Cherry Lake Ghost Carp record increased to 43-08

The fishing has continued to be worthwhile across all of our lakes, with some good fish being caught. Not all of these have been caught by our guests. As you can see above (thanks to Matti Parsonson for a great photo), some are being caught by 'Poachers'.

I have been lucky enough to be around to witness and weigh the last two forties that have been caught from Cherry Lake. I will start with Rob Murray who was on a return trip to Cherry Lake, but was staying in Cherry Lake Cottage for the first time last week. His first Carp was caught in the early hours of Tuesday morning and at 33lb (from memory) was a new PB for Rob. Unfortunately the photos were not the best. Fortunately his second Carp came around mid-day. Rob called to say he had another big Carp in his net and was I around to see it.

It was obvious to me that this was a big Ghostie, and was probably the same Carp that was caught by Gary Millard in May at 41lb+. Having carefully transferred the Carp to the cradle in the retainer, my suspicion was confirmed and she looked massive! On the scales she went 43-08, some two pound higher than her pre-spawning weight in May. I guess this means she has been on the munch. A small snowman presentation in the gulley 30 yards off the opposite bank did the trick for Rob. Needless to say Rob was over the moon and very excited!

Jess Bevans and his family followed Rob into Cherry Lake Cottage this weekend. The fishing was not easy, he had two chances, and converted one of these into this 41lb Mirror pictured below. Given Jess was staying in the Cottage to celebrate his 40th birthday, I think the Carp Gods delivered the 'perfect present'!

I was delighted to be able to confirm that this was a new forty for us, our 9th different Carp over this magical mark in 2022. I have been waiting to see several different Carp, including 'The Pretty One', all of which I expect to see at weights of 40lb+. This particular Carp was not one of them!

This chunky mirror, which looked so full and has clearly been 'stuffing her face' for a while, was last out in August at 37-12 when caught by Aaron Hull (also from the Cottage swim). A weight gain of 3lb+ in a couple of months is evidence of much munching!

I mentioned in a previous update that a lot of the Carp are already showing good weight gains. The long hot summer and the recent hot spell has clearly been to their liking. The two Cherry Lake Carp featured here have clearly shown good weight gains, and if this is replicated, as I would expect, by the other big Carp, then we might be in for some very nice surprises. I will probably have to increase my estimate of 12+ forties in the lake! Not bad for an open access English water.

Steve and Donna Keen are good friends as well as in the top handful of most regular visitors to Cherry Lakes. This trip Steve decided to chance his arm on Cherry Springs and was pleased with his efforts. During his 4 day stay he landed 13 Carp, the majority of which were caught during the second half of the night. His catch included several twenties plus this 32-08 Mirror Carp below. Steve's second different thirty from the lake. Well done and well deserved.

Mike Parsonson treated his 15 year old son Matti to a weekend trip to Cherry Springs this weekend. The fishing was not easy and they shared a 6 Carp catch.

On arrival I said to them that several anglers had recently reported that a Kingfisher had been sitting on their rods and they should keep their cameras handy. Whilst they did not get the chance get a picture of the Kingfisher, as you can see from the lead photo above, Matti did manage to get a great shot of the Heron flying across Cherry Springs..

As well as proving himself to be good with the camera, Matti was also good on the rods, catching a PB mirror of 18lb and this mint 17lb Ghost Common pictured below. Well done Matti, a great way to celebrate your 15th birthday.