No bullsh*t, just good solid angling

I’ve been fishing Abbey Lakes in France on and off since 2000, mostly during the colder months as it’s an excellent winter water. It holds some of the best-looking fish in the country and with it being just a two-hour drive from Calais, it’s appealing even for only three or four nights. Most of my trips have been unplanned and on the spur of the moment when I’ve gone on the weather, trying to pick the right conditions in the hope of bagging a few. More recently however, my son, Fletcher, has really got the bug for carp fishing and has now become my fishing partner. This restricts us therefore, to fishing only during the school holidays. For years I fished competitively with the Mainline Baits team and I adopt a similar approach on my own trips. I’ve taught Fletcher this style of fishing, and how to work as a team. Also though, and more importantly, I’ve looked to pass on how to make the most of a fishing opportunity.

Stage 1: A bit of background

With so many lakes on the Abbey complex holding big fish, it’s often difficult to choose which one to go on. For a while I fished Heron Lake as this held the mighty Shoulders. I watched it over the years as it went from the upper-60lb mark to an amazing 94lb-plus when Max Cottis banked whilst Fletcher and I were at Abbey for four nights one Christmas… we both looked in awe at the sheer size of the fish on the bank.

Thinking back, this was probably the point Fletcher decided he wanted to spend as much time fishing as possible and our Christmas holidays in 2015 and 2016 were both spent on Kingfisher Lake. This water retained an unknown air about it and was generally a large catfish venue, but it also held some of the darkest mirrors on the complex and with some seriously large, uncaught carp having been seen, it appealed to us. With the cats present, the winter approach suited the lake.

All the lakes are primarily ‘bait boat waters’, the method producing some great results to those who know how to find the features and how to present a rig and bait correctly. On those trips we were using a Carplounge RT4 model with a Lowrance fishfinder. This set-up allowed us to place our rigs accurately to features, or in clear areas within the weed.

When using a bait boat I see many anglers loading them with an assortment of as much bait as they can squeeze in, but a match angler’s ‘one bite at a time’ approach and ‘building’ the spot according to the action experienced were key, especially as most of my trips were short sessions. As with many busy commercial fisheries, the carp see large beds of bait and often shy away for long periods, often weeks.

Our success on Kingfisher had been with finely-chopped Mainline Cell, and Essential Cell boilies with matching-flavoured hemp. A very small amount was placed in the boat and rig-wise, it was a leadcore helicopter rig with a drop-off system lead, 35lb RM-Tec Soft Coated Hooklink and size 6 Choddy Hook all fished as a Multi Rig. I’ve always felt the colour of my hookbait important and a simple change can result in a flurry of bites. Often, we’ll fish with a range of colours and once we’ve had a few bites on one, we’ll generally change all our hookbaits over in an effort to maximise the number of bites.

One of Kingfishers finest, the mighty Five Scale!

All loaded and ready to drop

Stage 2: Playing with maggots

We both looked forward to our Christmas trips to Abbey whatever the weather, and always managed to winkle out a few. We knew though, with our tactics and knowledge of the place, that if we were to fish during early spring and late autumn, some big hits could be on the cards. We made plans then, to return during the school holidays in April…

Back in England Fletcher and I were fishing as regularly as we could, but it was hard with school and homework, as well as family commitments restricting hours on the bank. He was learning and increasing his carp fishing knowledge all the time though, and so we’d find ourselves talking over ideas for our spring trip tactics. February half-term saw us fishing on Elphicks Fisheries’ Pullens Lake for a few nights. We were using finely-chopped Cell and matching Response Pellet with hemp with red and white maggots, feeding little and often. We managed a few good fish, with Fletcher landing a new UK personal best of 38lb 8oz, so he was buzzing. At the tail end of this trip we decided we also take some maggots with us to Abbey to add to our mix.

The trip soon came around and after a few weeks’ preparation it was time for us to leave. The forecast was for a warm spell, which would hopefully liven up the carp as it’d been a bitterly cold winter in France with the lakes frozen for a long period of time. We left in the early hours and arrived at the complex mid-morning. Heron and Fox were pretty busy, which almost made our minds up for us. We drove to Kingfisher’s Peg 5 as we’d done so well there on previous trips. Our gear was unloaded and everything was set up by mid-afternoon. The rods were out and everything was looking spot on… the sun was shining and after the hard winter it was a pleasure to be out.

As I alluded to earlier, Fletcher and I fish as a pair on these trips and generally toss a coin as to who gets first take. On this occasion Fletcher won, so he sat by the rods, poised for action. He didn’t have to wait too long; the rod cast to a large plateau between two weedbeds was away after 30 minutes… yep, 30 minutes! A long fight ensued and when, a while later we still hadn’t seen the fish, I had my suspicions that it was a big cat. Sure enough, it was… at about 60lbs-plus. This though wasn’t what we were after. With that dealt with, the rod was placed back out on the spot with the RT4.

