Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  James Leigh

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 30-09-2006 to 07-10-2006

No. of persons fishing: 8

Brief details of your catches: A blinding week. At least 45 fish all good sizes. Biggest mirror 37lb, 3 other good 30's. Most of the rest were good 20's. 3 x 40lb+ sturgeon (biggest 47lb). Quite a few Grass Carp - biggest 43lb

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Fished Tigers over hemp & maize. Walked the baits out after finding hard spots. We had some problems with the posson chats but Tigers & pop-ups stopped 'em

Were the facilities what you expected? Excellent facilities

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: Our first time on Margot - we had a great session. Thouroughly recommended!

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Mr D Greenfield

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 23-09-2006 to 30-09-2006

No. of persons fishing: 5

Brief details of your catches: 80 fish in total. Biggest fish 34lb.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Tiger nuts, hook baits over particles, forget boilies and find hard spots.

Were the facilities what you expected? OK

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: As a disabled angler I found the facilities good. Plenty of room in the showers. The biggest downfall of the holiday is the rules. It states not to fish until you have seen the bailiff. We arrived at 12.30pm and he turned up at 3.30pm - 3 hours wasted. NOTE FROM ANGLING LINES: WE HAVE SPOKEN TO THE OWNERS ABOUT THIS & IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. THE BAILIFF WAS UNAVOIDABLY DETAINED.... BUT HE SHOULD HAVE SENT A REPLACEMENT. THE OWNERS ACCEPT THIS & APPOLOGISE TO Mr GEENFIELD FOR THE DELAY.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Gibbs party

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 16-09-2006 to 23-09-2006

No. of persons fishing: 5

Brief details of your catches: Everyone caught but nothing massive. Biggest carp 32lb, several 20lb+ koi & a 40lb+ sturgeon

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Baits boated out

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 our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: We were not disappointed with the catches but it would have been nice to get into some of the bigger fish.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Wim Doeleman

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 09-09-2006 to 16-09-2006

No. of persons fishing: 7

Brief details of your catches: Over 200 carp all together. We lost track of the numbers, but there were a lot of mirrors. Biggest was 48lb with an average of 28lb. There were some nice koi - biggest 38lb, catfish to 33lb and commons to 33lb.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: With the boat search for hard spots. Bait them with handfull off bait . Fish with tigers or soaked netted bollies. Refresh your bait every two hours.

Were the facilities what you expected? The best!

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: This is a great place to fish… and if you work for it then a lot is possible. Good facilities with safe and peaceful fishing.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Dave Redmond

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 26-08-2006 to 02-09-2006

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: Dave had 23 fish - biggest 37lb mirror carp and a sturgon at 23lb.Mark had 10 fish biggest 44lb mirror

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Particles with a single Quest hook bait. Used Tigernut crunch, Special crab also used his bait boat.

Were the facilities what you expected? Great, can't fault them.

Were you happy with them? Yes. Excellent

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Fantastic best weeks fishing,will go again.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Alan Moon & owen kelly aka father jack

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 12-08-2006 to 19-08-2006

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: 32 carp total 42.7 common 4x30 11x20 rest doubles .1x16koi 1x30.7 koi. lost 5 fishfound hard spot put markers out only put 2/3 handfulls loose feed .

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: could not use boillies or pellets hassel from poisson chat (pain)all fish caught on tigers .used 1 rod to cast about with pva bags. it worked .

Were the facilities what you expected? yes better

Were you happy with them? yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? yes definately

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: a nice lake & surroundings .we will be back 2008 maybe go earlier in year april may .have a go for sturgen & cats . its a long drive from calais 6/7 hours but worth it .

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Rich Read

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 05-08-2006 to 12-08-2006

No. of persons fishing: 6

Brief details of your catches: Total of 230 carp. 4 x 40lb+ biggest 49lb 12oz. 30 x 30lb+ including a fabulous 30lb Koi and a 34lb Grassie. 132 x 20lb+ & 64 to 20lb.On arriving home Jason Scott of Bridgwater had his scales recalibrated and discovered that they were weighing 120z light so the 49lb 12oz could well have been a 50.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: It is essential to find the small areas of the lake that are slightly deeper with a firm clay bottom. Most of the lake is around five feet deep with a small covering of silt. These silty areas will produce the odd fish but all of our hot spots were around six feet deep with no silt, a sure sign that the carp graze there regularly. Hard to find but well worth a couple of hours in the boat prodding around with your landing net pole. It was literally impossible to keep a rod in the water in one particular 'hole' that we found. Often a run would occur only minutes after the rigs had been carefully placed in the swim. Boilies were difficult to keep on for long before the p-chat had them whittled away. Netting the boilie was successful but the introduction of tigers fished over a couple of handfulls of maize had a dramatic effect.Non stop action for those that have the stamina to keep rowing those baits out. A brilliant water.

