Details of your catches:

I hired the lake exclusively for 7 of us and we fished 4 swims spaced out around the lake. In total we caught 81 fish. Carp to 52lb 2oz, with numerous fish over 30 and over 40. Grass Carp to 45lb and Sturgeon to 103lb. Jamie unfortunately didn't manage to break his own lake record from our last trip. Took my Dad on his first carp fishing trip ever and he landed the big common with two tone colouring on its left flank. What a trip!

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Locating features, establishing baited spots using particle and boilie supplied by the owner and fishing accurately to them.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes - second visit for 3 of the 7 of us so we knew what to expect.

Were you happy with them?

Yes - they are perfectly adequate for the week and clean. As per others feedback the toilet and shower cubicles are a bit cramped.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Without hesitation - extremely helpful and efficient

General Comments:

Love Angling Lines, love this lake, will definitely visit again and the fish are in excellent condition. However in terms of improving the venue there are a couple of points. As has been mentioned preciously some of the swim fronts are not fish friendly at all. The old concrete steps and posts and roots need removing. I would also echo the need to thin out the grass carp stock, we all had multiple catches but also loads of dropped runs which are the grass carp with their very hard mouths. I ended up using back leads to avoid the multiple fish (especially Sturgeon) trailing line from wiping out my rods. This was a constant and very frustrating issue for all of us all week. From wrapped around one small carp I removed a marker float and 5 oz lead, two other rigs with leads and yards and yards of line. You need to gear up fishing this lake, the stuff we removed was not up to conditions of the lake, with rocky snaggy margins and steep sided bars and drop offs that have very sharp rocks and flints along the tops. I lost my best fish of the week when it dumped my hook into a rusty jagged washing machine drum in the margin which I removed using the boat. Finally the Sturgeon, especially the big one are too big for the size and type of fishery. We were there to catch the carp and the 100lb fish gets hooked time and time again. It was landed once during our trip and was trailing multiple rigs. They are a novelty which quickly wears off. Its not safe and from a fish welfare point of view it is really bad. To fish safely for them you need a boat road and 50lb braid....not exactly the gear for fishing for the amazing stock of carp. All 7 of us said the same - they need to be removed.

Details of your catches:

4 x 40lb - 47 lb 5 x sturgeon 2 x 30lb - 35 lb 6 under 30

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Boilies / yellow-white pop ups

Were the facilities what you expected?

Were you happy with them?

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

General Comments:

Beautiful lake, run by top blokes

Details of your catches:

I personally caught 17 fish - 7 (king) carp (up to 48lb), 7 grass carp (up to 37lb) and three sturgeon (the big one, plus a 55lb and 56lb, which was possibly a repeat capture).

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

I found that fishing out in open water resulted mostly in grass carp and sturgeon and fishing the margins produced more carp. All the usual stuff works, although I stopped using pellet to try and avoid the grassies and sturgeon. Moving swim definitely helps if you're not on the fish.

Were the facilities what you expected?

The facilities were as expected - basic. But it all worked fine. One of our group hired a boat, but the rowlock snapped off. The owner Cyril was very quick to swap the boat over.

Were you happy with them?

Yep, the shower was nice and hot/warm, which is always nice on a drive and survive. As all the other feedback says, the shower and toilet cubicles could do with being bigger. Plenty of freezer space for bait and also we had plenty of fridge space for our food and drink. Plus loads of English sockets available to charge stuff up.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

I would, we had a great time on the lake. Although i'd warn anyone going to expect to catch a lot of grass carp as well.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yep. Angling Lines has been great on all the trips I've been on.

General Comments:

Please please reduce the number of grassies. There is an excessive amount in there. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to catch the odd big grassie. But they mostly fight like a bream, then destroy your landing net once you've netted them for the umpteenth time and then invariably damage themselves going ballistic in the net and on the unhooking mat. The owner said he put them in to keep the weed down, and in fairness it is essentially weedless. But there are just so many of them, they became a nuisance in the end. I'm sure if 50% of the smallest grassies were removed and perhaps replaced with some more king carp it would be far better to fish and still relatively weed free. Some of the marginal spots could do with snags removed and some over hanging trees undercut e.g to the left of swim 4, to reduced the number of fish lost and avoid carp getting tethered. Also I have to say in the end we felt sorry for the big sturgeon. It was hooked 4 times and landed twice in the space of about 3 days. A fish of that size (circa 50kgs) must have to eat so much food to maintain its body weight, it has no choice but to keep eating and in a lake of that size, it must get caught relentlessly.

Details of your catches:

5 fish biggest 47.5 LB

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Fished slow, nothing in particular, kept trying different things

Were the facilities what you expected?

basic but clean

Were you happy with them?

yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

yes

General Comments: