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Abbey Lakes
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bosch

Posts: 340

#132 21 Apr 2012 at 8.38pm

In reply to Post #131
Another young lad on our trip had 26 fish off peg 18

ru12

Posts: 149

#131 21 Apr 2012 at 8.22pm

In reply to Post #130
Hold my hands up to Jez.. In my defence, I called the swim correctly lol! Congratulations Bosch, that's a haul by anyone's standards!!

bosch

Posts: 340

#130 21 Apr 2012 at 6.29pm

In reply to Post #129
Fox fished its tits off pity about the ****ty muddy swims they need some serious work and by the way shoulders came out twice at 80lb british boys in the back bay saw humpy from fox what a beast fish of a lifetime i would say personally i had 10 from fox up to 48.9.

bosch

Posts: 340

#129 21 Apr 2012 at 6.07pm

In reply to Post #128
Just got back from fox lake my friend had the awesome humpy at 66.13.

andyhawkes

Posts: 1008

#128 20 Apr 2012 at 8.54pm

mate,thats probably the best review of any lake-swims ive ever read......off to fish kingfisher for a week next friday(for carp)so that review in particular made very interesting reading.......

ru12

Posts: 149

#127 20 Apr 2012 at 1.48pm

In reply to Post #126

ru12

Posts: 149

#126 20 Apr 2012 at 1.46pm

In reply to Post #125
Just a quickie to wrap things up....

I thought it might be wise to give you a few pointers on what to use on the lakes as well?

FOX -

This lake has seen so much Mainline Cell over the years that it'd be foolish not to consider having a bag or two around you for your trip! It's probably viewed as a natural food source by the carp that swim in here now lol. Other baits that have scored well in the past are also from the Mainline stable, Activ-8 always does what it says on the tin, as does their Sweet pineapple! It's probably a good idea to avoid anything to fishy in here as I'm sure the Crays'll home in on the smell 10x quicker!! Having said that, Baitcraft do one called the Super K that absolutely smashed the place over a period during the autumn/winter and that's based around a (very) fishmeal mix! Most of the anglers in recent times have approached the lake with a pellet approach and this has definitely helped overcome the cray problems. First up, they start by loading the boat's hopper(s) half full of pellet, you then add a pva bag containing your hookbait and more pellet plus any glug or chopped/crumbed boilies and finally, yes you've guessed it, you completely cover this and fill the rest of the hopper(s) with MORE pellet!! The (interesting) theory behind this is that a cray's prehistoric brain won't allow it to climb over food to get to food, so providing (and this IS important) you use a heavy lead to get the bag straight down, you should end up with a huge spread of pellet to protect your little pile of goodness in the middle of the spot! They'll soon get full (bless 'em) and wander off elsewhere, leaving your hookbait all on it's own ready for a carp.... This on it's own shouldn't be enough to attract crays from any great distance either, hey presto.. Job done!! Please note though, that I loved those fish and I do feel they need something more substantial than a pile of (dissolving) pellets for dinner so please feel free to scatter a few good quality boilies around your swim to help them stay strong (and keep piling on the weight!!)
You can of course go down the other route and fish a very similar tactic but use plastic baits on the hair, this'll allow you to fish in a conventional (boilie) manner if that's what you prefer to do!

HERON -

Ah, a 35 acre slice of sunny ol' England tucked away in rural France, I love Heron as you can fish this lake exactly as you would any other back in blighty! No need to preach here, anything goes.... Except for TIGERS, please don't, some rules are meant for breaking lol, others aren't and this is one of them!!!! You can do it all on here, although zigs are NOT that successful but singles, beds of both particle and boilie, small pva bags, pop ups, bottom baits, snowmen, fake stuff, you name it, it goes! Just make sure it's not too deep in the weed please!

ATTILA -

This is one to watch, if the fish keep growing at this rate, Attila will rival Fox in the next 2-3 years as THE place to bag a few whackers in France! They're currently putting on the lb's quicker than anywhere else on the complex thanks in part to their new diet of hemp, maize and copious amounts of boilies as the lake gains in popularity season by season! They're quite nomadic by nature and will think nothing of moving into your swim, hoovering up everything and then p*ssing off again because you've been tight with the freebies! BIG beds of hemp, maize and pellet are the order of the day on here and make sure you keep topping the swim up after EVERY fish!! Large areas of boilies work well too but the downside is that it'll take them that little bit longer to single out your hookbaits. My preferred method was to adopt the particle approach, 'stick a few boilies over the area and then fish bags of chopped boilies n crumb over the top!

KINGFISHER -

Toughy this as carping on here is still a relatively unknown quantity, however it's safe to assume they've done quite nicely by living off the vast amounts of pellet this lake sees from the Cat anglers over the past 10 years! Some of these guys have been seen to put 10-25kg of pellet PER DAY over EACH rod!!!! Therefore it stands to reason that this'll work well too, especially if you're fishing an area where the Cats aren't so prominent. I tried a couple of methods, the first was the same particle approach I mentioned for Attila, the second was to use much smaller (2-6mm) feed pellets and then drop 1-2kg of boilies very tightly over each rig. The beauty of Kingfisher is the ability to use a rowing boat, this allows you to bait up with all manner of food types both quickly and quietly! Just bear in mind that if it's a little bit whiffy, the Cats run to well over 200lb and if they get wind of something they'll be all over it like a cheap suit lol!!

KenTownley

Posts: 29874

#125 20 Apr 2012 at 12.22pm

Terrific posts, Ru...

No excuses now permitted from members that blank!

ru12

Posts: 149

#124 20 Apr 2012 at 11.50am

In reply to Post #123
5. This is the Catfishing equivalent of Heron 19, if there are people booked on Kingfisher chances are they're in here!! However, during the Winter myself and a few other VIP ticket anglers gave this a proper seeing to while trying to establish the potential of Kingfisher as a Carp water and believe me, it delivers! The vast weedbed that runs from 2 to 6 is in full effect here, sweeping right across the front of the swim from one extreme to the other! This is a double swim and is definitely best fished in a tag team stylee.. Whoever draws the left hand side needs to exploit the big 'bowl' that appears on the far side of the weedbed in line with Peg 9/10 aka the point, opposite. Rods fished just before and just over the weed here at a range of 30-60yds will do just nicely. The right hand side does at least get a visual marker and this is the big pylon behind the trees that's situated between Fox and Heron. At a range of approx 55yds there is a slightly deeper channel that goes from right to left from the main weedbed down towards Peg 4.. Put your left hand rod2-5yds to the left of the pylon, your middle 2-5yds to the right and then drop the right hander either somewhere close, out to 'la plage' (if 2/3 are empty) or in close tight to the weed that starts to form up between yourself and 4 next door!

6. Soooo under-rated! I fished here for a solid month last July and caught a load of fish! 90% of the Catfishing is done in the other half of the lake, so this area gets mobbed by the Carp during the warmer weather. This side of this end (keep up lol) is deeper, with depths down to 26' as opposed to 18'ish on the far side but a rough average depth would be 14-18'.. I found 1 particular spot that was in line with the tree on the point at a distance of 45-50yds that always served me well. It was a sand/gravel combo in an area that's surrounded by onion weed. That often catered for 2 rods but if it was for the R/H only, then I used to aim the middle rod at Peg 8 (currently closed but still a noticeable gap in the reeds to aim at!) and either fish bags at 60-80yds or 'stick out boilies as far as possible and then fish a bright single just past the area on a chodanoster thingy lol! The left hand rod can be fished anywhere within reason, the margins here are very deep, certainly over 9' just a rod length out but I used to take a mark from the first gap in the bushes/trees along the non fishing bank and vary the range.

7. See above. This end of the lake has literally gone au naturel in recent times due to lack of use. This isn't really a swim as such anymore, although you could place a bivvy here with no trouble! I spent many afternoons down here feeding the fish on all sorts of ol' skool stuff like bread, maggots n corn and even managed to wangle a couple with zigs but if you fancy stalking then this is the place to be! Much like Peg 1, I'd even consider this a 2 rod swim as I fear the third could just get in the way or spoil any well laid traps you've set?! There is always a raft of weed protruding from the margins just where the 2 banks meet and the fish swim in and out from here all day long when it's nice. I'd then place a second rod somewhere just a little further out into the bay at a range of 10-25yds, no more! Failing that of course, it's the perfect spot to stick 3 rods up in the sky (in case the Luftwaffe are coming) and to boat 3 rods all the way across to the shallower far bank and see what happens?!?! The head of carp in Kingfisher needs to be seen to be believed and in Summer time they will ALL be down here at some point during the day, quite a sight when the sun's up!!

8. Currently CLOSED

9/10. The point, I rest my case.. If they're not in 5, they'll be in here lol!! This swim commands the best approach to ALL of the water on the lake for no easier reason than there's never any weed your side so from a Carper's perspective, you'll get nigh on perfect line lay to ANYWHERE!! I won't go into detail other than to say, you can access all areas, so don't take the p*ss!!!! It is worth noting that the bar right infront of you is only between 1-3' deep at 50-60yds though so don't get clever and fish close in because you'll get badgered by Tincas, huge Rudd and the occasional daft Bream as they wander about from one deep section to another in this neck of the woods!

Et voila, my brief overview of what to look for in which swims on the Abbey complex is now complete! I hope you can all find something useful in amongst it all to serve you well over the coming season(s), I'll also look forward to seeing a few of you there in the not too distant future as I continue the pursuit of my nemesis, Bruno, around Heron between now and xmas! Until then, tight lines!

Ru

ru12

Posts: 149

#123 20 Apr 2012 at 11.45am

In reply to Post #122
KINGFISHER -

1. Simply awesome, my favourite swim on the lake for Carping as it doesn't seem to be such a popular corner with the Catfish lol!! The beauty of 1 is that all your fishing can be done within 20yds (of various banks). Again this is purely based on personal experience but the best places to put your rods would be.. The right hand rod should be lined up with the double trunked tree that's about 30yds up the right hand bank and dropped level with the clear area just behind the tree immediately to your right, this sounds odd but if you find 16.5' feet of water approx 12-15yds out just in front of the marginal weed extending off the far bank then you're cock on for a bite at some point!! I then used to place my middle rod a little further up the right hand bank, the mark for this was the overhanging tree (the only 1 that does!!), having told a few people about it there is now a white shirt sleeve tied up in the branches as an indicator! Row out until you're level with it and check the water underneath you, it's 11' deep here and there always seems to be a nice little semi circle cut back into the weed where the fish love to feed, the bottom is a mix of sand/gravel surrounded by onion weed and the mutant, 'jack and the beanstalk' stuff that's only found in Kingfisher. A rod here is another surefire winner in my eyes! My third rod would be boated all the way up the margin to an area just off what I called 'the cave', this is approx 120yds out and when viewed from the swim it looks to all intents and purposes like a black hole in the treeline. It is a possibility that this is better fished with 2 rods than 3, I know you've all paid a lot of money for the experience but sometimes it can work in your favour, believe! Please note that the water in front of the swim is the deepest on the entire complex so anything fished over 50yds out will be sitting in nigh on 40ft of water!!!! This is not condusive to a bite, even in the depths of Winter!!!! The margins to the left of the swim are lovely, anything from just over the marginal weed to 25yds out should be sitting in 12-18' of water and the fish are more than happy to patrol here all year round.

2. Pukka swim.. Again, you need to heed the fact that the water off to the right hand side is going to be very, very deep but the aim here is to fish along the front and up the right of the huge weedbed that grows between here and Peg 6 each Summer! If you're here early or late enough in the season, there is a feature called 'la plage' aka the beach, this is one of the strangest sights I've ever seen on a fishery, as when the sun's up it unveils what I can only describe as a little piece of the Caribbean in the middle of the lake, it gives off an eerie, turqoise glow from the golden sand below the surface! This is about 60-80yds out and in line with Peg 5, depths range from 6-12' and I'm sure that if a bed of bait was spread over it, could produce the goods?!

3. Another that commands an intimate little corner. It does get very weedy during the Summertime and as a result is often overlooked but the water is nice and shallow and therefore very warm and you can often find groups of fish just basking their lives away in here! A downside for me would be the fact that on more than the occasional night I have sat in Pegs 1 and 2 listening to the unmistakeable sound of tails slapping as some BIG Catfish go about their business!! To sum up then, find holes in the weed and look for any tell tale signs of feeding Carp in/around the margins here.

