2024 Annual Report. Cherry Springs

Cherry Springs is the biggest of our exclusive lakes. It is a lovely lake to fish throughout the year. We have had a good year on this lake with some excellent catches as well as individual specimens. In fact, new Carp and Crucian Carp records were set in 2024.

Whilst not easy it is normally productive and always offers anglers a chance. Indeed it is a particularly good winter water. In the past we have had anglers catch whilst some of the lake is covered in ice and snow.

I make no apologies for not leading with a fish photo, as Caroline Baily's sunset shot, taken from Kingfisher Lodge, is one of my favourite photos of the year. I hope you like it too.

The Carp stock, which numbers around 300 in the 1.25 acres of water, has had a good couple of years. The number of 20Lb+ and 30lb+ Carp has continued to grow. We now have around 10 Carp over 30lb of which three are 35lb+. The lake record now stands at 39lb. It is the same fish as the one held by Katie McDonald above.

We used to say that one in ten Carp caught would be over 20lb+, now the ratio is much closer to one in 5. My best guess is that we have around 75 Carp over 20lb. Plenty to go at when you book Kingfisher Lodge and enjoy the exclusive fishing for the duration of your stay.

Given the popularity of Cherry Springs and the demand for up to three anglers to fish together, we extended the fishing area around the Lodge last winter. If we had our time again, we would have built a two bedroom Lodge on this lake (similar to Pochard Lodge), but unfortunately we could not get permission to do so at the time. Adding a bivvy area allows a third angler to stay and sleep overnight without the need to share a bed with one of his mates.

As you can see from the photo below, there is plenty of room to pitch your bivvy as well as spread out. The oval shape of the enlarged fishing area means that 3 rod pods can be well spread out with plenty of gaps to fight the Carp in.

As mentioned in the other reports, we invested heavily overhauling our WiFi service. Previously we could not relie on our BT Affinity Service. The download speeds were awful and were becoming an embarrassment for us. Having our own fibre optic cable running about a mile to the exchange has transformed our WiFi service. Not only is it more reliable, it is also fast! Each Lodge should now receive a download speed of around 50Mbs (Mega-bytes per second). This is fast enough for all sensible demands on it such as streaming you favourite TV programmes or sending off that report you were finishing at home!

It is not just the Carp that are growing. The same is true for the Tench and Crucian Carp population. Both these species can be caught on Carp tactics (especially if small baits are being used). They are however most fun when deliberately targeted whilst using lighter float tackle.

We are always very happy for our angling guests, across all of our lakes, to bring some lighter tackle to catch the other species, whilst waiting for their next run.

Steve Hanson's new Crucian Carp lake record of 4lb 2oz below shows that targeting these other species can really be worthwhile.

The Roach in Cherry Springs are a bit of a pain. They add significantly to the bio-mass of the lake and eat some of our feed which is intended for the Carp. The water quality would definitely be improved with a reduction in their numbers. So we will be netting Cherry Springs again this winter to remove as many as we can. We have largely got the Roach stock down to sizes under 6 inches (any bigger then they get trapped in the net). We are always grateful for guests to retain these Roach in order that we can remove them. Please don't forget your float rod and tackle if you are visiting Cherry Lakes in 2025

I tend to concentrate on the bigger specimens in these reviews. However, every now and again a photo of one of the smaller Carp really catches my eye. This awesome, stunning heavily scaled Mirror caught by Kevin Lane below is one such example. This is a home grown Carp. It looks absolutely perfect, as mint as a Carp can get. I would love to catch this one.