Details of your catches:

42lb common, 41 lb mirror, 32-35 lb mirror, all on pop ups. 6 x small mirrors 5-6lb.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Water levels low, single baits, no baiting up

Were the facilities what you expected?

Basic facilities clean & tidy

Were you happy with them?

Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes lovely lake

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes & no both lakes suffering low levels poor water quality, lot of small fish pestering baits

General Comments:

Water low I wish angling lines gives reports of quality of water & levels it seems to be every year this seems to be issues, yet this lake is feed from a larger lake sluice gates to be opened to meet a good level to create good fishing low levels stops feeding especially with high pressure. lake was about 4foot low that's over 29 acres? A lot of water lost. These things we pay for & because of conditions & set week to fish your stuffed not happy.

*Angling Lines note* We have discussed this at length with Mark, one of the Brocard bailiffs, who gave us the following response;

"We agree it was unfortunately a slow week, but the water levels are at normal summer levels and not 4ft down. The average depth in the lake is 3 to 4ft. With swim 1 having the lowest depths at 3ft on average, swim 2 & 3 holding depths of around 3.5 to 4ft and swim 4 (the swim you fished this particular week) with around 4.5 to 5ft at its deepest corner. I appreciate that you may have looked at the dam wall and judged the water level on that, however, even in the winter the water level sits 2ft below the top of this wall.

The lake is fed from a larger lake which also holds fish, in emergencies we will use this lake to help top up Brocard Small, however it is always a careful balance for the safety of all the fish and one that the owners, as fish farmers, are very experienced in handling. The lake has had recent rainstorms pass over that has added fresh water and the lake is overall producing normal catch reports for August."

We do fully appreciate that you feel that the water levels between seasons was not made clear enough on the site and we have altered our text to give a better picture of how the lake changes throughout the year.

Details of your catches:

We only landed one fish, a 45½lb Grass Carp. Unfortunately we lost 14 fish including four Catfish, several Grass Carp and several other Carp. We fished swim 2.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Fishing tight to the bushes on the far bank gave us all of the bites bar two. Unfortunately fishing that far out tight to snags resulted in a lot of lost fish.

Were the facilities what you expected?

We have been before and found them perfectly acceptable. They are always clean and are available at any time.

Were you happy with them?

No problems at all.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

This is a great get away from it all venue. There are lots of fish present and they are always jumping. We found however, unlike the english waters we fish, that jumping fish do not mean feeding fish even if they jump out of the same spot multiple times! Talk to the bailiffs if you want to catch.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

We could highly recommend your services and already have done. Everything went exactly as planned on the trip both ways.

We could not offer enough praise on the bailiffs who were always available, always supportive and willing to give you as much help and advice as you need. Mark and Franck would be a credit to any company and Brocard would not be the same without them. I know a lot of fisheries that could benefit from bailiffs such as them.

General Comments:

Fantastic venue that we could not recommend more highly with brilliant bailiffs. A few tips though:

1. Take a big fast bait boat. We took our bait boat and it was out of its depth with the distances required to go especially if the wind got up. Great for precision baiting on 4-10 acre waters but not on large 29 acre waters where the far bank is 140 yards and increasing as you go across the swims.

2. Talk to the bailiffs. Franck knows the water and Mark is a fisherman. Marks advice changed our situation from 3 days without a bite to getting one in 15 minutes! He knows what he is on about so listen to what he has to say as he wants you to catch as does Franck. They are as gutted as you if you fail and will do whatever they can to ensure you succeed.

3. Don't assume big beds of bait will always work. Last year they did for us but this year the fish ignore it.

4. The lake water is incredibly warm. It is like getting into a bath. We measured it at 25°C on two separate devices. This means your soft boilies will dissolve overnight. When you reel in the following morning and your bait has gone then you need to get some harder bait. This is fact, ask the bailiffs if you don't believe it.

5. The Catfish on here are clearly on steroids! Hanging on to one with a 5½lb tc rod with top quality 20lb line and watching your spool empty no matter how hard you tighten it up and try and hold it with your fingers takes some believing but you WILL hook a cat and it will go like nothing you have ever hooked before. They will take 150 yards of line off of you and that snag on the far bank that is miles away from where you hooked it is going to be their target. Enjoy.

Despite the poor result we hooked far more fish than anyone else on the water but could not keep them clear of the snags. That doesn't mean we were disappointed. Fishing is more than just catching fish and the whole experience was brilliant again. Love the place and we will be back.

Details of your catches:

Due to the weather fishing was extremely hard... 44 degrees!! But as a super bunch of fishermen we are, we all caught.

Me 11 fish all carp from 21lb to 42lb - Swim 4 R
Colin 1 cat of 66lb - Swim 4 L
Wes many cats (3 or 4) to 81lb + many many more lost - Swim 2 L
Tony Grassy to 43lb, plus a mirror and Many many cats lost - Swim 2 R
Martin Cat of 47lb and loads lost - Swim 3 L
Lee 4 Carp to High 30lb many cats lost. - Swim 3 R
Jimmy Common of around 25lb and lost a few too - Swim 1 R - very shallow
Schoultzy - Cat of 80plus and a lovely linear mirror - Swim 1 L - EXTREMELY shallow

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

The lake bait is great all round bait for carp and for the cats, but anything worked, tigers, maize and boilies.

I found boilie only approach worked best for me in my swim. No pellets no particles after the first day. All the others apart from colin and myself where using particle and pellets and had bait boats.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Well, they were ok, clean and worked. Could really do with a freezer! We were going to the supermarket every couple of days for ice for our cool boxes as the heat topped 44-46 degs and around 38degs in the shade!

Were you happy with them?

Yeah, They suited our needs on the small lake.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes, but not during a heat wave! BRING MOZZY SPRAY AND GALLONS OF IT........ Also a bait boat. If your in pegs one or two.... BRING A BIKE TOO!!!

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

100 per cent!!!

General Comments:

Franck and Mark are great guys... listen to them and you will catch. We hit the place at the wrong time and it was hard but we battled and stuck it out.

Details of your catches:

One angler fishing from peg 1. 9 fish in total, Mirrors/Commons. Biggest 32lb, 6 between 23lb-29lb, 2 upper doubles.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Boilies fished over a small amount of pellet tight to the trees on the far bank and one or two fish from the channel to the left of the swim. Nothing on particle or Tiger nuts. All fish except one came between 11pm and 4am. No sign at all of any Crayfish.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes, not amazing but functional and clean. The Power is switched on Tues-Sat 9am-5pm.

Were you happy with them?

Yes, although a fridge/freezer would definitely be useful.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Possibly.. Depending on what they were looking for as the number of bigger fish (30+) was disappointing.
Personally I wouldn't return because it's not the sort of water I normally fish but that's not a reflection of the quality of the venue.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Definitely! Excellent customer service.

General Comments:

A nice venue, well run and plenty of space.
Franck and Mark are nice guys, very helpful and welcoming.

I fished Saturday PM to Thursday AM in Peg 1. The swim is now all gravelled with no platform. As a result the ground is very hard so although nobody likes them, a mallet is vital for bivvy pegs and a Rod Pod essential.

There is enough room for two anglers and two bivvies, Frank also allows you to park behind the swim. The fishing was tough with a cold N/E wind all week and not many fish showing anywhere.

Peg 1 is relatively shallow, between 2 and 2.5ft all the way across although that obviously will depend on water levels through the year.