Details of your catches:

Josh - 46 fish - biggest 45lb 8oz grass carp 2 × 40's, 13 x 30's, 17 x 20's, 6 x doubles, 8 x 'pasties' Dan - 54 fish - biggest 46lb 5oz common 2 x 40's, 8 x 30's, 26 x 20's, 6 x doubles, 12 × 'pasties'

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Fishing to far margin Used a variety of baits, all worked, including Cell, Scopex squid and pepperami Mainly fished bottom baits or wafters, didn't try pop ups as no need but I expect they would have worked also. Ended up using bigger baits, double 15mm to try and deter the smaller pasty sized carp

Were the facilities what you expected?

Facilities are fine, shower was nice and hot

Were you happy with them?

Overall yes. It is a long way from J7 especially if you need the loo, our ridgemonkey toilet/bucket was a life saver! No toilet roll in the loo so take your own. You only get two plug sockets per swim so take an extension lead, you will also need euro plug adapters.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes definitely if you want plenty of action. Mark was a great bailiff, gave us the run down of the lake on arrival then left us to it without being interfering, but there if you need him. Food was lovely.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes used Angling Lines many times, always been excellent.

General Comments:

Never experienced such hectic fishing before! First half of the week was best, struggled to keep more than 1 rod in the water, with double and triple takes. Take two nets! We intended to fish day & night but was just too hectic so we didn't fish nights. Slowed down second half of the week, smaller pasty carp became a nuisance. The biggest annoyance however was the musk rats! Which became very active towards the end of our week. Diving down and biting your hooks off! We tried everything to avoid them to no avail and they made the last few days almost un-fishable biting off our rigs within minutes of being in the water, ruined the last couple of days fishing. If you get a couple of bleeps which doesn't develop into a run, then you've been done by the rats! We discussed with mark, he is aware but cannot do anything until the winter, this really will need to be addressed.

Details of your catches:

We had 90 fish in total 1x50lbs, 4x40lbs, 14x30lbs. Biggest mirror 50lb 11oz, common 31lb 9oz and grass carp 45lb 7oz Lots of 20s and some Tench also.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Snowman rigs caught the most fish with yellow tops doing best. Wafters also caught. Using really bright baits did cause issues though with the muskrats so we tried to use more washed out pop ups.

Were the facilities what you expected?

The facilities were great, clean and the food was very nice.

Were you happy with them?

Yes very, the only negative was it doesn't state you need adaptors for the plugs but the shower is great and plenty of fridge/freezer space.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes

General Comments:

Mark and Anita are friendly and helpful and we had a great holiday. We did have some issues with muskrats biting our rigs off which made night fishing a little pointless but the action in the day time was thick and fast.

Details of your catches:

78 fish in total between 2 anglers - Grass carp to 50lb, Mirrors to 43+, Commons to 35+

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Open water and tree lines both produced plenty of fish. Match the hatch wafters and snowman rigs worked best with plenty of lake pellet.

Were the facilities what you expected?

The facilities were better than last time as the shower room and other facilities have been revamped

Were you happy with them?

Yes, more than happy.

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes

General Comments:

Mark & Anita are great hosts and following Mark's advice, we had a great week.

Details of your catches:

26 carp in total (of which 3 were grass carp) plus a few small carp and tench. A number of dropped fish. Best grass carp was just over 40 pounds and the best common carp was 35 pounds.

Your best tactics/bait/rigs:

Silkworm leader with blow back rig (also tried flurocarbon d rig but that did not work particularly well)

Were the facilities what you expected?

As expected given they have been recently renovated

Were you happy with them?

Very happy, good shower and toilet facilities and plenty of fridge and freezer space despite the Jonchery complex being fully booked for the week

Would you recommend the venue to a friend?

Yes - this is a very well run fishery by Mark and Anita. Mark's deep knowledge of both carp fishing and the Jonchery complex is clear an he is very willing to help anglers catch.

Would you recommend the services to a friend?

Yes

General Comments:

In truth, quite a slow week's fishing by Jonchery 7s high standards (albeit I only fished after dark twice and even then only until about 1 am). Despite a thunderstorm on the Sunday afternoon the fishing on J7 never really got going until Mark flushed some water through the lake mid week and that livened things up; of the 26 fish landed 10 were landed on Thursday and 4 on the Friday. It is worth mentioning that the venue video does not really do the lake justice; the lake looks much more natural given the trees have grown significantly since it was filmed. It was a great place to fish for a week.