ABBEY LAKES HAUL
19th May 2022
James Constantine toughs it out through the tench to land a trio of Abbey Lakes fifties!
French holiday venues are fast approaching their busiest time of year, as thousands of Brits hop across the channel to enjoy a week of sun and hopefully carp! Early spring trips can be a bit hit and miss but if you hit it right the fishing can be even better than the summer but there’s no doubt you have to put the effort in. James Constantine certainly deserved his recent haul from Abbey Lakes, as he toiled his way through over 25 tench before the carp finally came his way!
We kickstarted the bloodworm revolution with our Bloodworm Pellets and they remain one of the best products in the range to this very day.
James revealed:
“I struggled in the first couple of days just not being on fish. I was getting terrorized by tench for the first 72 hours, having over 25 of them! I fished through in the hope the carp would move in, which they did after my third night when I landed a lovely 31lb mirror, a fish that wouldn’t look out of place in an Oxford pit in my opinion.
“I then made a move a few swims down in the hope to get on them as they were coming out of a bay, where they seemed to be holding up. On my first night in this swim I managed to land a lovely 51lb mirror and a new French PB, which only lasted a few days!
“After a few more days of no carp, I managed to find a big group of fish holding up in a large weed bed in the centre of the lake, luckily for me the lad who was in there was leaving a day early meaning I had 24 hours to turn my session around, which I certainly did!
“Within an hour of the rods being out, I managed to lose one in the savage weed bed in front of me, gutting! Luckily, some lads who were coming on the next day lent me their boat if I needed it for my final night. Only 15 minutes after we inflated said boat, I was away again, and after an epic boat battle, I managed to land another fifty, this one being a perfect 55lb common, another French pb.
“In the following 20 hours or so I landed five-fish and lost two, these fish included an incredible dark common at 54lb and a prehistoric mirror named Baby Grey at 57lb. All of my fish were caught using 16mm Krill boilies, mixed with 4mm Bloodworm pellets, hemp and buckwheat. Overall, it was a tough week, but by working hard, I managed to turn the trip around into one I won’t forget in a hurry!”
