB with a haul of big 20z and 30z, both mirrors and commons.
Generally, we advocate that an angler bait an area in his swim and work it all week, generally with the results building as the week progress’. This proved no different. By baiting with Gigantica particle and pellets, along with the anglers choice of boiled baits, the week improved as the week went on. We see this approach prove itself week in, week out.
Stuart wont mind me saying he waivered slightly mid week when the sun was shining and the fish were on the surface, but he stuck to the plan and as the week went on, the fish kept coming.
I even joked with him one night that he was going to have a real biggun that night, later that night he called me to do the photo’s of his first 50. I knew he would continue to catch, the conditions, the fishes movements, just looked right for his swim and so it proved the next morning with his second 50, the common.
Before we did the photo’s, I asked him if he had his rod back out on the area, he hadn’t so I told him to get it back out, Just after the photos were completed, an upper 20 rattled off the rod just recast. Stuart had the week of his fishing life, good angling !
I must mention Del, from Hitchin, Beds. Now Del made no bones about it, he aint a carp angler, concentrating on Pike, generally, Del came round and woke me early one morning with tales of a huge fish he’d just banked that was in the net, being watched by a friend. Round we go to Del’s swim, I was ready for a for a real biggun, so when I got too the net and looked in, I was surprised that the fish I could see was clearly no beast, I judged it around the mid 30 weight ( still a big fish, just not what I was expecting with Del’s exuberance ) The scales proved me right at 35lb, a gorgeous heavily plated mirror, awesome fish for sure. It was then I realised why Del was so excitied, it was his very first carp !! And at 35, it was a huge beast for him, dunno who was smiling more, me or Del.
We had a quiet week so got a couple of friends in to refurb our kitchen. Working in the day, fishing at night both Dave and Simon caught. Simon down in the Tree line had some beautiful fish, 4-5 40z too 43lb, a real heavy scaled fish. Dave in Pole had a few.....
Dave’s recent signed for Nash bait and had the new Mach 1 with him, by Wednesday had yet to have a bite and with the stick me and Simon ( who had had a few by now ) were dishing out, Dave looked like he was beginning to worry.....
No need though as he showed us the way. A small double started it, then a 39, followed by a 61 !
Next morning a 57lber put in an appearance with a 46 shortly after. Dave was now on cloud nine and rightly so, what a session, all on a new bait as well ! He added a small 20 for a full house. That’s a double, a 20,30,40,50 and a 60 !!!
The bait and wait plan working with full effect, again. Show’s, you just have to have the confidence in the approach, then reap the rewards.
There are very few features here at Gigantica, so bait – or should I say – your baiting situation is so important as it is the only feature in front of you for the fish to visit. Understand what’s happening in front of you during your visit and it will make catching fish so much easier.
So, back to more up to date visits;
A recent competition in Carp talk, with a week here at Gigantica up for grabs allowed Keith & Ray a chance to visit us and fish for a week. I’m sure neither of these two Gentlemen would have ever have guessed at what was to happen during their week.
Keith went into Alcatraz and Ray in Pole. Keith nicked a small 19, Ray managed to catch a couple of 20z along with a lovely 38lb mirror just as I was beginning the weekly BBQ. The 38 went back nicely and we began dinner, only to be interrupted by Rays alarm.
I’m cooking BBQ, Ray & Keith are playing the fish. No issue. In the net I can hear them discussing how big it was as there were sure it was bigger than the previous 38. Still no problems. I get the shout “ Its a big 40 “ so I put down my BBQ weapons and stroll over.
Now, Pole position is about 40 yards from the dining area and I can see slightly down on there position....
About half way over I can see this BEAST of a fish on the mat and now know, even before getting a full look at this fish that its easily 60+ and the closer I get to it, the bigger its growing !
Keith asks “ how big you reckon, 50 ? “ and I reply “ what’s the biggest set of scales you’ve got ? “
I know this fish, know its easily 70+ and as Gigantica’s scales had yet to arrive, were going to have a problem weighing her.
A set of 60lb Reubens are on hand, which bottom out at 68 and she ain’t even of the mat !
