Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Stevens family

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 20-08-2005 to 03-09-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: We met Michel, the owner, on arrival and was then introduced to Eric, the baliff, who gave us some information on where to fish in our swim and where the features were. The fishing was slow at first, on saying that my wife Beverley put her rods in and after 40 mins landed her first (and new personal best ) mirror carp of 34lb 8oz. After that it was a lot slower as boiles did not seem to be the bait the fish were taking. We were fishing in pegs 1 & 2 which, when fishing to the bridge, did produce runs but found more runs past the bridge on the farside of the lake which was castable with a single hookbait. Luckily for us we met a fantastic family from Belgium and Kurt allowed us to use his boat to great effect to fish the farside of the lake. Kurt who in the week that he was there landed 9 fish to 40+lbs including a Grass and a lovely 40lb+ common and lost an incredible 15 fish (due to the lead clip system by Fox, leave well alone absolute rubbish) changed to Korda and never looked back. The runs did come but the fish seemed to like the tunnel under the bridge at this point, and a few were lost but I managed a 29lb mirror and Beverley had a great Grass Carp (trying to tail walk out of net) which went to 23lb, unfortunately good friends had to part company and the second week started with (I don't belive it!) Beverley only goes and lands not only her BIGGEST fish (44lb Mirror) but a new ladies lake record. So how could I beat that I really did not know, so a change of tactics was needed and as the weather now was reaching 35 degrees (Beverley by this time had stopped fishing and was taking full advantage of the lovely pool facilities) thought that this was it, no chance,then it happened, not the 1 but 2 40lb+ fish within an hour of each other (1st 43lb dead 2nd 40lb 8oz)not the fish that beat Bev but any fishermans dream two forties in an hour I was gobsmacked.The fish then came steady but nothing of that size graced my net again (not that I was bothered)but still caught a few more twenties.Ribiere is a place of dreams and the owners are absolute gems, and I would like to thank them for their hospitality all the time we were their you felt that you were a part of the place which was very nice we can't wait to get back there next year, Thank You.Mac Stevens.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: 

Were the facilities what you expected? 1st Class

Were you happy with them? 100%

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Many

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: This has got to be the best fishing holiday we've had in France, not that there were endless runs or even the big fish (they were great though), but the place and the hosts were great. Many thanks Michel and family for a great time.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Dave Gifford

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 13-08-2005 to 18-08-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: 33 lb mirror and 24 mirror

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Basic bolt rigs, hair rigged boilies

Were the facilities what you expected? better

Were you happy with them? absolutely

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? absolutlety

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes - definately!

General comments: Our only pre warning for english anglers , would be , ensure you pre book a swim otherwise you could stand a chance of being given a featureless swim all week. Our two fish were caught on the last day of our trip , other than that the fishing was poor. The other pegs were excellent and fish that were caught there durung our trip confirmed this.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Mr R Hanson

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 23-07-2005 to 30-07-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: 9 carp, best being 38lb 5oz and 1 pike.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Tiger nuts (artificial), fish in margins.

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: Travel time was way out, 7 hours in France.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Marc Bacon

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 16-07-2005 to 23-07-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: One french angler had been there for 17 days and had had over 100 fish! I had 20 fish biggest 29.15 oz. All bar 2 were above 20lbs. I lost around 8 carp in snags one of them a very good fish. Biggest common to come out in the week had a 39 or 40lb common. I saw another around 38lb and the biggest mirror was 47lb.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: I had a bait boat and fished to under an overhanging tree on the far margin in peg 5.I would recommend only boilies and hemp. I had most of my carp on fruit and pineaple.

Were the facilities what you expected? well above what I expected

Were you happy with them? yes, top quality

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? yes, definitely

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes, definitely

General comments: A fabulous place to go. Will go back again. Would like the owner to rent out baitboats! Very hard bottom and no row boats allowed but you can wade out around 40m to cast to the far bank.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Mr & Mrs Minskip

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 09-07-2005 to 16-07-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: Nothing for 3 days then 18lb 10oz mirror, 30lb 4oz mirror, 41lb 3oz mirror, 25lb 13oz common, 15lb common, 19lb 2oz mirror.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Bait boat essential from most pegs & sweet pop-up baits.

Were the facilities what you expected? Better

Were you happy with them? Yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Definitely

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Definitely

General comments: An excellent venue, helpful staff and bailiff, very relaxing for non-anglers i.e families.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Mr Britton

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 09-07-2005 to 15-07-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: Mark Britton - 10 fish in total: 25lb mirror, 17lb 10oz mirror, 18lb mirror - meaty boilies; 48lb 8oz mirror , 15lb 5oz mirror - sweetcorn; 36lb mirror, 11lb 8oz common, 26lb mirror, 12lb 8oz common, 15lb 8oz catfish - strawberry boilies. Terry Smith: 22lb common - strawberry boilie.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Legered snowman rigs cast 30yds with no free offerings as fish appeared to shy away from the baited areas.

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: Bailiff and owners were fantastic, a truely nice place, I am planning to return next year.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: David Mctaggart

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 02-07-2005 to 15-07-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: 21 mirrors: 1x40, 1x30, 11x20's, 8x10 to 20lb. Lost 7 fish.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Most fish caught on Tutti Frutti bottom baits, 1 on plastic sweetcorn, 5 on Pepparami.

Were the facilities what you expected? Yes

Were you happy with them? Very, 2nd visit.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Yes

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: We had a great 2 weeks. Weather was cloudy with thunderstorms first week which was great,I caught 18 fish. Second week temperatures soared and I struggled to catch 3 fish as the swim I was in was very shallow.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: The Naylors

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 11-06-2005 to 18-06-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: 3 fish all week. 1 mirror 42lb, 1 common 26lb and 1 cat 5lb. Lake full to the limits with other anglers, no opportunity to move pegs as all others occupied. Never had a bite for 4 days. If it had not been for the kind of activities of other anglers i.e moving and giving me some of their bait i would have blanked all week.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: None whatsoever

Were the facilities what you expected? Worse

Were you happy with them? No

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? Very disappointed with accomodation, definitely not suitable for more than 2 people, pool excellent. Monsieur & Madame very friendly. Resturant facilities very good, location attractive. All in all a disappointing holiday on this occasion.

Would you recommend our services to a friend? Yes

General comments: This was by far the worst fishing holiday we have had, accomodation not suitable for 3 adults and tiny compared to that at the other venues we have visited. Monsieur & Mdme really nice people. PS route around Paris was dreadful, took 2 hours to go north to south of Paris.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Steve Hill

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 04-06-2005 to 11-06-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: Our recent visit to La Ribiere produced 1 x 40lb and 1 x 41lb mirror carp. After a three day blank and the only angler on the lake not using a bait boat, moving swims produced the two monsters within a couple of hours of each other and before I had even set my bivvy up!!

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: All the big fish were caught on a single monster tiger nut, hair-rigged length ways with a small pva bag of freebies - at 40 yard range on a steep shelf.

Were the facilities what you expected? better!

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: Excellent venue for both anglers and non-anglers. Helpful staff with top quality carp in pristine condition.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Brian Skoyles and Graham Drewery

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 28-05-2005 to 04-06-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: The two of us had 28 runs between us, landing 21 of them. This includes three forties. Best fish 45lbs-4oz. Plus 4 x 30's, 5 x 20's. There was a near 60lb fish landed whilst we were there, a truly stunning fish.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: It varied. We fished the far margins, bait boating baits across, but the bigger fish came from closer in. The most consistent areas were about 20 metres out, with a scattering of boilies around each hook-bait. Baits used were mainly Trigga (frozen and ready-mades) and the Angling Lines boilie. Back-up was a pellet mix and Hinders French Mix.

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: Excellent holiday venue, with some cracking fish to go for. The general organisation of the trip, directions, and welcome were all spot on. Definitely a venue I would like to return to in the not too distant future. SEE THE "PRESS CENTRE" (button at the top of this page) FOR THE DOUBLE PAGE ARTICLE WHICH APPEARED IN ANGLING TIMES COVERING BRIAN'S SESSION. Ed.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Bill Green

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 07-05-2005 to 14-05-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: NIL

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: A Bait Boat was essential if were fishing from the near side of the lake as the fish were on the far side. I had hired my equipment which did not include a boat so I did not stand much of a chance.

