Two new lake records for Cherry Springs and Cherry Pool

We had a sneaky week away and somehow missed the recent downpours of last moth. We had seen the news about the floods in central England, as well as seeing the River Churn change very quickly from a gentle flowing stream into a raging torrent, I was however gob-smacked by seeing how fast the water levels in the lakes had increased in our absence. I would guesstimate that they came up by 9 inches and are now essentially at our normal winter levels…….and it’s only the start of October.

Normally a rapid increase in water levels results in fishing becoming difficult for a period. This is because the ‘injection’ of cold water quickly drops the water temperature and the Carp need a period of time to adjust. A shame because the fishing across the complex was getting better. Having said this, as you can see below they are still catchable.

I will start with Steve Hanson who with his son James returned to Kingfisher Lodge, just before the ‘monsoon’. As well as landing 22 Carp between them, Steve landed three cracking Crucian Carp, including the new official lake record Crucian of 4lb 3oz, pictured in the lead photo above.
Both Cherry Springs and Cherry Pool hold Crucian Carp to over 4lb. These are real specimens which these days are rarely found in lakes. We are proud to be able to offer our guests the chance to catch these beautiful fish.

James and Steve also shared three Carp of 29lb+ within their catch, with Dad Steve smashing his PB with this 29-12 Common pictured immediately above.

Long term regular guests Malcolm and Sylvia Williams braved the floods to travel down from Yorkshire to fish from Egret Lodge on Cherry Pool. Although water levels were up significantly on this lake, the change in conditions did not put the Carp off. If anything it got the big ones going. I think this has something to do with the fact that Cherry Pool is much deeper than our other lakes, being up to 17 feet deep. As a result the relative volume of water entering the lake was lower than for the other lakes, and had a more marginal impact on the temperature?

Malcolm caught three Carp over 25lb, the stunning fully scaled Mirror of 25lb pictured below is a real target fish is particularly notable. He also landed a Mirror of 27lb, and set a new like record when he landed the 33-04 Mirror pictured above.

Regular followers of this Latest News page, may have noted the quality and the size of the Carp being caught this year from Cherry Pool. From our perspective it is great to see that all our efforts to improve Cherry Pool as a Carp fishery are really paying off. Cherry Pool is no longer the ‘poor cousin’ in our suite of exclusive lakes.I have every confidence that Cherry Pool will also prove to be a good winter water.

We will continue to selectively stock quality Carp and make every effort to remove the Small Roach and any Bream to ensure the total biomass of Cherry Pool is managed as well as we can.

Together with their Dad Andy Perkins, brothers Luke and Ben Perkins visit Cherry Lakes once a year. Whilst Dad was frustrated, because he lost two of the three chances he had during his stay, including a big one literally at the landing net cord, the boys had a much better result.

The brothers certainly led the way last weekend with other anglers in the Lodges copying their successful tactics. They largely fished tight to the margins in water no more than 3 feet deep. I am not sure if the shallower water was warmer or not, but their approach was certainly productive?

Luke and Ben landed 8 Carp between them. Younger brother Luke certainly had the ‘support of the Carp gods’ and the ‘Lion’s share of the luck’ as he landed the three largest Carp, all thirties. Two of these, pictured above and below, are classic looking heavily scaled Cotswold Mirrors. Very nice indeed.

Well done to everyone featured here, and in particular to our two new lake record holders. Fantastic results!