Back the scales up 6lb and she still bottoms out at 68 ( plus wound back 6 lb so that 74 ! )
A digital set are on the way so we get her in the water, make her good, and get ready for the photos. Now Ray, at 71 cant lift anything heavy due to an issue with his arm, so its decided, I would lift her, duck out the way with Ray by my side. Not so easy to duck out the way when struggling with 72lb of mirror ! That’s the weight verified with 2 sets of scales. 72lb, it was a whale !
So with Ray by my side, I managed to duck out of the way and we managed to get Ray a decent set of pics for his fish of a life time ! Must say thanks to Chrissyfish for a awesome set of pics, cheers mate.
Ray was understandably blown away, and rightly so, its the fish of a lifetime for sure ! Keith, not to be out done banked a 39lb mirror as well, so a great weeks fishing for two very likeable gentlemen, well done and hope to see you both next year ?
Next up we held an International match, all filmed by Thinking tackle to be broadcast late August Im led to believe.
Three teams, England, Germany and Benelux. Three members per team to draw a set swim selection so each team had anglers all around the lake fishing differing situations.
Benelux first out the hat, Germany followed with England last unfortunately.
I wont give to much away as it will all be shown on TV shortly but England won !! Danny in Alcatraz, Ian McMillan in Big Southerly and Tom Dove in Oblivion. All caught and easily won over the other teams attempts. Some would say its cruel to mention that Germany never caught a fish, not me ! Come on England !
Right up to date now, second week in July 09. 3 English lads, Neil, Richard & Stuart have just completed the week. With a change in the weather for the better – a big cooler front bringing some decent stormy conditions – early in the week, improved the fishing incredibly. Richard in the Alamo, Neil in Big Southerly and Stuart in Co’s Point.
All three anglers caught, Richard and Neil first of the mark, with Neil taking a new PB @ 34.10, a mirror caught Mainline Cell boilie, the bait of the moment here at Gigantica, mounted on size 4 Wide Gape. Stuart however was struggling but kept the faith in the swim and was rewarded later in the week with several fish. A 18, 27 & a 28 mirror. Stuart suffered several hook pulls for what ever reason but remedied the situation by changing over to Korda Kurv’s, which totally cured the issue.
Stuart caught all his fish on Mainline’s New Grange boilie’s along with Richard’s fish, and what I caught through the week,24 fish have been banked on the New Grange. Mainlines new to be released bait has been consistently putting large numbers of fish on the bank here at Gigantica, coupled with a new Green pop up supplied from Mainline ( we’ve named them the Mean Green ) we’ve banked a lot of fish this week with snow men rigs tipped off with the Mean Green pop ups. I don’t know what’s in them but they work, and that’s good enough for us !
I fished several nights, with New Grange tipped Mean Green snowmen to bank a total of 16 fish to 38, all but 3 coming to the Mean Green, Maple Eight tipped snowmen proving the Mean Green’s superiority.
Again, the bait and wait scenario proving the most consistent as usual, as the week progress’, the results just get better and better, a proven baiting situation and confidence in the area and your ability winning through.
So, thats us bang up to date now, a weekly report with be online here on Angling lines each and every week so you can follow the action as and when its happening. This should help you come pre-armed to catch here at Gigantica.
Auvoir, Danny
Date:
June
2009
Details: TEAM ENGLAND wins Gigantica European Cup
Anglers 9
Fish 27
3 English verses 3 Germans verses 3 Dutch/Belgiums (benelux) in the first of an annual match between the countries. Anglers are spread all around the lake to make the match as fair as possible. winds mainly from the North and East and Sunny. Arjen of benelux in TREE LINE started strong with a small one and mid thirty but Tong BIG SOUTHERLY and Danny F ALCATRAZ came back with fish the first night and second day. that pattern continued during the week and Danny and Tong continued to extend their lead as the other countries failed to get to grips with the place, the final tallys were Germany 0 Fish! Benelux 9 fish for 190lbs and England 18 fish for 380lbs. Danny recalls 'we gave the other teams as much info as we could regarding winning baits and rigs yet most did their own thing which cost them dearly, i was happy with our result and proud of Tong and Tom Dove who soldiered on getting two fish on the last night when the wind turned in his favour. at this time of year when the fish have just spawned you simply cannopt give them enough bait and next year i will be training myself in advance to cope with the feeding regime as we do not allow boats for this competition. we all had a great time and the other teams were brillaint sports. the match was covered by SKY SPORTS and appears on the latest THINKING TACKLE series 4 DVD out in shops in Dec 09.
