Customer feedback from Mas Bas Main Lake

Holiday date: Sat 28th Apr to Sat 5th May 2012
Name of customer: Paul Steele
Number of anglers: 3

Details of your catches: 25 carp (up to 32lb), 68 grass carp (up to 22lb), 8 tench (up to 6lb 15oz), 10 sturgeon (believe the same 2 fish caught multiple times), 5 koi, 32 bream, 4 eels, 1 black bass, multiple silver fish to float tactics.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Found most of the carp to be close to the margins on the far bank from the house and the sturgeon in the deep channel directly in front of house. Do not neglect the prospects of stalking fish in the shallows and snags. The grass carp are very hungry and not fussy about rig presentation or bait for that matter so couldn't really say with any clarity what the best tactic would be! I know that gilles recommends 20mm boilies as hookbait and a scattering of 20mm boilies.

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes, been before and as accomodation factors into our holiday booking we wouldn't have returned (twice!) if it wasn't up to scratch. Had a bit of confusion with the tv and which channels it does/doesn't receive but didn't affect the holiday greatly (we would have liked to watch match of the day on bbc1 but not on astra box....).
Were you happy with them? Yes, as i say been before and the house is clean, right next to the lake with a superb tiled outdoor sundeck with swimming pool making excellent socaible set up for a family venue.

Accommodation facilities (rated 1-5):
Accommodation cleanliness (rated 1-5):
Accommodation overall (rated 1-5):

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes, we brought one along! Would definitely include a warning at the moment about the proliferation of grass carp but think everyone already on top of this...
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Idyllic place ideally set up for the family fishing holiday. Gilles - the grass carp have done their job now so get them in a stock pond and lesley - get an up to date freeview tv box like vaux, notaires & toms and we'll see you again soon. Thanks for everything, paul.

Mirror Carp to float tactics 32lb 5oz

Mirror Carp 29lb 14oz

Tench PB 6lb 15oz

Holiday date: Sat 22nd Oct to Sat 29th Oct 2011
Name of customer: Sander Beijderwellen
Number of anglers: 4

Details of your catches: In total 65 fish, 625 kg (on average 2 anglers): - 6 grass carp, between 6 and 17 lbs - 15 common carp, between 11 and 32 lbs - 41 mirror carp, between 14 and 46 lbs - 3 sturgeon, between 8 and 11 lbs top 5 catches: - 46.3 lbs mirror - 45.3 lbs mirror - 35.3 lbs mirror - 32.0 lbs common - 30.9 lbs common

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: - large hooks - 30-35 cm long rigs - single 20mm boilies - no groundbait like pellets, maize etc.! - short distance between hook and boilie (0.5 cm) - rahja spice, squid & octopus or fish garlic boilies

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes, these were ok. Very comfortable that the lake is so close to the house!!
Were you happy with them? Yes, the only issue for me was that upstairs the ceiling was rather low (i am 6 foot 8 tall), which resulted in many bumps on my head....:-)

Accommodation facilities (rated 1-5):
Accommodation cleanliness (rated 1-5):
Accommodation overall (rated 1-5):

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Absolutely!
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Absolutely!

General comments: Many thanks to lesley and gilles, who both were very friendly and helpful. I will send a link with photos and some videos separately.

Holiday date: Sat 1st Oct to Sat 8th Oct 2011
Name of customer: Robert Mantel
Number of anglers: 1

Details of your catches: 24 carp and 3 sturgeons. Biggest 42 pound. Lots of low and mid twenties and also a some smaller below twenty, futhermore a few grass carp. 7 hook pulls and one line break in the trees. No thirties. Two 29 pounders.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Fished both the lotus and main lake. Both waters are real night waters. Most takes from 23:00 till 5:00. Listen to giles, he knows the water very well. I used simpel rigs with barbless hooks size 4 with lead clip and tubing for fish safety. I fished the raya spice boilies from quest baits and added some pellets and tigers. The waters are not deep and have mostly a soft muddy bottom for about 10-25 inches. There are a few snags near the island in main lake and at the right bank of the lotus lake but in general the bottoms are clean. A few hard spots close to the margins.

Were the facilities what you expected? The lakes are beautiful. Because of the lack of rain, the water levels were very low, the deepest point was about 1,5 meters. The shallow areas (usually stalking areas)were completely fallen dry and not fishable. The natural springs were also dried up unfortunately, therefore giles has placed two fountains for oxygen supply. The lotus cottage is simpel, no luxury but enough for a outdoor place lake this. You don't want to spend to much time indoors, go outside and enjoy the nature and surroundings! The swimming pool is nice, in this time of year a bit cold (15 degrees) but a good wake up in the morning. One point of complaint: the beds in the house are very bad, the matresses are completely worn off...
Were you happy with them? Overall we had a great time at a beautifull tranquil place and caught some nice fish.

Accommodation facilities (rated 1-5):
Accommodation cleanliness (rated 1-5):
Accommodation overall (rated 1-5):

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes.
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments:

Holiday date: Sat 3rd Sep to Sat 10th Sep 2011
Name of customer: Dave Hopkins And Darren Harvey
Number of anglers: 2

Details of your catches: We caught 40 mirror carp to 29lb 12 oz, 14 common carp up to 34lb 8 oz, 27 grass carp to 21lb 4oz and a koi carp at 5lb 8 oz.plus 23 carp under 20lb. Also had 4 sturgeon up to 16lb 8 oz. In summary we had 100 runs not connecting with 4 fish and pulling the hook on just one 55 carp.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Were the facilities what you expected? Better
Were you happy with them? Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: It was a very enjoyable weeks fishing in idyllic surroundings with beautiful facilities. We cannot fault the lakes or the venues and our accommodation was great for two blokes fishing. I am in the process of arranging and securing a trip for the lake house for next year. Taking our wifes and daughters. The only frustrating thing was not connecting with the bigger fish. I must however compliment you both on the health and fitness of yur stock pound for pound they have got to be amongst the hardest fighting carp i have ever caught and have been fishing for over 25 years.

Holiday date: Sat 3rd Sep to Sat 10th Sep 2011
Name of customer: Clark Family
Number of anglers: 2

Details of your catches: 120 carp. Mirrors 12lb to 42.5lb commons 10lb to 31lb grass 4lb to 21lb lots of small bream (max 4lb)

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Main lake.caught fish at all ranges, fishing over pellet.larger fish caught on double 20mm rahja spice.lotus lake.caught most fish in shallow end, tigers,cell,new grange. Lots of grass carp.

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes & no
Were you happy with them? Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: 1st week in willow,house ok, lotus lake, fishing was not easy.
2nd week in lake house, much better for our family. Main lake, fishing much better!