Friendly trip yields fish to 60lb 12oz.
Danny Fairbrass has been out to the fantastic Gigantica Lake, in France, this time taking some of his closest friends with him. Eight accomplished anglers ventured through the Eurotunnel, hoping for an autumn monster. The weather was certainly in their favour through the week, reaching 16 degrees in the day and dropping to seven degrees at night; it looked good for a big hit.

During the first night Billy ‘Golden Balls’ Hodkin got off to a flying start in Co’s Point, having three bites through the night. Unfortunately he lost two of them and caught a beautiful scaly scraper twenty. His form continued on the Sunday night, resulting in another three bites. Incredibly they extended an unusual run of twenties again for Billy, made all the more amazing given that the exact spot he was fishing had produced some lumps the week before. Even though he seemed to be getting among the smaller fish, it boded well for the week ahead.

Danny’s home for the week was The Beach, and he also got off to a great start catching a stunning zip linear known as Zippy. Over the next few days the action really slowed on Dan’s original area but he had been baiting another area and resting it throughout the week. When he finally fished the area, it proved immediately fruitful as he landed a mid-thirty, an unknown 48lb 12oz common and the best of the bunch, Two Time at 53lb 12oz.

Tom Dove drew Oblivion but chose to rest it initially after baiting with 4kg of hybrid and 2kg of tiger nuts. Instead, he started off in the Tree Line swim. The carp had obviously enjoyed the free food because he banked the stunning Lippy common at 46lb straight away, shortly after losing a big fish due to the line parting.

As there were only eight anglers on, the fish were well scattered around the lake and action continued though the week. Steve ‘The Apache’ Cliff was set up in Alcatraz and opened his account on the Tuesday with a scale-perfect common of just over 30lb. Fishing it in true Elstow fashion, with three rods tight on a baited area, Steve regularly introduced a mixture of Hybrid and nuts. Keeping the bait going in produced the goods through the rest of the week, resulting in Brutus at 58lb and The Koi at 45lb.

The icing on the cake came from Alamo, which was occupied by bait baron Mark Bryant. He made a tactical change through the week, after losing a few fish. His winning presentation for fishing at range was size-4 Kurv Shank hook, with a short N-Trap hook link. His lost fish receded into history when he banked ‘The 43’ at a staggering 60lb 12oz. Unsurprisingly, this was a PB for Mark and he was totally blown away.

Last but certainly not least was Andy Reynolds who was plotted up in The Stink. Unfortunately, the fish didn’t turn up ‘till later on in the week and he deservedly bagged Stoneacres at 40lb 4oz.

There were a few fish lost in some of the other areas of the lake, but overall the lads had a fantastic week. In total there were 20 fish landed, biggest being Mark’s memorable capture. The week was topped with lots a laughs and of course plenty of banter from our wonderful bailiffs!

There are still spaces available for next year. For more information,  call the venue on 01268 820440.