Date:
May
2009
Details: Zig Rig Success!
Here are two pics of the fish I caught last weekend at lake Gigantica.
My wife and I went there for a relaxing fishing weekend. Relaxing it was. We had marvellous weather, a bit all too marvellous since the fish started spawning on our third and last day of the trip. Nevertheless I was able to hook 3 and land 2 fish.
The first was hooked on a bottom boilie bait an spat the hook just before landing it.
Both other fish where caught on friday 22 may in the hottest moments of the day on a zig rig from the peg named 'Co's point'.
The zig rig consisted of a 2,5 oz square pear on a Korda running rig system, a medium sized underwater float (buldo). The 3 ft monofilament hooklink with a Korda Widegape B 8 hook is attached with a swivel to the mainline.
The bait was a small piece of cork mounted on a D-rig. I fished the bait about 7 ft under the surface.
From friday-night fish had spawning on their minds, no more fish where caught.
Best regards,
Mathieu Baert
Zingem, Belgium
Date:
April
2009
Details: Neil AKA Rigadon gets a 40+ first bite!
Angers 4
Fish 4
This is the first week of our new season and we are as green to what works on this water as anyone else.
Our two paying customers started in The Pink and The Stink and moved around during the week without success. in handsight sticking to one swim and baiting it consistently would have brought better results.
Danny F and Neil came over for just 3 nights to help Danny T finish building the last of the palatial swims, Alcatraz, Pole Position and The Stock Pond. Danny writes 'I never knew how much hard work it would be building swims, aftre each day i was f+++ed! i fished in Alcatraz whislts it was being built and managed a stunning upper double on the second night and an even more stunning 34 we nicknamed Alcatraz on the last night. I spodded our particle mix and chopped Cell boilies for the first two nights but was too tired on night 3 so used the boat. The fish were clearly not scared of the 6 foot scaffold poles being banged in the swim during the day. A very satisfying few days topped off by Neil AKA Rigadon getting a new 40 at 40lb 4oz fcasting over to the Stock Pond out of bounds bank right in the edge. Good angling mate'!
Danny continues 'This is my first taste of the water at this time of year and i reckon you cannot use enough bait, i would start with a 10 litre bucket of particle, pellets and boilies or at leats 5kg boilies on day one and build that during the week. The fish have woken up and are looking for food!
Date:
April
2009
Details: Gigantica Springs to life!
Gigantica Springs into Life
After the long hard winter it’s great to see lush green leaves on the trees and lots of big carp throwing themselves out all over the lake.
As promised there has been a massive amount of work at Gigantica over the winter and early spring. ALL 14 swims have now been totally rebuilt, anyone who has fished the water before will not recognise the place, the whole ‘feel’ is different.
We have made sure that every swim has a large flat casting area with deep water right under your feet, playing a fish is now a joy, because you no longer have to navigate your way down treacherous gravel slopes, the swims have been built out as far as possible so you now have up to 10 feet under your rod tips. Fighting a real big fish in such deep water is a humbling experience, which will leave your legs shaking!
The back of the swims have been carved into the gravel and finished off with weathered sleepers to make them big enough for any two man bivvy. Drainage is first class and there is no mud just soft gravel.
Because all anglers have to cast from the bank the lake now seems much larger and the distance between swims is unrivalled in the UK or France. I hate having anglers casting in my water, this will not happen at Gigantica, because we have only 12 anglers on 35 acres.
