David Knock's 36-06 Mirror is a real cracker!

The fishing across all lakes over the last week has been on the disappointing side for most of our guests. The benign conditions caused by the high pressure, no wind and over the weekend cold nights with generally bright still days, have resulted in the Carp proving to be very hard to get!

The star of last weekend was David Knock who fished in the Cottage swim. He smashed his personal best at around 04.00 on Saturday morning when he landed this stunning 36-06 Mirror pictured above. A small 12mm pop-up over pellets did the trick for David. I hope you are as impressed as I am by this Carp pictured in the lead photo above..

This Carp last featured in my 30's catalogues in May 2021, as a new 30+, when it was caught by James Smalley at 30-06. As far as I know this Carp has not been caught since and has clearly done well putting on over 6lbs during this time. It looks like it has plenty of scope to keep growing and filling out it's impressive frame.

David's Carp is the 66th entry into the 2022 30+ catalogue. Of these 66 Carp over 30lb, 6 were over 40lb+. We have now surpassed 2021's results (64 different Carp over 30lb including 5 x 40's). With hopefully six more potentially productive weeks ahead of us, we might reach the 75 different 30's benchmark by the end of the year.

There are at least 6 distinctive 30lb+ Carp that are proving to be elusive this year. I am actively looking out for including 'The Pretty One' (pictured below when caught by Brian Round in May 21) ) and last years new 40lber (pictured above when caught by Wayne Poole at 40-04) , both of whom should hopefully be 40+ if caught between now and the end of the year.

My best guess is that we may have c 10 different 40's in Cherry Lake and 70 other 30lb+ Carp. These Carp are not mugs, as recent guests can vouch for, but they are worth fishing for!

Steve Parris brought his family trip Pochard Lodge this weekend and had a great time. Steve caught 4 Carp over 20lb's including this 27-08 Mirror below

Craig Parris spent a lot of time catching many of the smaller home grown Carp, whilst waiting for the bigger ones to bite. Over the weekend I think he caught about 50, all of which are now in our stock pond (thanks Craig). Whilst float fishing maggots within a rod length of the fishing platform, he also landed an 11lb Common and this chunky 2lb+ Crucian Carp below.

As mentioned previously, we are very happy for guests on any of the lakes to bring an extra float rod with them and help us manage the stocks of small Carp in Cherry Mere and the Roach in Cherry Springs and Cherry Lake. A float rod and a tub of maggots will help you relax whilst waiting for the big one's to bite as well as being lots of fun.