Were the facilities what you expected? Very good

Were you happy with them? Yes, very happy

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? I'm keeping this one to myself.

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Definitely

General comments: We would like to thank the Bigot boys for their friendly hospitality and help throughout the week. Mssr Bigot Snr gave me two bottles of locally produced wine on our arrival which set things off on a good footing. Nothing was too much trouble for them and their bait is very reasonably priced. I have fished many lakes in France and this really is up there with the best if you take the time to get your tactics right. I was worried that the lake would be choked with weed but there was little sign of any weed at all.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Jim Kelly

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 22-07-2006 to 29-07-2006

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: My individual catch included 18 carp all above 10lb. Most carp being upper doubles or twenties. Catch included a magnificent 30lb plus koi.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: The weed mentioned by previous parties had gone, probably due to the large number of grass carp. The weather was very hot being over 30 degrees all week peaking at 39 degrees in the shade! Due to this poisson chats were very active hence making it difficult to fish boilies. Some success fishing meshed baits, but by far the most successful method was fishing tiger nuts and hemp. Approximately 4kg of hemp and half a kg tigers around each rod.

Were the facilities what you expected? Excellent

Were you happy with them? Very

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Wonderful holiday inspite of the weather and the chats. Very friendly owner. What other venues contain near 60lb commons. We would definitely fish the venue again.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Paul Cooper

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 21-07-2006 to 27-07-2006

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: The temperature throughout the week peaked every day at around 39C. I had arrived at the lake fully prepared for heavy weed armed with a long handled rake. The weed had all died back and was clear around most of the lake. This wasn't to be my main obsticle for the week. After only a few hours of fishing it became apparent that there was a major problem with the Poisson Chat. All my boilies, which were well air dried, were being demolished in only an hour of being in the water. The baits, Quest Special Crab, had to be netted or Shrink wrapped in a polthene coating. This produced a staedy catch of carp but thanks to Monsieur Bigot, I was provided with an ample supply of tiger nuts to combat the nuisance Chats. I carried on catching steadily throughout the week, despite the intense heat, 22 carp in total. These consisted of a 32lb 8oz grass carp, a 32lb 8 oz mirror, 17 twenties, mostly 25+ along with 3 high doubles.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: All my fish were caught over a bed of hemp, trout pellet, and quest Special Crab boilies with a scattering of Tiger nuts. I baited a tight area around 75yds in open water, with 2 of the rods on the baited area and 2 rods on the outskirts of the bait. Due to the Poisson chat problem most of the fish came to either 18 mil Quest Special Crab meshed boilies or double tiger nut on size 4 Ashima c-310 hooks. A full report of the weeks fishing will be published later in the year in Carpworld.

Were the facilities what you expected? Seeing that there is no accomadation the facilities were excellent

Were you happy with them? extremely

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? yes

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: We fished the lake when the carp were at their lowest weights following heavy spawning.I intend to return next year either later in the year or early Spring. Margot is a prime French water which must be amongst some of the best in France.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Mark Toogood

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 08-07-2006 to 15-07-2006

No. of persons fishing: 7

Brief details of your catches: 42 Fish Caught in Total. Biggest Mirror Carp 46lb 5oz, Biggest Common Carp 31lb. 2x Grass Carp 27lb 4oz & 24lb 4oz.1 x 42lb Albino Catfish 1x Zander 8lb 14oz & 1 x Tench 4lb12 Carp Below 10lb

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Baiting strategies very difficult due to the activity of Poisson Chat, all boillies almost un fishable without netting all fish caught on particle baits

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes (Very Good)

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: An excellent venue albeit a long drive from Calais. Fishing conditions difficult due to the P.Chat and weed also limiting swim availability. All our party caught and we will return in 2008. Please thank Gareth for his help in assisting with our vehicle repairs.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Daryl Vardy

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 24-06-2006 to 01-07-2006

No. of persons fishing: 4

Brief details of your catches: Daryl: 11lb, 20lb, 23lb, 27lb, 33lb, 42lb (lost 5 fish) I cant remember wot the rest had.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Cleared weed to get lines out. Went out in the boats and placed a marker (bamboo stick with bottle on top) at about 125 yards out in clear water. Raked the bottom to be sure of a clear patch. Baited up a big area with pellet, hemp, maize. Hookbait was Quest Baits Fruity Triffle, which I had all the fish on. Took a small selection of hemp and maize along with a handfull of boilies (Fruity Triffle) which was bait boated out to marker. 8inch silkworm link with size 6 muggi hook and used rig foam on hook for a nice presention over ground bait....wot can i say.......... it worked!!!