Danny the fishery manager, our friend Neil and I fished next to each other in, The Stock Pond, Pole Position and Alcatraz, we finished the swims off as we fished. Our marker floats were literally miles apart. In The Stock Pond Neil fished one to the right hand out of bounds bank and two straight out, his bite came on the last morning of our 3 day flying trip, at 40lbs 12oz it was a top result, the fish was in pristine condition. It fell to a glugged mainline pineapple bottom bait fished on a simple hybrid soft hooklink 8 inches long with a 3oz flatliner pear lead and safezone leader. Neil had big fish showing all over his swim for the whole 3 days and we think the change of hookbait coupled with a good sprinkling of bait in the shallow margin made the difference.
Danny T fished in Pole Position, a new swim cleverly made between trees so it looks like it has always been there. He didn’t catch on this occasion but he spent more time at the BBQ than he did tying rigs or baiting up, this is a key element of fishing at Gigantica, the right amount of bait that is regularly topped up.
A couple of weeks ago, two mates, Richard (posh carp angler) and Lee (not posh carp angler) fished as guests with a couple of mates. Their party made up 4 of 5 anglers on and against the recommendation of Danny T they doubled up, big mistake, on this type of water the fish will move away from pressure. Concentrate the pressure and the fish will do the off! This is why all but one of our swims are singles to spread the anglers and so leave the fish nowhere to hide. Personally I never double up on any lake, your just halving your chances!
If that wasn’t enough one of them put 80kg of bait in on day one! Well that was his week f***ed in one fail swoop. I would use 80kg of bait in a week if I was getting lots of action but I would always start with 10kg (10 litre bucket full) of particles, pellets and boilies on day one and repeat each day if action followed. If after 3 days I had no action I would stop baiting up until I got a bite, then start putting it in again. This along with baiting at the wrong time of day is the most common mistake anglers make. The golden rules are, always bait little and often, if after 3 days you still haven’t caught, stop baiting, and never bait up at bite time, i.e. first light and last light, do it at times you don’t expect action 10am to 3pm for example.
Lee and Rich both caught in the end, both had fish to mid twenties, all of them were stunners. Rich said next time he would establish a baited area sooner and keep building the swim rather than casting around at showing fish and Lee is now totally sold on our pellets which he got all his bites on!
The middle of the day is also a good time to leave your rigs out of the water, the fish can then drift over the food with no lines there, maybe have a feed but most importantly gain confidence they are not being fished for at a time they probably wont feed anyway. When most people buy a week’s holiday they feel they must fish 24 hours a day 7 days a week to get their moneys worth. If you fish intelligently you will catch more fish is less time, if after a few days no one is catching in the middle of the day or the bailiff tells you it is a waste of time, wind in, have a few beers and a social, even go up the local village and watch the world go buy. You will start fishing again with renewed energy and enthusiasm having lulled the fish into a false sense of security. Resting the swim has paid huge dividends for me and my friends in the past.
Back to our session, on the second morning my right hand rod roared off and after a dogged fight I landed a heavily plated 21 pounder, not big for France but a good start and when they look as good as this who cares. This a fair representation of what you can expect to catch at gigantica, the smaller fish are generally stunning and the larger ones are old warriors, dark and full of character.
I baited with 30 spods of mixed particle, our own pellets and chopped mainline boilies on the first night, then repeated in on the second and had the bite the next morning. If I had not been building the swims I would have put some in during the day too but getting the lake looking right was number one priority.
After another full day of swim building I didn’t fancy spodding again so I rowed out the last half a bucket. When I bait up I always use a baiting spoon and drop a spoon full in random places all round the marker, just as though I was spodding. I never throw all my bait in one small area, I think the fish are scared of it and you can often cast too far away from it.
The next morning I had a stunning, long and heavily plated 34, what a fight and what a fish, seeing it twisting and turning in the cobalt blue water was a real treat if not a little scary until it went in the net, a just reward for such hard work building the swims!
The rig is the same I always use there, a running distance lead fished on a doctored lead clip with a gravel coloured safe zone leader. The bottom at gigantica is very light coloured sand and clay so anything gravel coloured is top choice. We are even having leads specially coated to match our lake bed.
