Spring blows in!

Well it has been a wild week with three storms coming through with some big winds. The good news is that the winds have been warm Westerlies/South-Westerlies. These winds have really generated some strong under-tows which is just what we needed to get the water ‘turned-over’ and warmed up. The Carp have responded accordingly.

So far this week a total of 16 Carp have been caught from Cherry Lake this week, which included 5 x 30’s including two over 35lb.

Regular Stuart Crafer and his wife Dawn stayed in Grebe Lodge. His biggest Carp was a Common of 35-06 which set a new PB for Stuart. He went even better on Thursday morning (at least in my eyes), when he caught the elusive Mirror known as ‘Houdini’ at 32-10.
’Houdini’ was caught last August by Katie Blake at 34lb. The first photo of this fish that I could find since it was stocked in November 2016 at 21lb. Given that it has been caught again within a year, hopefully it will not be as elusive again and continue to ‘pay its way’.

Stuart’s Common last appeared in my 30’s+ catalogue when caught by Richard Haddingham last May at 33lb.

Stuart’s successful tactics were to fish along the margins of Grebe’s water with small pop-ups. The strong winds overhead giving the Carp the confidence to feed close to the banks.

Ben and Lee Teagle stayed with their family in the Cottage. With the strong winds they must have spent most of the time holding onto their bivvies! Up until this morning they had managed three Carp including a 35-08 Common. Lee also saved my bacon by helping me out with a plumbing problem for which I am very grateful.

Ben’s Common was last caught in February 2022 when caught by Oliver Wells at 32-02. Similar to Stuart’s Common above, both fish show steady increase it weight since last caught.

The third angler to catch a thirty this week from Cherry Lake was another regular, Steve Keen, who stayed in Osprey Lodge. Steve landed a Common of 33lb and this ‘anaemic looking’ Mirror of 31-02. Unlike the 3 other Carp pictured above, all of which are new entries in our 2023 30’s+ catalogue (as well as in the 2022 catalogue), I did not recognise Steve’s Mirror. Unfortunately Steve forgot to photo the other side of this fish. So whilst I think it is a new 30+ for Cherry Lake, I cannot include it in the catalogue, so hopefully it will be put in an appearance later this year. The running total of different 30lb+ Carp from Cherry Lake, as detailed in my catalogue, is now 23.

Well done to Steve, Ben and Stuart.