I'm afraid that I must take issue with the defence "that the owners are very good once you get to know them" I have recently started Carp fishing, and I would expect a fisherie which is not a syndicate (i.e. you can book/turn-up and pay for a peg) to be operated a little more like a business and not a private members club. As a first time visitor to a lake, (or any business) I would expect a certain level of interest which made me want to come back again. Not arrive, be bungled on to a peg opposite a group who are trying to dump half of taskers bait supply in the lake (and incidently spectactorally failing to catch), left and given no advice of any sort on what to try, whats working etc. Maybe I'm missing the point, but in other walks of life, if a business treats me like that I shall not be returning. Weekends are far too valuable to be wasted fishing at lakes where the odds are stacked against not by the fish, but by bait heavy fishers and the owners.