The next 12hrs were metaphorical carnage and as we laid on our bedchairs the following morning, covered in cat slime and having had little or no sleep, a decision needed to be made. The cats were ravenous; they were obviously out of their winter slumber and beating any carp to the bait. Options: should we sit it out and hope the carp moved in, or perhaps up sticks and see if we could squeeze in on one of the other lakes? Fletcher looked broken already and with four more nights he wanted to move; I was keen to also. We loaded all the bait and tackle we could and went for a drive.

We spoke to a few anglers on Fox, but nothing was happening at their end of the lake. We then drove to the far corner and sat in Peg 17 looking for some inspiration and finally, after 20 minutes, a large black mirror leapt out of the water 80 yards out.

“One more,” I said, “…and we’re going in here.”

Almost before I could finish the sentence, another stuck its head out further to the left of the swim. Although completely exhausted, we threw the kit out of the van and went round to pick up the rest. By early afternoon we were ready to get the rods out.

I’d fished that end a few years back in Pegs 1 and 2, and that part of the lake has a thick layer of silkweed over the majority of it. I’d done well fishing a parachute PVA bag rig on top of the weed. We decided to use just the finely-chopped Cell and maggot so that hopefully it would settle lightly on the weed with the Multi Rigs and various coloured pop-ups. We saw several more fish show whilst we were setting up, so had a good idea where to place the rods. With the rods out by mid-afternoon we decided to get a little sleep.

I think it took a while for us to realise what was happening when a take came during the night, but I soon found myself playing an angry carp. A short while later I was glad to see Fletcher slip the net under a good 40lb fish. With the photos done, the rod was placed back out. That afternoon we landed another three fish, with Fletcher catching a new personal best of 39lb 12oz. The move had already paid off and after getting a couple of spots going, we concluded that white seemed to be the preferred hookbait colour. Within the first 24hrs we’d landed eight fish to over 45lb and all the rods were now on Mainline 12mm Milky Toffee Pop-Ups.

The action was pretty steady during the next three days, which saw Fletcher beat his personal best no fewer than three times with carp to 49lb 8oz. I was fortunate enough to bank a couple of fifties: a common and a mirror. It was a constructive trip as we learned a lot about both the swim and lake whilst there. We landed 21 carp in total and it certainly was an enjoyable visit, but we’d have to wait until Christmas before we returned.

November trip and a 58lb+ lump

The biggest fish of the November trip, a 60lb+ mirror

Stage 3: A return visit

On the return journey home we were buzzing, discussing the way things had gone. Tactics had been perfect for fishing on top of the silkweed and we’d found areas where the carp were happy to feed and areas where they refused to, due to the weed’s thickness - and its really unpleasant smell! With Fox probably holding one of the biggest carp on the complex at almost 80lb in the shape of Humpy, we decided when possible, that we’d get on there.

Back in England, it was back to work and school. The summer soon passed and we were then into the autumn. Fletcher and I had been lucky enough to get on a trip to Bosnia to fish a new lake on the carp scene. Once again, we went with a plan and worked hard and Fletcher returned with a well-deserved best of 52lb 12oz. During the autumn we started thinking about our Christmas trip, but once we started discussing our tactics I was gagging to get back out there. In mid-November I found a small window amongst family and work commitments and saw how I could work in four nights.

Christmas trip on Kingfisher and I woke up to a dusting of snow

Stage 4: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

Fletcher’s face gave away his disappointment at not being able to go on the trip, but he assisted with my preparation and even helped me pack the van, instructing me to text him regularly and send him photos.

Back at the complex the lake’s trees had taken on those special autumn colours and I was back on Fox once again. Swim 17 was free, with the majority of anglers at the other end of the lake and all saying that things were very quiet. Using the same tactics as before, but with Multi Rigs incorporating a size 4 RM Chod Hook and the usual 35lb Camo Soft Coated Hooklink. Hookbaits were Cell and Milky Toffee 12mm Pop-Ups in white. There weren’t any fish showing, but with the rest of the lake not seeing anything, it was as good as place as any to start. Once again it didn’t disappoint and in those next four days I landed 17 carp which included mirrors of 58lb and 60lb-plus.

This certainly whetted our appetites for our Christmas trip from 27th to 31st December. Rods were re-spooled with 18lb mono and tactics would be the same as before… “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

We had a great Christmas with the family, but were soon heading for France. Heron was very busy and there were several anglers on Fox. Amazingly though, Peg 17 was free and after weighing up our options for all of 30 seconds, we opted to go back in there. With the wind blowing nicely into that end of the lake, it looked very carpy. The action was a lot slower than before, but not bad for the time of year with Fletcher catching four carp to over 37lb; I had four to 53lb-plus.

Once again it was an excellent result for winter and all the tweaks over those initial trips had seen us arrive completely confident with our tactics. Like anything though, once you think you’ve everything sussed the fish often do something that makes you rethink, which is why we should keep trying different methods and tactics.

The action came thick and fast!

