Details of your catches:

Angler No 1 - No fish caught
Angler No 2 - 1 x 9lb Common
Angler No 3 - No fish caught
Angler No 4 - 1 x 22lb Mirror & 1 x 47lb Mirror
Angler No 5 - 1 x 23lb Common & 1 x 51lb Mirror

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Non-conclusive

We bought over 500 euros of Lake Villefond boilies. Not only did we have a shockingly poor return on fish caught throughout the week but the fresh bait we purchased appeared to go mouldy after a couple of days. We can only put this down to the owners statement that "no additives are used in our boilies" Our advice to anyone fishing lake Villefond would be to consider very carefully the baiting options available.

Were the facilities what you expected?

Absolutely not. Our group has been making annual fishing trips to France for many years and the unaminous view was that this was our worst experience by far. Lake Villefond cannot facilitate groups of 6 or more, fact! We paid £200 for the use of the mobile home merely for cooking. There was no electric lighting so any cooking was done under candlelight. The cooker was probably manufactured in the 70's/80's and without a grill which did not make cooking for six easy at all. The small fridge/freezer was totally dependant upon the electric being supplied from a solar panel source. The power supply was erratic and as a result we had to throw away meat. Although the owners did kindly offer us a service whereby we could refrigerate or freeze food at their home and call it off as required, this was not an ideal situation.

The wiring for the solar panel generated electric was dangerous to say the least, wires left hanging mid-air with a conservative amount of insulating tape wrapped around it. The two experienced and qualified electricians on our trip were quick to point out this potential death trap!

The shower in the mobile home did not work although we had use of a shower in the toilet block.

We requested on several occasions for the only dustbin provided outside of the mobile to be emptied but this fell on deaf ears until the penulitmate day of our stay. Lets say the area got rather messy after a few days as we had nowehere to put our waste.

Were you happy with them?

No

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

No

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Unsure

General Comments:

We paid over £2k for a weeks fishing at Lake Villefond (not including the extra 500 euros we paid for on site boilies) and to say we are extremely disappointed is the understatement of the year. Although the owner did spend less than an hour with us showing us his rigs and advising on best swims, we felt thoroughly let down. When explaining our frustrations we were given every possible excuse for why we were not catching. The fish were not spawning, we were using the correct bait, the correct rigs in the correct swims so why did we catch so little throughout the week? Answers on a postcard please!!

The owners themselves appear to be nice people but we do feel they need to address as a matter of urgency some basic requirements to bring the venue up to scratch.

If this holiday had been purchased through an ABTA affiliated holiday company we would be demanding a refund, this is how aggrieved we feel.

**Angling Lines note** The owners dispute the above feed back. The facilities are limited compared to some venues but are as described on the website. The anglers the following week gave entirely different feedback despite a similar low catch ratio (due, we believe, to the unusual weather conditions and prolonged intermittent spawning).

Details of your catches:

Unfortunately we came to the conclusion fish were still spawning as we tried every tactic, well balanced pop ups, caught fish on our last evening and day 16lb 14lb 6lb 34lb and a couple lost, so much for no small fry

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Any plastic pop ups, we sat with owner one day took the time out to show us the how to put together the rig he used

Were the facilities what you expected?

Facilities were A1 for a carp angling holiday.
The lack of power supply at venue was great too as owners came every evening to take anything needing recharging.

Were you happy with them?

Lovely lovely people, beautiful location, I wouldn't be selling anglers baits if you know there still spawning kinda leaves a sour taste..

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes and No venue just to much of a mission to get too actually nearly a 5 hour drive from caen

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Cannot fault your service apart from the below

General Comments:

Wont be gambling on spawning season again to much money to spend without a real possibility of good fishing, wished i was given a little more advice on fisheries you advertise if they have or haven't spawned

**Angling Lines note** We're afraid spawning date can NEVER be guaranteed - its a function of daylight hours (guaranteed past end April) & temp being stable for long enough (hugely variable). We do ask lakes to tell us when it's happening via their latest news section though and apologise if you weren't kept up to date.

Details of your catches:

Two fish

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Well we couldn't really say as so many tactics were used but not working due to spawning

Were the facilities what you expected?

No not at all on the web site it said they had a generated but all they had was two batteries wired to solor panels that did not last half a day the shower was in a wood shed with no lights in and the shower always went cold after ten minutes and the cubicle was to small to move around in with heater in

**Angling Lines note** We sincerely apologise regarding the website still stating there was a generator on site, it had been removed recently and the wording on the website has now been amended.

Regarding the solar panels, we asked the owners - '...We are happy to take anything back that anglers want charging to our house. Anglers are all told that because on some weeks if there is no sun and we have all the guys trying to charge iPads, bait boats, phones etc, it runs the batteries down quickly.'

Were you happy with them?

No we all weren't very happy the facilities

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

No only due to the facilities

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes you were very helpful throughout the planning of the trip

General Comments:

The fishing was bad but only due to fish spawning the fishery management could of cone down to try and help us with there knowledge of the lake to help but waited till Thursday. Two days before going home for five minutes to say i think there spawning

Details of your catches:

5 anglers;
7xdoubles
1x29lb
3x30lb +
12x40lb +
2x50lb +

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Snowman Cell and White pop up

Were the facilities what you expected?

Yes

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:

Great Venue, great food and plenty of it. Left alone to catch at your will but given good advice at the start of the week.