52lb UK Personal Best - The Avenue Luxury Cabin HONEST review.
- Angling Technics
- Sep 25
- 7 min read
3 x 60lb carp.
12 x 50lb carp.
40 x 40lb carp
150 between 20lb and 39lb.
Nope, not a French fishery stock, this is the current stock of The Avenue Fishery, right here in the UK!
When The Avenue was opened in Rob Hales back garden (the lake is 10 acres!) the intention was for it to be a syndicate venue with a head of HUGE carp.
Fast forward to 2025 and RH Fisheries opened the new Avenue Luxury Cabin, situated in the south west corner of the fishery and available for ANYONE to book.
Myself and Gavin booked the cabin for the second week of September, and THIS is an honest review of the lake, the fish and the syndicate members that we met.
First up, let's address the biggest elephant in the room - the cost.
We paid £3500 for the week, no sponsors, no freebies, we paid the full amount.
The cost is eye watering, but we think we have found a way to justify it, but more on that later.
I met Gavin at RH Fisheries HQ (where the monument lakes are located), we had to buy bait and get shown to the lake, it really is in the middle of nowhere.
You may be wondering why we had to buy bait, surely we could just take our own?
One of the (many) rules, being that you can only use the RH Bait that they sell onsite.
You can use your own hook baits, and sweetcorn but that is it.
We followed our new friend Bob from RH Fisheries, as he drove through the deserted country lanes, pulling up at the gate of The Avenue, we trundled down the track and arrived at the luxury cabin, catching our first glimpse of the lake, a stunning mature venue of 10 acres or so.
Bob showed us round, answered our questions and left us to it, not before he showed us some spots to get us started, Bob was great and really gave us a good insight, without being over the top.
Gavin wanted the left hand side of the swim with the island, so I had the right hand side, and we both set about assembling rods and getting the spots sorted.
The first night passed uneventfully, but the luxury cabin was an absolute treat.
We had a lovely sausage sandwich on Sunday morning, followed by a full on roast dinner later in the day, the washing up being taken care of by the Hotpoint dishwasher, MEGA!
Sunday came and went and Monday morning we were a little surprised to not have caught one at least, I did witness one of the syndicate members catch a huge mirror though, we saw events unfolding opposite us about 300 yards away, we knew it was a whopper so I ran round to see. A fish known as 'sweet cheeks at 63lb!!!! The fire was well and truly lit.
One of the former syndicate members popped in to say hello, one of Gavin's mates, and we pumped him for info and tactics, he showed us a few ideas that had worked for him and even gave us a pot of hook baits that he had used to some success, Gavin took full advantage and dispatched new rigs to the areas, topped up the bait and sat back.
It must have been 30 mins or less, when the sound of a Delkim broke the silence, one of Gavin's rods was away!!
The fish was a proper plodder, using its own weight to hold bottom and when the fish finally surfaced I knew it was a good un. I scooped the big mirror into the net and we all let out a cry of relief, this was a BIG fish.
'What's your UK PB mate?' I asked Gavin, as I hoisted the behemoth onto the scales.
'36lb' he replied.
'Not anymore, it's now 52lb 3oz!'
We celebrated and got into the water with the fish, anything over 40lb must be photographed in the water, so we chucked the chest waders on and got some pics before letting the monster carp go. It turns out it was a fish called Moon Scale, a highly sought after fish amongst the members of the syndicate!
Gavin chipped in with two other fish that day, a 32lb mirror and a 21lb mirror at about 10pm.
Thing's were looking good for him, but I could not buy a bite!
On Tuesday my confidence was washing around the bottom of my boots.
I hadn't seen much on my side of the swim and had caught nothing.
Gavin was away in meetings all day, so even without the extra rods in the water, I still couldn't get a bite, this was all becoming a proper head scratcher!
We didn't fish that night, we reeled the rods in and had a mega dinner with a few beers, we crashed out not before setting the alarms for first light.
Wednesday was Gavin's last full day, he was leaving early on Thursday and I would then have 2 full days and nights to make something happen.
All day I was thinking about how to get something going, then I thought about solid PVA bags, could they be the answer to unlocking the code!
We had a mega curry that night, washed down with a beer and I drifted off to sleep with a million thoughts racing around my head about solid bags, which spots should I fish, should I bait over them or just fish them on their own.
Thursday morning, I bid farewell to Gavin and put the kettle on, it was early and I now had a gameplan for the remaining 48 hours. I was going to fish solid PVA bags just off the baited spots.
I made a simple mix of RH Baits Tuna boilies, 10mm pellets and a whole bottle of the Tuna liquid. I deposited 5kg across the two spots, but then baited a spot off the island to the left. It hadn't been fished all week, but you had to be VERY tight to the willow tree where the spot was really clean, if you were a foot or two short, you were in thick, slimy weed.
By lunchtime I had all three spots baited, my arms and back were killing me from spombing so much, but hopefully it would all be worth it!
That night I really felt confident and at 2am (Friday morning), the right hand rod was away.
A short fight saw a low 20lb mirror on the scales, not the one I wanted but it was a start, the bags were working and a 28lb mirror a few hours later confirmed I was onto something.
By Friday lunchtime I had 6 fish, the biggest being a 35lb mirror, not a PB beater, but surely I was going to get amongst the big fish now.
I was literally on the phone to Gavin when my left hand rod rattled off, the result was a 34lb mirror and fish number 7.
Before dark I managed two more fish, both 20lb'ers which took me to nine fish in just 36hrs.
I had definitely found the way to get bites, but none of the big fish were tripping up, was it the tactics or the spot?
My departure time was 7am as I had to get back, but nothing else happened through the night, so I reeled in felling a mixture of happiness and disappointment.
It was great that I found a way to turn the week around, but I desperately wanted one of the bigger fish. Seeing Gavin with a 52lb'er was undoubtedly the highlight, just to see such a magnificent creature like that, was a real treat and congrats to him on a PB that will be very hard to beat!
SUMMARY AND FINAL THOUGHTS.
Ok, so back to the cost - the cheapest weeks in The Avenue Luxury Cabin cost £2500 and it is A LOT of money but when you think about a week at a top venue in France, that £2500 does become a bit more bearable! So we checked the cost against a well known big fish French venue.
£945 for a weeks fishing x 2 = £1890
Tunnel return crossing = £540 (September Flexi Plus)
Fuel & Tolls = £200
TOTAL £2630
I will be honest and say that the week we had cost £3500, so a fair bit more than then 'cheaper' weeks, but we didn't have any hassle with travel, tunnels, tolls, monster journeys or travelling through the night etc. Plus we had a luxury cabin with amazing king size beds, no bad backs on bed chairs, that's for sure.
Was it worth it? For me, the jury is still out.
I hope people don't book here expecting to haul 40lb carp for fun, it just isn't going to happen, no doubt some will get good weeks but I already know that a fair few people have blanked for a whole week.
I did feel as though 9 fish landed, with the majority being low 20's and the biggest being 35lb was VERY unlucky, but that's fishing for you, imagine if each one had been a 40lb'er or bigger! I guess it is possible.
The cabin was luxury, a huge patio area with comfortable garden furniture, a separate outhouse with freezer, chest waders, storage and shelving for your fishing kit, a gas BBQ, plus all the mod cons you'll ever need, it was strange sitting on a sofa watching the rods through the patio doors while the rain hammered down, but maybe in my old age I am getting soft, I was bloody glad I wasn't in a bivvy at some points, the weather was BRUTAL at times.
THE SYNDICATE
We met quite a few members during the week, the feelings were mixed regarding the cabin and the fact that anyone is able to book it, some were not bothered, some were more bothered, but everyone we spoke to was really welcoming and willing to share info about the lake etc. It was clearly a nice group of anglers on the syndicate, although not all were happy to share their captures!
We saw one chap packing up, and as he walked past I asked him how he had got on.
He told us he had caught nothing and had seen nothing, but then the next day there he was on the RH Fisheries page holding a 40lb carp that he'd caught the previous night, wearing the same clothes and everything, you have to laugh!
So there we have it, The Avenue is definitely the theatre of dreams, it's not for everyone but it was a great week, in a very luxurious cabin! If you treat it as a holiday, don't rush to catch them all in the first 24hrs, you'll enjoy your time there I have no doubt.
Finally, a HUGE thanks to the team at RH Fisheries, to Bob and Josh for the advice and encouragement, and finally to Rob's wife who is a lovely human being, although I now feel terrible for forgetting her name!
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