Were the facilities what you expected? The facilities where very good, clean and looked after, but the lake was heavily weeded

Were you happy with them? yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? yes thinking of going back myself

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: Well wot can i say after one and a half days of hard graft to clear swims so they were fishable. Wasn't really my kind of fishing holiday....seeing a lake full of weed.... but we sluged it out got it cleard and i had a fantastic week!! thanks for taking me Steve.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  FROST PARTY

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 17-06-2006 to 24-06-2006

No. of persons fishing: 5

Brief details of your catches: NOT MANY FISH BUT LOADS OF WEED LOL, LOST ALOT OF FISH IN THE THICK WEED

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: BOTTOM BAITS & A RAKE

Were the facilities what you expected? YES

Were you happy with them? YES BUT COULD DO WITH BETTER SHOWERS

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? YES IF THE WEED WAS SORTED OUT

Would you recommend our services to a friend? YES AS THE FIRST LIKE WAS GREAT

General comments: WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED, WEED,WEED, WEED, WEED, & GUESS WHAT EVEN MORE BLOODY WEED, & COULD DO WITH A UPTO DATE VIDEO & SOME NEW PHOTOS OF THE SWIMS AS 6-7 & 8 HAVE CHANGED

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Mr T Frost

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 17-06-2006 to 24-06-2006

No. of persons fishing: 5

Brief details of your catches: Not many fish landed due to the weed condition,nobody was perpared to boat out at night, had no tools to remove weed. All fish if any were landed before dark. Most of the action came at night.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Quest Baits Fruity Trifle bottom baits (sold on site) and pineapple pop ups.

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: I would like to go back when there is no weed and fish it properly.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  A . Senior

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 10-06-2006 to 17-06-2006

No. of persons fishing: 4

Brief details of your catches: Tony caught 3 cats (15lb, 17lb, 33lb) one sturgeon 47lb. Tom caught one cat 14lb, 3 common (16lb, 21lb, 3lb) and one koi 21lb. Jez caught 2 commons (16lb and 49.06lb).

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Halibut pellets for cats and stugeon. Boilies and hemp for carp.

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 our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Would have been nice to be warned about excessive weed - so we could have been better prepared - we were just not used to fishing in it. Please say hi to Gareth, he is an interesting bloke and a good laugh.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Mr Ashurst

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 27-05-2006 to 03-06-2006

No. of persons fishing: 5

Brief details of your catches: Over 60 fish. Biggest 48lb common - magnificent fish! 12 carp between 30 & 39lb. Only one double - all the others were 20lb+. Sturgeon to 49.09 (same fish came out twice), grassies to 20lb+, several big koi and a few small cats.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Boating baits out - look for hard spots. Used boilie.

Were the facilities what you expected? Excellent facilities

Were you happy with them? Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Very much recommend - we're thinking of booking again

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Great fishing, great venue. Would go again without hesitation.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Steve Hall

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 14-05-2006 to 20-05-2006

No. of persons fishing: 7

Brief details of your catches: Lenny - 32 fish - 1 x Cat 41lb Albino, 2 x Koi - 31lb and 12lb. 19 x Mirror carp - 1 double, 12 x 20's and 6 x 30 to 37lb 2oz. 10 x Common Carp - 3 doubles, 7 x 20's to 28lb 5oz. Steve 24 fish - sturgeon x 2 .... 40lb8oz & 46lb. 8 x mirror carp... 6x20s and 2x30s to 35lb 8oz. x9 common carp 5 x doubles, 3 x 20s and 34lb 5oz. x2 Grass 28lb and 30lb 12oz. x3 Koi 10lb 8oz, 14lb4oz and 23lb. Stu x 25 fish x1 Koi 24lb. x2 common 12lb 9lb. x9 grass 4 x 20's, 5 x 30s to 36lb. x2 Sturgeon 46lb and 49lb. x9 mirror 5 x 20's, 4 x 30's. x2 Cat 28lb and 19lb Albino. Rich - 22 fish x1 grass 32lb 5oz. x2 koi 30lb and 14lb. x19 common & mirror - 4 x 30's to 38lb 12oz. Lee - 31 fish. x2 Sturgeon 21lb and 27lb. x9 mirror 6 x 20's and 3x30's to 34lb. x10 common 3 x doubs, 6 x 20's, 1x 30lb. x2 koi 18lb and 21lb. x8 grass 7 x 20's and 1 x 30lb. Rob - 6 fish - cat 27lb, grass 28lb. x4 mirrors - 3 x 20's and 33lb. Lance 13 fish. x13 mirrors & commons, 6 x doubles, 6 x 20's, 1 x 33lb

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: All !!!

