Two 40's and 3 x 30's from Cherry Lake in a weekend!

Last weekend 02-05 February will go down in the 'history of Cherry Lakes' as one of the best ever winter weekends. It is a real shame that I was not here to witness it. Although the constant stream of photos being sent to me kept me closely informed.

Evidently the weather conditions were perfect for winter Carp fishing. Water temperatures began rising fast on Friday thanks to a strong warm south westerly wind (13C air temperature) coupled with falling air pressure, meant the Carp had to respond. For a change the Carp have been reading the 'same books' as us, and agreed they should 'party'!

Fishery friend Dave Cole had booked out the three Cherry Lake Lodges for his party of 4 anglers and his mates got really lucky! Dave visited at a similar time last year and in difficult conditions landed a couple of 30's. This year it was his fishing partner in Grebe Lodge who was the star of the show whilst Dave struggled (one lost Carp and a Pike!).

Amazingly all three of Dave's guests, all of whom were on their first visit to Cherry Lake, caught a 30lb+ Carp at their first time of asking. In fact two of them caught a forty!

This weekend was the first time Darren Hodgson had fished at Cherry Lake. He had three cracking Carp from Grebe Lodge, the biggest a 40-02 Mirror, a 39lb Mirror and the 32lb Common pictured in the lead photo above. He fished long towards the far margin, feeding a spread of a few kilos of Cherry Lakes boilies and fishing wafters as his hook baits.

Darren's biggest Carp was this 40-02 Mirror pictured above, the only one of his three Carp to be caught during the hours of darkness. This is anew 40lb+ carp for us having last been caught in October by Oliver Wells who caught her last October at 37-08. Needless to say we were very pleased when we realised this.

Ross Clarke and Mike Hughes fished together in Heron Lodge, and in practise shared the top half of the lake as no one was fishing from the Cottage swim. During the weekend they shared 4 Carp, with both of them landing a thirty. They also spread their loose fed boilies over a wide area fishing pop-ups and wafters. A successful approach during a time when the Carp were searching for food.

Mike Hughes was the first to land his thirty overnight on Saturday. Close investigation of my 2022 and 2023 30+ catalogues confirms that this Carp is a new thirty for us. As you can see in the photo below this Carp has been feeding heavily and is just like me with an over-size belly!

Ross Clarke got his turn overnight on Sunday. He had debated going home on Sunday night and was very pleased he did not! His 40-04 Mirror was the biggest (just!) of the weekend. This Carp was also last caught by Oliver Wells last October at a similar weight (40-02).

The good news if you fancy some winter fishing is that we have plenty of vacancies during February and March. Who knows you might also get lucky!