Callum Longland's great start on his first visit to Cherry Lake

In these very strange and worrying times it is nice to be able to talk about some fishing......well at least to start with!

Callum Longland along with his partner Lauren Turner have been on their first trip to Cherry Lakes this weekend. They have been staying in Heron Lodge on Cherry Lake.

Callum did not have to wait long for some action ,because at 17.45 he had his first run when this Ghost Common picked up his wafter fished over a small area of crushed boilies and pellet. This lovely fish came out last year to Leon Sprague at 32-11. This time it recorded a few ounces more at 33-02. Rather spookily I featured this lovely Carp in my last update saying that it was caught at a similar time last year....and this is what you could be missing. I am clearly a bit more prophetic than I realise!

The Ghostie was Callum's UK personal best and his first 30lb+ Carp. He is also our 168th member of the Cherry Lake 30+ club.

Callum followed Jarrod Darby into Heron Lodge. Jarrod had Cherry Lake to himself last week during a period of difficult conditions. The cold wind which existed for most of the week not being helpful. Although he looked a very competent angler he did not get any action until Friday morning when he landed this very distinctive and colourful Common of 18-08. This Carp had some distinctive orange colouring in places suggesting he had a little Koi in his ancestral past!

It seems to me that Carp did not feed for most week, but when the sun came out yesterday morning the Carp became more active. Unfortunately for Jarrod his time was up at 10.00! Hence Callum catching very quickly after arrival the 33-02 Ghost Common which was followed in the early hours by this 29lb Common below. Interestingly this Common is another Carp which likes to put in an appearance at this time of the year, as it was caught last April by Joe Baker at 30-08.

This Carp, which looked in great condition, is a little down in weight and 'is looking forwards' to us re-starting our normal feeding programme once the water temperature reaches around 10C!

We are obviously watching anxiously the progress of Coronavirus and the Government's efforts to manage a very difficult period. I am very concerned about the consequences for the economy and despite the Government's efforts a lot of businesses will not survive. We will do our best to do so.

We remain committed to stay open and stay safe while we can. We are not covered by the recent mandatory closure of bars, pubs etc as clearly we do not encourage socialisation or public gatherings. We do believe the Lodges are a great 'isolated' relatively low risk place to spend some time and even enjoy yourself. We have increased our cleaning regime, as well as encouraging any guests to clean surfaces on arrival for their own peace of mind. We are necessarily keeping our distance for everyone's benefit. As such we are continuing to operate under our normal terms and conditions.

We very much hope that all our past guests and friends, as well as anyone else who reads this blog, are keeping well and are not too badly affected by the sudden change in circumstances. Take care.