The hooklink was stiff hybrid, 8 inches long with a size 8 wide gape b (we have a barbless rule to protect snagged fish) or a kurve shank b, when using kurve shanks I extend the shrink tube and bend it aggressively. I wrote about it in Advanced Carp in March and got an amazing response from anglers, the next time I had a clean bottom to use it on was in this session and out of the three rods it was the only rod with it on, and that was the rod that produced the bite! Coincidence, I think not! I think the gigantica fish are very riggy, which makes no sense seeing as they are so nomadic, but they have been fished for by over 100 rods a week at peak periods over the last few years, this makes them riggy! Always give full respect to how many anglers have fished for these carp before you. Go in with your best approach, with the rigs and baits you have the most confidence in, and if you are unsure please ask our fishery manager, Danny. No one knows more about the lake, after all he lives there!
My bites also came on boosted pineapple bottom baits with small long chuck stick, more to stop tangles than anything else. Regarding bait, we sell buckets of mixed particles at 15 euro for a 10kg bucket, pellets that have been fed to the carp in huge quantities over the last few years are 10 euro for 5kg and mainline frozen baits are 12 euro a kilo. Bring your own freezer bait, we have freezers for you free of charge but we ask you use our pellets and particles so we know how much the fish are getting and the oil content.
We have banned bait boats and rowing out your rig because so many anglers abused the privilege in years gone by, everyone ended up in the middle of the lake and if one guy started getting action the boats got closer and closer. I felt strongly that casting rigs would bring the fish closer in and this has worked a treat. The carp are now crashing more at 20-100 yards than they are in the middle. It is actually quite scary at night when a real lump jumps out! Personally, I fished at 90 yards because that’s where Danny recommended and Neil fished at about 50 yards. We have turned business away because customers wanted to use remote boats; this is how strongly we feel it will benefit the water in the long term. I want anglers of all abilities to be able to turn up and catch fish at 30 yards; this would never happen with the boats. We do have 6 rowing boats on site for hire for baiting up, a boat, life jacket and bait scoop will cost you 25 euro a week, or 40 euro between two, a small price to pay for easy baiting up.
I have to finish with out shower and toilets, all have been built/refurbished to an extremely high standard, the tiles cost me £1000 on their own! Long time carp legend Ronny Buss called in for a look around and said ‘F**k me there better than I’ve got in my house’, that’s all we need to say really. Our kitchen is fully operational and a ‘big man’ menu cooked by Danny will be 110 euro for breakfast and evening meal, this is of course optional and supermarkets are not far away if you want to rough it, get a peg for your nose when the BBQ gets fired up, just to stop you salivating!
Amazingly we have loads of availability in May, June, July, August and October so if you were waiting to see if I kept my word about the work then wait no longer, we are ready to receive you!
‘Big girls’ .... what a swim!
Neil in the finished ‘stock pond’
40.12
34 & 40.12
Wash basin in ‘the wet room’
Luxury shower
Date:
April
2009
Details: Gigantica's first week 2009
Good morning,
Well, the first week has just finished, and with only 4 anglers fishing, the results were slow.
Its been a long hard winter here in the Champagne region and what with our general depth of 25ft, weve been slow to warm up.
However, the anglers fishing worked hard and Richard Seed's had the first carp of our new season, a beautiful mirror of 25.08lb.
Fishing from 'stink' at 80yrds over a heavily baited area, small Dynamite boilies with small bags proving to be the winning method on the day.
Directly opposite, in the Beach, Lee used Gigantica pellets to induce a quick brace, a lovely linear at 19lb+ with a solid looking 26.08lb mirror within minutes of each other.
Lee using small inline square pear leads with short braided hooklenghts, Richard using the ever reliable funnelweb bags attached to the rigs.
During the week, we have had some glorious spring sunshine and amazingly, the lake has now florished and fish continually crashing all over the lake.
All the new facilities are now complete, along with all the swims having been re-built. Our stock pond has been finished and the South bank now fully landscaped.
