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Cherry Lakes (Beyond the Gate) private members group created.

Simon Littmoden proves the Cherry Lake Carp are catchable.
Friday 24 January 2025

Judith and I have been largely absent during January. The first couple of weeks were wrapped up in the ‘arrival’ of our second Grandchild, Isaac John Laidlaw. Needless to say we were delighted when Mum Victoria delivered a baby brother to big sister Alba. Our first action of course was to place an order for Isaac’s first set of fishing rods!

The last week or so have seen us on a beach recovering from the strain of looking after Alba whilst Mum and Dad were otherwise engaged. We have no idea how we used to look after our two children when they were young, and we still had energy for other things. Even when we ‘tag-team’ now, and looking after one Grandchild we are both quickly exhausted (we have got old I guess!).

The good news is that when we are away the management of the fishery is out-sourced to fishery consultant Simon Littmoden. As well as being a cracking angler and a real gentleman, he is full of ideas and initiatives. The establishment of a private Facebook page mentioned below just being one example of us adopting a Simon initiative.

Ben with a 37-08 Fully Scaled Mirror
Ben from AJS fisheries with a real beauty of 37-08. What a fish!

I could not resist using one more shot from the stock audit netting undertaken in early January. The 37-08 Fully Scaled Mirror pictured above literally took my breath away. A complete stunner and number 1 on my list of fish I would like to catch from Cherry Lake.

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Simon with a Common of 34lb. Very nice!

We have very recently launched a private Facebook group known as Cherry Lakes (Beyond the Gate). We are inviting any angler who has been to Cherry Lakes over the last three years, or anyone who has paid a deposit to visit us in the future to join the ‘Cherry Lakes (Beyond the Gate) ‘ private members group.

This private group will receive more regular and often exclusive updates, along with more detailed insights into what is going on.

I appreciate that not all of our past and future guests are not fully comfortable with Facebook and other forms of Social Media, I for one am not. However if you are a regular or recent past guest, or are planning a visit in the near future, it will be worth you making the effort to join this private group.


You can join this group by two alternative ways

  1. By using this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/2056268314810489/?ref=share
  2. By searching on Facebook for Cherry Lakes (Beyond the Gates) Once found you can request to join.

I also appreciate that some of you like my ‘Latest News’ updates. So I will continue to produce these as regularly as I can.

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Simon with a stunning Mirror of 24lb

As you can see from the photos on this page Simon Littmoden has certainly taken advantage of a very quiet Cherry Lakes to get his rods out. He has by no means been fishing all the time, but over the last week he has managed 5 Carp from Cherry Lake including the 38lb Common in the lead photo above. This one was caught from Grebe Lodge from a spot where he had been trickling in a bit of bait.

The photo two above shows Simon with a 34lb Common caught from the Cherry Lakes Cottage swim. This Common is very distinctive and was caught by Nick Young at 30-08 last summer. Simon said it looked great and felt it had all the characteristics of a very big future Carp.

However it is not all about size! The 24lb Mirror is a real beauty and a typical Cotswold Carp. One which is ‘home-grown’.

Dave Shaw with a 29-10 Cherry Mere lump.
Dave Shaw with a January lump from Cherry Mere. A 29-10 Mirror.

Just to show it is not all about Cherry Lake, I have included a couple of January captures from Cherry Mere. All of the exclusive lakes have good winter track records, especially now as we approach February with the lengthening days.
Regular Dave Shaw visited with his wife Sue, and despite some very cold conditions caught a handful of Carp, the biggest being this well deserved lump of 29-10 pictured above.

James Poole and brother Adam also caught well during their mid-January stay, the biggest this 25lb Mirror to James.

Thank you to all those guests who have braved the winter condition. Most of whom have caught. If you fancy wetting a line in February and March, check out the website as we have plenty of vacancies.

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James Poole with a 25lb+ Cherry Mere Mirror
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