Customer feedback from Vaux

Holiday date: Sat 14th Apr to Sat 21st Apr 2012
Name of customer: Ian Niven
Number of anglers: 2

Details of your catches: 12 carp - largest 32lb08oz mirror

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Tigernut or scopex boilie

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

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: Great week, thanks for your help chas. See you soon, ian

Holiday date: Sat 7th Apr to Sat 14th Apr 2012
Name of customer: Ken King
Number of anglers: 4

Details of your catches: Overall 27 carp. 7 x 30lb+ and 10 x 21lb+. Biggest catch - 38lb01oz

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Double tigernut on hair rig. Used funnel web with small amounts of particles

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

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: Managed to catch most days despite the changeable weather. All fish in great condition and most anglers got their pbs. House is perfect, with a lovely shower!

Holiday date: Sat 31st Mar to Sat 7th Apr 2012
Name of customer: Peter Bilsby
Number of anglers: 4

Details of your catches: 19 fish in total; 1 single, 3 doubles, 7 x 20s, 6 x 30s and 2 x 40s

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Most fish came from dam wall. Snowman rigs worked well

Were the facilities what you expected? Accommodation facilities rated 5 accommodation cleanliness rated 5 accommodation overall rated 5
Were you happy with them? Yes

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: We had a fantastic weeks fishing. Chas's knowledge, support and teaching was hugely valuable. We hope to return in the summer one year so we can improve on our total

Holiday date: Sat 15th Oct to Sat 22nd Oct 2011
Name of customer: Caroline Lane
Number of anglers: 2

Details of your catches: Fishing was slow but the fish caught were beauties. Carp - mirror and common between 29lb to 41lb and a small pike.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Loads and loads of bait.

Were the facilities what you expected? The gite was excellent, clean and a good size. The grounds had a right of way though them, which was right outside the front door and one end and side of the lake. Vehicles used this as well as walkers.we thought exclusive meant exclusive to us not to us and the owner.
Were you happy with them? Yes, with the gite, we were not aware of the right of way, and if we had have known we proberly wouldn't have booked it this venue. Didn't like the owner turning up everyday.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? No
Would you recommend our services to a friend? Our first trip with your company so too early to say.

General comments: We have been to france for the last 5 years on fishing holidays, alway hiring exclusive house and lake because of the privacy you get with this type of holiday. We have never had an owner come everyday, staying between 45 minutes to 3 hours, the house rules had asked us to be tolerate of periodical maintenance ,but sweeping up leaves around your feet while your fishing and trying to collect them off the top of the lake (in autumn)was a little much. It made us feel like we were intruding. We did not pay exclusive prices for this. Not our type of venue.

***********
owners' comments:

we were disappointed to read mrs lane’s negative feedback, but would like to thank her for her positive comments. In response to the points she raised:

the right of way provides access for the local farmers and has always been included in our general rules on our web pages, plus it can be seen on the lake map over the dam wall. If there are one or two vehicles using it per day, that is regarded as ‘busy’ !

Exclusive in terms of a fishing venue such as ours means the anglers have exclusive rights to fish the lake, not that the owner is prevented from visiting his property, and chas did not fish. He visits every day to ensure that the anglers and their families don’t have any problems, that they have all that they need, to offer any assistance if it is required and, in the autumn in particular, to clear the leaves, chestnuts, beechnuts, etc from around the sluices and, from a health and safety point of view, from the pathways/swims. If the sluices are not cleared of debris every day in the autumn, especially when an easterly wind is blowing, they will become blocked and the lake would overflow causing serious damage. Slippery leaves and debris left on paths and around swims are a danger. We, as lake owners, owe a duty of care to visitors, the local community and the environment. The majority of time on the longer visit was spent either on the dam wall clearing the debris from the sluices or in the mill preparing and cooking bait to replace that which had been sold, both places well away from the anglers. It is a pity mr lane chose not to speak to chas for the whole of his holiday, otherwise matters could have been clarified at the time.

Mr lane’s son, damian, was however very keen and when, by tuesday, he had caught no fish, he went through his tackle with chas. Chas showed damian how to properly tie his main line to leaders, how to tie his knots to get maximum strength and showed him some of his own rigs, how to tie them, his lead set-ups. After changing his tactics following chas’s input, including putting in more bait and using tent pegs on his line as he had no swingers, damian went on to catch a 26lb5oz mirror, a 32lb2oz common, a 39lb8oz mirror and the last one, a 41lb5oz mirror, plus he missed a few.

Chas has always been more than willing to help any angler at vaux who requires it; obviously not everyone wants his advice, but many are then happy to take it midway through their holiday if they havn't been doing particularly well. Anglers who have told him that they havn't seen fish moving although they’ve tried every tactic have gone on to catch the carp after chas has helped them with their baiting strategy, their rigs, their tactics, and on several occasions in 2011, anglers have ended their week’s holiday with the last fish being a 40lb+, as damian did.

Holiday date: Sat 1st Oct to Sat 8th Oct 2011
Name of customer: Jamie Hayden
Number of anglers: 2

Details of your catches: 18 carp to 43lb + 1 x 10lb 8oz pike

Your best tactics/bait/rigs: Baited areas to the far margins gave the best results

Were the facilities what you expected? Better - 5*
Were you happy with them? Very happy

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: Fantastic gite, wonderful setting, quality fishing. We managed 3 x pbs. Chas and josie are great hosts and chas is a mine of information. If you listen to his tips you will catch fish. We would happily return to this venue.