Were the facilities what you expected? yes

Were you happy with them? yes

Would you recommend the venue to a friend? yes if they have a bait boat

Would you recommend our services to a friend? yes

General comments: The owner and Eric the bailiff were very helpful and it is a great site.

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Eric Guedez

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 23-04-2005 to 28-04-2005

No. of persons fishing: 1

Brief details of your catches: 1x 50, 3x 40's and 7x 30's.23/04: 46lb 2oz; 38lb 2oz; 37lb 4oz; 35lb 2oz; 11lb.24/04: 38lb 2oz; 33lb; 26lb 4oz.25/04: 16lb 3oz; 26lb 4oz; 11lb; 7lb; 18lb 8oz; 15lb 8oz; 19lb 2oz; 28lb 6oz; 26/04: 22lb 4oz; 21lb; 39lb 6oz; 57lb 2oz (New Lake Record; 13lb 2oz.27/04: 28lb 6oz; 36lb 6oz; 21lb.28/04: 44lb 5oz; 22lb; 22lb 8oz; 24lb; 16lb 8oz; 43lb 2oz.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: In line rigs with Nutrabaits Trigga boilies

Were the facilities what you expected?

Were you happy with them?

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Would you recommend our services to a friend?

General comments: I arrived early on the Saturday morning... I had a quick coffee and collected the week’s news from Eric and Michel. I set up on peg 6 and began my week’s stint early that afternoon. First run came at 3pm : a magnificent fully-scaled mirror of 17.4kg (beating my previous PB of 16.4kg). A great start! 3:30pm and a second fish at 17kg. 4pm a third run, a brilliant fight with the fish hugging the bottom, verdict 21kg. In only two hour’s fishing I beat my PB three times. 6:35pm and a “smaller” mirror of 16kg! The activity slowed right down after this until 6pm the next day, when I took a 15kg and then three quarters of an hour later another 17.4kg mirror. The day of the 25/04 was animated by higher number of runs but the fish were notably smaller from 3-13kg.. Yes, I'm afraid one gets used to the big fish! Tuesday was without doubt the most intense day of the week with seven runs in total. 12:30 and 18kg mirror, 7:30 two bleeps followed by a slow steady take, it was impossible to get the fish up, I only realised what I had landed once it was in the net. I sacked it up and called Eric without weighing the fish. Eric arrived and lifted the sack and said to me “Between 25-30kgs". It went 26kg exactly. Needless to say the photo session was akin to the Cannes Film Festival. The next day I had 4 runs to 16.4kg. On the 28/04 already my final day’s fishing. In the middle of the night at 1:15am, when all the other nights had been quiet I had a run. A long steady fight saw me once again land a fish over the 20kg mark at 20.25kg. A further four runs saw me land fish to a very respectable 19.4kg. In total over six days I had 36 runs and ten fish between 16 and 26kg. Fantastic fishing!!

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Mr K Hellyer

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 23-04-2005 to 30-04-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: 2x 44lb, 39lb, 37lb, 35lb, 3x 33lb, 3x 31lb, 8 x 20's (21-29lb 6oz). 5x doubles.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: Single hook baits (small PVA bags).

Were the facilities what you expected? Been before

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: Great venue. (Directions not very good!)

Holiday Feedback Form

Name of customer: Paul Howard & Ian Rimmer

Venue:  Ribiere

Date of holiday: 18-03-2005 to 26-03-2005

No. of persons fishing: 2

Brief details of your catches: Paul caught 14 mirrors in total: 2x 44lb, 37lb, 3x 28lb, 26lb, 25lb, 23lb, 22.5lb, 20lb, 3x doubles. Ian caught: 40lb mirror, 3x 20’s, 3x doubles.

What did you find were the best tactics/baits: 

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: Many thanks for the trip and I am sure we will be re-booking for next year.