I will be updating this site on a weekly basis, detailing captures, the going baits as well as the rigs used.
I hope you check regularly to keep up with whats happening here at Gigantica throughout the season.
Hope to see you soon,
Danny.
Date:
April
2009
Details: Special First Season Offer!
Special First Season Offer!
Lake exclusive bookings – pay fishing for 9 & 12 can fish!
PLUS every member of the party gets;
• One week free Winter fishing, December 1st to March 31st (ferry excluded)
• 10kg cooked particle
• 5kg Pellet
• 2kg Mainline frozen boilies
Date:
December
2008
Details: Tim Paisley banks a 57.08 mirror!
Here's an extract from the December 6th issue of Carp Talk featuring Tim Paisleys 57.08 capture from Gigantica.
Date:
November
2008
Details: November Update from Danny Fairbrass....
Danny is at the lake at the moment & just called to update us.
They are busy compiling fish pictures at the moment - the intention is to give every carp its own record sheet so that weights etc can be accurately monitored. (To this end if anyone out there has pictures of carp from the St Christophe days please forward to us & we'll send on to Danny.)
What they can say with absolute certainty is that;
* 280 fish have been caught since mid August
* they have pictures of 107 different fish from this period
* 10 x different 50's
* a new 51 was caught this week which has gained 8lb in weight in the last month
* last week there was a 57 & 2 x immaculate mid 40's out
Lots of fish pictures to follow in the next week or so.
Date:
October
2008
Details: A Message from Danny Fairbrass.... A New Beginning at Lac St Christophe.
A New Beginning at Lac St Christophe.
A Message from Danny Fairbrass.
October 2008.
I am delighted to confirm that I have purchased Lac St Christophe near Troyes in the champagne region of France.
The sale has taken several months to complete and I apologise for not making my intentions public sooner, I felt if I could not give any firm information is was better to give none at all. I made every attempt to keep my intentions secret, however the carp fishing grapevine has been awash with rumours since before I even made my offer!
This press release will answer many of the rumours, some of which were nothing short of theatrical!
Christophe’s new name will be Gigantica, to reflect the size of the fish it has already produced and is set to produce in the future. The lake records stands at 71lbs 8oz with at least 4 other fish over the 60lb’s mark with numbers of back up 50’s, 40’s and 30’s.
At 35 acres and 20-25 feet deep the lake is by no means easy and is therefore suited to experienced carp anglers who must fish well to get bites, this has never been and never will be a ‘runs water’. Our long term aim is to build the stock slowly but surely to peak at 500 carp all of which are over 40 pounds! This is at least 5 years away and we have much work to do, but that is an exciting challenge and part of the fun!
The lake will still be open to any nationality to fish one week at a time starting at 1pm on Saturday and ending at 9am the following Saturday. The season will start on Saturday 4th April, the final week will commence on Saturday 28th November. This is considerably later than most other waters because the lake is so deep, it will almost certainly produce its biggest fish in the final weeks at a time when shallower lakes will have stopped producing.
There are many changes to both the venue, the facilities, the fish and the rules, all of which are designed to raise the standard of the venue and suit the more discerning carp angler, here are the main changes;
- All anglers will draw for swims after a walk round with the head bailiff at 1pm on Saturday, you will no longer be able to book a swim.
- A maximum of 12 anglers are allowed to fish each week, a significant reduction from the previous limit of 26. There will be 14 single swims so the last out of the draw bag will still have 3 swims to choose from.
- All swims are being redesigned to be safer and more ‘carpy’. They will extend out into the lake by an extra meter so there will be a better casting area with deep water straight off the bank for landing and returning fish. The back will dug into the gravel slope to offer shelter to your bivvy and the base of the swim will be flat and cushioned with soft wood chip.
- Bait Boats will no longer be allowed to stop boundary disputes. Rigs must be cast although rowing boats are allowed for daytime baiting up only. We feel rowing your rigs out forces fish into the middle and creates to many boundary disputes so this will not be allowed.