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 our services to a friend? yes

General comments: Good fishing with 153 fish caught - including 4 x 40lb +. Sturgeon to 49lb, 25 x 30lb+ commons and mirrors to 38lb, lots of grass carp - including 7 x 30's to 36lb, lots of koi to 31lb and a few cats to a 41lb Albino... Shame no 40lb Carp came out - but some good fish to be had. Good facilities and nice location and swims. One thing though - take large mats as the swims aren't fish friendly !

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Richard Piotrowski

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 06-05-2006 to 12-05-2006

No. of persons fishing: 7

Brief details of your catches: 76 fish caught over a 6 day period. Sturgeon to 48.... 8 Cat fish to 33..... 8 Mirror to 39.... 12 Common to 35.... 10 Koi to 25+

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Various methods and yes this is the corect total of fish caught - I had 16 fish myself.

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes

Were you happy with them? Very good

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Good trip, all the lads fished very well considering weather & fish spawning at times. Lots of personal bests caught by all.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Wim Doeleman

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 29-04-2006 to 06-05-2006

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: Total 28 fish, stugeon x 4.... 48 lbs,46,42. Carp, biggiest 32lbs, a lot high 20's,the rest bteween 10 and 20 lbs.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Search with the boat for hard spots,short stif rig, soaked bollies, drop a handfull particles and pellets around your bait.

Were the facilities what you expected? yes, even 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 hot week, the carp were spawning - we saw a lot of big carp during the spawning. So the most fish where in the margins on the other side of the lake. I think we did well in spite off the spawning. You can imagine what's possible as the spawning is over. But never the less you have to work hard for it. With friendly and helpfull people around the lake - to them thank you for a great week.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Nick Koritarov

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 29-04-2006 to 06-05-2006

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: 15 fish total. Commons - 47 & 42lb. Mirrors - 36, 36, 4 x 30, 26, 27, 28. Koi - 26. Sturgeon - 48, 47 & 20lb

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Activ 8 & Trigga Ice. I used 80kg of Trout Pellet & 10kg of Hemp.

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: This venue has been very much improved from last year. The fish were spawning so we only got 3 good days fishing - shame.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Gary Fricker

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 22-04-2006 to 29-04-2006

No. of persons fishing: 3

Brief details of your catches: There was a lot of spawning going on & this severely affected our catches. We had around 20 fish, biggest 32lb

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: 

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes

Were you happy with them? Yes - they've been upgraded since last year.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes - this is our 6th trip to Margot

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: We've been to Margot many times before so we knew what to expect. The refurbished facilities are a great asset. We just caught the lake at a bad time re spawning.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Luke

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 15-04-2006 to 22-04-2006

No. of persons fishing: 3

Brief details of your catches: 2x46 pound stuegeon, 46.5 pound sturgeon,22 pound catfish, 36 pound grass carp, 32 pound grass carp, 33 pound koi carp. lost majority of fish until we used larger hooks.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: We all took mainline boilies which did not work and towards the end of the holiday we purchased quest baits in site and for the last 3 days of the holiday we caught 7 fish between us. simple rigs work best pva bags did not really work however pva string worked very well.can used boats on site however we tried this and it scared a lot of the fish and put them of feeding. the fish were beginning to spawn and this is why the fishing action was quite slow. Get on the quest baits trust me.

Were the facilities what you expected? yes

Were you happy with them? very happy with the facilities available

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? definately

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: hopefully back next year great time but should have bought quest baits from the start.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Luke, dennis and ben

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 15-04-2006 to 22-04-2006

No. of persons fishing: 3

Brief details of your catches: dennis;2x46 pound sturgeon, ben;45 pound sturgeon. Luke; 33 pound koi carp(biggest koi in lake), 32 pound grass carp, 36 pound grass carp and a 22 pound catfish

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: We all took mainline boilies which did not work, half way through the holiday we decided to buy quest baits from site and we all instantliy satarted to catch fish for the remainder 3 days. Simple rigs worked best and many fish were lost when using barbless hoooks until we changed to micro barbed hooks.

