Tough going......but improving?

I hate to say that I told you so.......but as forecast the Carp fishing has been quite brutal across Cherry Lakes this week as the continuing high pressure conditions has resulted in bright warm and windless days and limited Carp activity.............. And from what I understand from several other lake owners we are not alone.

Up until this morning (Thursday) the only action on Cherry Lake from 4 anglers had been one missed run and one lost fish................and the smaller lakes have only just been a little better! Very disappointing and tough on our anglers and their guests. As I walked around to say 'hello' on Wednesday evening, it was noticeable that the wind was at last starting to get up, and conditions felt quite different. I remember remarking to the anglers that I thought their chances were considerably improved.

I was both relieved to hear first thing Thursday morning that Shaun Keown in Osprey Lodge had landed a 27-04 Mirror at 05.00, as well as being disappointed for David Barter in Heron Lodge, who had a screaming run in the night which just stopped as he got to the rods.

Things improved as the sun got up.

First David Barter fishing from Heron Lodge, around 08.00, had a take on a small cell pop-up fished over pellets about 40 yards out. By the time I managed to walk fast around the lake (running now seems beyond me!), he had it close to the net. Looking down on the heavily scaled Carp. I thought it would be a couple of pounds below the 30lb benchmark. However when David put it in the Carp Cradle it became apparent that it could well be heavier. It was.! It went 30-08 on the scales.

David caught his second Carp just before leaving on Friday morning. This time it was this 28lb Fully Scaled Mirror below. A nice way to finish!

David, who with his partner Tracey, is a regular visitor to Cherry Lakes, is already a member of the Cherry Lakes 30+ club. Well done David.

This good looking Mirror is another new 30+ for us, the ninth new thirty of the year. The running total for different 30lb+ Carp in 2020 is 42, one behind last year's total.

Shaun Keown and his partner Sarah, have been on their first visit to Cherry Lakes this week, staying in Osprey Lodge. As mentioned above, Shaun was the first angler off the mark this week, when he landed a 27-04 Mirror at 05.00 on Thursday about an hour before dawn. Judith and I were just about to leave Cherry Lakes when at 08.45, we got a call from Sarah to say that Shaun had just landed a big Common. Needless top say 'shopping had to wait'. The big Common went 37-08 on the fishery scales, and set a new UK PB for a very happy Shaun. Well done Shaun.

Shaun now possess a Cherry Lake 35+ Hoody and is the 184th member of the 30+ club. Both Carp came to our Bio-Spice Fishmeal Wafters fished over crushed boilies and pellets. The first Mirror came from the far margin, whilst the bigger Common came from the middle at approx 50 yards. Shaun's Common was the same fish as caught recently by Darren Batchelor at 38lb. As I have said before, it is strange how Carp can disappear for months on end and then are caught several times in relatively short periods of time. Perhaps they get a sudden urge for boilies! I hope this particular Common now gets the urge for pellets and disappears until early 2021!

Given we are very busy over the next 6-10 weeks before we get the first hard frosts, and the fishing slows down as it always does in the first part of the winter, we are hoping we might get to one or two new benchmarks.

The first target might be the easiest to achieve.....notably can we reach the 200th member of the Cherry Lake 30+ club target before the end of 2020?

The second target, of reaching the 50 different 30lb+ Carp properly catalogued in 2020 from Cherry Lake might prove to be harder. Time will tell!