- Only Barbless hooks will be allowed to preserve the fishes mouth and help them get free from a snapped line, various patterns will be available on site. Barbed hooks may be doctored to make them barbless. Extra long curved shank hooks like Fox Series 5 and Long Shank Nailers will not be allowed to avoid potential damage.
- We shall be tipping large quantities of a gravel and clay mix into the lake to create numerous ‘plateaus’ on the currently flat bottom. The height these features will rise off the bottom remains guesswork but you can be assured of many new interesting features to fish too at comfortable casting ranges of 20-90 meters.
- Small carp of 20lbs and under caught during the closed season will be transferred to a newly created ‘stock pond’ at the top of the lake so they can be fed up to greater weights before they are reintroduced before the start of the new season in April 09. During the 09 season small carp will continue to be moved to the stock pond to be grown on. The stock of fish is uncertain, previous owners boasted over 1000 but we suspect there are at least 500 carp, we hope to know for certain within the first 2 seasons by meticulously recording each fishes weight and markings.
- All nuisance fish will be removed as they are caught, bream in particular have been a problem in recent years, we estimate there will be very few left by the start of the season following our winter campaign on the lake. Keep nets will be provided for all nuisance fish caught during the season.
- At times last season the lake has appeared almost devoid of fish giving rise to rumours of fish theft or inflated stocking figures. I have had a caretaker manager on the lake for the last 3 weeks and approximately 90 fish have been caught in that time including a 63 and a 62 pounder. I suspect too much boat activity, too many lines and inexperienced angling has led to low catch rates during the height of summer. Next season 3 rods will be the limit reducing the maximum rods from 104 to only 36 rods. This along with greatly reduced boat activity, help from bailiffs and sensible baiting should generate far more runs.
- We aim to add stocks too the lake after they have spend 12 months in a quarantine stock pond near by with a small number of our own stock to guard against disease. We feel that there are more than enough fish in the lake at the moment if it is fished correctly by fewer people. It is simply not worth the risk of adding new fish to such an impressive stock of huge fish.
- Huge fish were crashing all over the lake on our last visit just a few days ago, there are clearly more carp than I had originally estimated which is very encouraging. The lake clearly needs more big fish in the long term but we hope that by feeding up many of the smaller fish in a stock pond and feeding the main lake with a good winter diet we will have many more large carp in the lake at the start of next season than there has ever been. Gigantica is aimed at experienced carp anglers who are targeting big fish and are prepared to blank in this pursuit. We cannot guarantee runs but if you fish well and take our advice we think you have a great chance of catching some stunning fish and maybe a fish of a lifetime!
- At present the facilities at the lake are basic; a shower, toilet and small kitchenette. The long term plan is to build a stunning restaurant and clubhouse for the anglers along with more showers, toilets and a tackle shop. There is a small chance the showers and toilets will be ready for the new season, but if not the current facilities will be brought up to a higher standard.
- Shelf life boilies will not be allowed because of long break down times and generally poor nutritional content. Freezers will be on site for use free of charge to store your bait. Mainline baits freezer range will be on sale at supplemented prices to encourage good food being fed to the carp.
- Particles are allowed and in fact encouraged to give the fish a balanced diet, these must be prepared and cooked by us at the lake to ensure safety to the fish, a full range including hemp, pigeon mix, maize and tiger nuts will be available at subsidised prices to keep your expenses down.
- Pellets supplied by us at subsidised rates are also available. Your own pellets will not be allowed to ensure a ‘low fish oil’ balanced diet for the carps good health and growth. We aim to offer all of our baits at prices equal to bulk purchasing from your own country so you are not financially penalised. We hope that by taking away the ‘hassle’ of preparing, transporting and storing fresh bait you will have less to do in advance of your holiday and will get more bites whilst you are at the lake.
- New car parks will be put in place around the lake so cars can be kept near swims but still out of sight to enhance the natural landscape. You will still be able to drive around the lake to your swim to unload your tackle of course.
- Our new full time bailiff, Danny Turley, will be on site 24 hours a day to make your stay as comfortable and productive as possible. A full range of Korda tackle will be available for sale should you be poorly equipped for the fishing at Gigantica or simply need to restock during your trip.