Stage 5: When it all came good

It was to be a full eight-months before we could get back. Fletcher’s half-term luckily, fell the week after the Army’s annual carp match when they book the whole complex in late October. It was good that we could get on the venue, but with a week-long match beforehand and with some of the Army’s best match anglers competing, the fish would be under considerable pressure.

As we prepared for that trip, new rigs were tied up. We’d been catching a lot of fish on the Ronnies, so these were constructed using the RM-Tec 35lb Camo, Soft Coated Hooklink and a size 6 curved shank hook. We’d been using the various new hookbait sprays from Mainline during the year to great success, so this, we thought, might get the fish onto our baits a bit quicker. We’d also concluded that the longer the rigs were in the water, the less effective they seemed to be. We needed, we felt, to re-bait more frequently, especially before the established bite time. We found on most trips that bites were more common during the hours of light, rather than after dark. We opted to take a lot more bait than ever before, as we’d be fishing a full six nights, and we’d re-bait a lot more frequently with the silkweed not only consuming the hookbait and masking the rig, but also diluting its flavour. Hooklengths would be slightly longer at 15-inches and we’d use PVA nuggets to allow the hookbait itself to settle gently on the silkweed.

We’d already been told that with the complex due to reopen as soon as the match finished at 9am, all the lakes were fully booked, apart from Fox, which had just a few spaces remaining. Fox it would be then! It did concern us as to how the lake might fish. We kept our eyes on the scores during the match and with only eight fish in total from Fox, it wasn’t looking good. As usual I left my crossing booking late. With Saturday fully booked, we made the decision to go straight after I’d picked up Fletcher from school on the Friday evening.

Proud father moment

We arrived at the lake at 10.30pm and went to the clubhouse to see Rob Hughes and John Flewin, who were busy editing video footage of the match. After a couple of cups of tea and a good chat, it was time to get our heads down under the stars. Back in the lodge at 8am and over more tea, we spoke with Dave the bailiff and two other anglers that were going on Fox and who might get on before us. As we drove to the lake the thick fog prevented us seeing the water. A friend of ours, Gary Coldwell, was setting up in Peg 12 and there were signs of someone else setting up in 14. As we got down the other end there was someone with a load of gear in Peg 16, which is extremely close to 17. When speaking to him though, we found out that he’d been in the match. He explained that things had been very quiet with nothing really happening, he was actually waiting for his lift home. With no view of the water and nothing really to go on, we recalled our experiences from recent sessions.

We set-up and a couple of times heard fish go over in front of us. We had the rods ready to go by midday and within 10 minutes of the sun finally burning through, the fog was gone. This was like a switch as suddenly, carp started showing… we couldn’t get the rods out quick enough! We’d just got the third one out when the first was away. We hadn’t even had a chance to flip a coin and Fletcher stood looking at me…

“You have it,” he said.

Fletcher just looked in disbelief!

Happy days! After a good fight we slid the net under a cracking 39lb mirror. We got all the rods out and soon after Fletcher had a 38lb 8oz common ready for the cameras.

We had three fish during the night, and all thirties - certainly a good start. We re-baited the rods as soon as the fog lifted and that afternoon both had a fish. Fletcher had a 41lb common and I had a 44lb 8oz mirror. The rest of the the day and night were quiet. We set the alarm for an hour before first light and re-did the rods. This really paid off and we had a manic day, landing ten fish with Fletcher catching the biggest in the shape of a trio of forties. My biggest was 39lb 14oz, just as the light was going.

Second part of the brace, a 68lber

45lb of pure fighting machine

Another quiet night followed - which suited us as we were, therefore, getting our sleep, but still catching. Once again the alarm was set and the rods re-baited well before first light. We were off to a flyer with a quick flurry of fish, the biggest being a 52lb 8oz mirror. As we lifted it onto the scales Fletcher was praying it was another new PB, but it was a few ounces short!

That afternoon whilst I was playing a fish, another rod was away. Fletcher jumped on it and once I’d got mine in the net I waded out to net his. It rolled out in front of us and I saw a huge hump. We both looked at each other…

“Don’t lose this one!” I said.

The fish was one of three: Humpy, Shumpy or Shumpy’s mate and after several nail-biting minutes which saw it roll in front of us again several times, we finally got her in the net. Dave come round to help and all three of us lifted her onto the scales. I’ll never forget Fletcher’s face as he looked at the reading of 70lb 12oz, it was complete disbelief!

We got the photos done in the water as Fletcher was never going to lift the fish. Both soaked, we sat there taking it in. We were soon back in though, and I banked a a mid-forty before Fletcher then had another fish on. After a very strange battle which saw the carp fight mostly on the surface, we could see that we had another very large fish. It went in the net first time and shortly after the scales banged round to 68lb. What a trip! This time we both sat in disbelief… we certainly slept well that night.

The two final days were pretty much the same and we ended up with 34 fish in total. The success of the session was down to all the hard work we’d put in on previous trips and the preparation we did beforehand. Anyone can get lucky, but if you’re prepared to put in the hard work and effort, you can catch consistently.