Were the facilities what you expected? yes

Were you happy with them? very yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? definately back next year

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: long drive from calais took 6-7 hours in total but in the end it was worth it and even though we did not catch as many fish as expected the lake was beutiful and we had a great weeks fishing

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer:  Andy Lear

Venue:  Margot

Date of holiday: 25-03-2006 to 01-04-2006

No. of persons fishing: 6

Brief details of your catches: In total for the week we had 64 fish including 2x50s 8x40s 16x30s 20x20s and 15 doubles including koi and catfish.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: See below No problems with poisson chats. Baits were left for 24hrs and still came back perfect.

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 our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: Firstly thank you for expertly organising our holiday - even though there was a few hiccups and a change of venue it all turned out great. We’ve all just returned from the best weeks fishing in our lives, were all still buzzing with the tales of the Margot monsters and have instantly booked for next year for 2 weeks ! We arrived at a very wet Margot about lunchtime to be greeted by Monsieur Bigot and his family who showed us the layout of the lake and swims (in a broken French/English sort of way) and also the newly refurbished lodge which was absolute heaven and had everything you need including full kitchen /diner 2 showers and drying room for your wet clothes. They then left us to draw for swims. A few of the swims were restricted with access due to the extensive groundwork which had been carried out, but were accessible by boat if you were brave enough. We all picked a card for choice of swims and then made our way to our chosen swims. The access around the lake is good and you can drive to the majority of swims. I and Tim opted for swim I which I think is called Winter Point which will take 2 anglers easy with a major command on the lake. The only disadvantage is it hasn’t been gravelled like the lodge bank and does become a bit of a mud pit in the rain. But that’s only a small price to pay. It had been raining constantly for hours and setting up wasn’t much fun especially with quite a gusty south-westerly as well. Rods out and ready for action and it wasn’t long before Mark was into a fish who was fishing in front the lodge. It turned out to be a 5lb catfish but it was a first ever pb so that was good. Just as it was getting dark one of my buzzers burst into life and as I struck this huge tail came out the water. What the hell, after a dogged fight we netted a 44.12 sturgeon. My first ever and biggest ever fish, over the moon and it was only the first day. But things got better a few hours later I heard a few other buzzer ripping off and cameras flashing. I think by daybreak we had landed 6 fish between us and 4 of those were over 30lb ! My action dried up for a couple of days but the fish were still being caught around the lake, mainly by Mark who was bait boating method balls with pellet about 120yrd into deep water. I would recommend taking a bait boat with echo sounder as there’s plenty of features that hold the fish that probably won’t be found with a marker at distance. Though it isn't all distance fishing as a few were caught in the margins as there’s plenty of water for the carp and for netting without having to wade in. But waders are useful especially for returning fish. As the week progressed the action got faster and we were all catching day and night in torrential rain and wind but we didn’t care by Wednesday I had caught 3 forties and a 38lb catfish while the other had tallied about 30 fish between them including at least 10 thirties and 2 forties. I think it was Wednesday afternoon when Tims rod ripped off and hooked into the fish of a lifetime , as soon as I lifted the net I knew it was the big common which weighed in at 58lb ….. wow wot a sight !!! By Friday we had all beaten our personal bests for carp and new species at least 4 times in my case including two 38lb Albino catfish and also a few brightly coloured Koi made an appearance and also the big common decided to make a second appearance this time to mark at 58lb 8 oz, but no grass carp. All I was after to finish it off was a pb common and grassy. Last night bizness and finally it stopped raining… well for a couple of hours anyway. The water level had risen at least 6inches during our week. Darkness fell and all was set, not long after one of my bobbins dropped back, missed damn, hour later middle rod does the same, strikes feels the fish gone. This was really strange as I had hooked and landed 12 fish without 1 loss. Another hour later it was off again this time I had it and after an aching battle I netted the grassy I was after 32lb and another PB! I eventually managed to catch a bit of sleep to be quickly woken by another run and another 40lb carp. Bivvy lights kept flashing through the night and headlamps roamed the lake flashing cameras. In total for the week we had 64 fish including 2 x 50’s , 8 x 40’s , 16 x 30’s , 20 x 20’s , and 15 doubles including koi and catfish. Really looking forward to battling with the Margot monsters next year! Thanks! Andy Lear