- Our new web site Gigantica-Carp.com will go online in 8-10 weeks and will be updated regularly as fish are caught and work is done to the lake and facilities.
- The price of fishing will increase, but not significantly. Remember we will have far fewer anglers than last year so we need to recoup that lost revenue somehow, and the lake will without doubt be a far better fishery by the start of next season.
Date:
October
2007
Details: St Christophe record falls for second time in a month.
St Christophe record falls for second time in a month.
The record at this renowned Champagne region gravel pit has fallen again for the second time in the space of a month. Two Dutch anglers from Katwijk in Holland had a fabulous session on this large water, culminating in the new lake record.
Fishing from peg 7 Rob Toet was the first to strike when he landed a huge 66lb mirror at 7 am on the 27th September.
Almost 24 hours later his fishing partner Mark Van Deelan, not to be out done, banked a new lake record mirror at 71lb 5oz. The run came at 6.30 am on the 28th September from peg 6.
Their successful method was to fish Dutch made Red Devil boilies presented on size 8 hooks, over a bed of pellets.
Despite the dreadful weather conditions with high winds and driving rain they accounted for 14 fish in total including 2x 39lb; 2x 35lb; 2x 30lb & 2x 26lb.
66lb (30kg)
71lb 5oz (32,5kg)
71lb 5oz (32,5kg)
Date:
September
2007
Details: St Christophe Record Smashed by Seventy Pound Mirror!!!
The Domaine de St Christophe in the Champagne region near Troyes saw it’s lake record fall this week when a massive mirror of over 70lb was banked by a Dutch angler.
Willem De Jong, who is a chef from The Hague in Holland, used a home made hook bait over a bed of Richworth frozen boilies bait boated out his chosen spot, to tempt the giant mirror which tipped the scales at 70lb 4oz (32kg). His mainline was 28/100 Technuim with a size 6 Gamakatsu hook. The run came at around 7am on the 20th of September from peg 4, a swim situated in the centre of the left hand eastern bank of this 35 acre gravel pit.
The carp added over 6.5 pounds to the previous lake record which was banked to Belgian carper Mathieu Baert at 63lb 8oz in June of this year.
The venue has produced a series of big carp in recent months, despite a summer that proved to be somewhat unpredictable weatherwise. Back in August another Dutch angler Roy De Wijs landed a 60lb 8oz personal best mirror and Quest Baits boss Shaun Harrison the same evening managed a superb mirror of 54lb 4oz during the Angling Lines video shoot.
The venue proves once again that it holds some very big carp indeed.
70lb 4oz (32kg)
70lb 4oz (32kg)
Date:
August
2007
Details: 60lber tops the catches on 6th August..
The second week in August and the lake was fishing very hard. 16 anglers on the lake with temperatures of 35 degrees on Sunday gave way to heavy rain and intermittent sunshine for the rest of the week.
Dutch angler Roy De Wijs from Raamsdonk fishing peg 7 with a previous pb of around 18lb managed to score with a 60.08 mirror!
Other carp of note this week were a 54.04lb mirror to the famous Shaun Harrison of Quest Baits and a beautiful 36lb fully scaled to a french angler on peg 5.
Date:
August
2007
Details: 54lber for Shaun Harrison
Angler of distinction, Shaun Harrison of Quest Baits has just spent 5 days at St Christophe 4th to 9th August. Fishing peg 2, he used a marker rod to find an area in his swim around 21ft deep with a drop off to 25ft.
He decided to bait a big area rather than 4 scattered smaller area's. Placing 4 rods within this area he used a normal combi rig to produce 11 carp to 54.04lb on his new Quest Liver Bait.
Date:
June
2007
Details: Lake Record falls at St Christophe
The lake record has tumbled at St Christophe this week to Belgian carper Mathieu Baert when he banked a massive mirror of 63lb 8oz.
The fish was caught from peg 13 just short of the weed bed.
The successful method was an inline Korda safety lead with a coated braid combi-link and line aligner hook arrangement.
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