4. Looks out onto the back of the weedbed across from Peg 3. This is the first swim on the 'Railway bank' and has all the same attributes as before. You will need to spend a while out in the boat having a prod here n there but there is a lovely weed free channel that's always open between the 'bed and bank! The only other option would be to cast over the weedbed and fish the area just before the drop off (providing 3 is empty of course!) but my best bet'd be during Summer / margins!

ru12

Posts: 149

#122 20 Apr 2012 at 10.26am

In reply to Post #121
ATTILA -

1. There are 2 main areas to fish from this swim. The first is the 'out of bounds' water down to your left, since the demise of peg 9/10 this area has been used as a sanctuary by the fish from time to time as it's way out of casting distance and/or safe bait boat range from all the other swims on the lake! However, a short walk down to the left of your swim will bring you to the 'bridge' and from here you can assess exactly how far out into the lake the weedbeds that form along the shallow margins extend. Upon returning to the swim, simply place 3 rods along the front edge of these, the range will probably somewhere between 100-140yds. It is worth bearing in mind that the fish are very comfortable down here and have responded well to both floaters and zigs during the warmer months! Option 2 is to take a mark by aiming at the pylon on the point in front of you, then have a quick whizz around with a marker float until you locate the 'dinner table' in 11' of water at 50-60yds.. This part of the lakebed is unmistakeable, it'll feel like glass through the rod tip, there's no weed, no gravel/sand/silt, etc.. the fish have stripped it bare and if there's a favoured SW wind blowing, it's an awesome spot (and swim) to be in!

2. This swim is the first you come to after passing through the barrier from the Clubhouse. It's lovely and comfortable and gives a great view of the whole lake BUT it is pretty shallow for the first 40yds out. The fish shoal up here in vast numbers during may/june prior/post spawning and hold up here for a number of weeks after, there aren't a great deal of features, you'll find some patches of silt/gravel dotted around and plenty of smaller weedbeds but it's always worth flicking 1 (or 2) down the treeline to your left! A favoures spot is just over the tips of the reeds, 3yds off the bank, at no more than 10yds range!

3. Is largely neglected unless you're having a social and you have friends in 4! The same rules apply about before/after spawning, this gives you access to the back of 2's water and a different line of attack to the shoals of fish that hang around in the area afterwards! It is quite weedy and has a lethal mussel bed at a range of 65-80yds straight out in front.. You have been warned!

4. Surely the most prolific swim at Abbey the numbers of fish this has produced over the past few years is mind blowing!! Now that Attila's bigger residents are well over 40lb (and the odd one past 50!) it's well worth bearing in mind if you want to get amongst both a quantity of and quality stamp of Carp! Again there are 2 main areas to go at from this Peg. Handily they're both dead ahead and the same size lol! To find them, simply line up with the 2 pylons above the treeline on the Island bank. The first is 40yds wide and at a range of 45-60yds, the second slightly further afield but give or take 80-100yds and you won't be far off.

5. Never fished it, it covers very similar water to 4 but in my eyes your range can be limited as it can get cut off if both 4 and 6 are occupied!

6. A nice swim. Gives the option of open water to the left and also the opportunity to fish tight to the enormous reedbed that flanks the whole of the southern bank as it goes down into the bay at 8! From here the only mark of note though is the deep channel about 2 rod lengths off the reeds, this is very productive and is used regularly by the fish as they head in and out of this corner during the evenings and at first light!

7. Has a lovely gravel area about 30yds out, from 10yds to the left of the swim. You also have the best opportunity to get at the reeds opposite as they cover the entire width of your water infront of you!! Although I have said that the channel itself is 2 rods off them, it can pay to walk around to the other side and have a look in the margins, as with the other lakes, Attila is gin clear and you can easily spot any areas where the Carp have got in close for a feed!

8. The most secluded swim at Abbey, you really do feel like you're all alone down here! It gets awfully weedy in places but the fish love to get in here during the night!! It also has a (very) small bay to the left and though I have never fished it, this looks as Carpy a spot as you will find anywhere on the complex!! Rods fished in an arc from dead ahead to the right along the end of the reedbed seem to produce the best!

PS Don't forget.... NO GUARANTEES

Wenners

Posts: 601

#121 19 Apr 2012 at 11.21pm

In reply to Post #120
Thanks a lot Ru, that information is a big help.

Riverbourne

Posts: 1

#120 19 Apr 2012 at 9.33pm

In reply to Post #119
Hi I am due to fish Atilia on the weekend 15 th to 17 th June with two other anglers, is the any chance of getting the best possible advice.

How much bait will we need etc?

what swims performance the etc?

I really appreciate any help no rush

musyd

Posts: 3

#119 19 Apr 2012 at 7.18pm

In reply to Post #118
thank's for that ru well handy mate!!

jez240373

Posts: 6358

#118 19 Apr 2012 at 6.40pm

Top stuff Mate.....I've fished lots of these swims on both lakes over the years and can honestly not disagree with a single sentence

Good Luck to All


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