Damn heat and drought!

I was surprised to realise that it has been approx six weeks since my last update. The last six weeks has been both very memorable as well as stressful.

The big highlight was the wedding of my son Richard to his beautiful bride Kavita. We had, Indian style, three days of celebration which was great fun as well as exhausting. As you can see from the photo below, Judith and I went 'all-in' and wore Indian outfits for the wedding.

Richard and Kavita were very lucky with the weather, as their wedding fell between the second and third heatwaves. The fish also enjoyed some time off as we shut the fishery for a week. As a result we managed to feed them 4 times over the week, and judging by the fizzing and activity, they were pleased we did.

Next year, despite the cost in terms of lost revenue we will be closing for two weeks to give both the fish and us, a much needed mid-season break.

The idea of having a break is the direct result of how tough and stressful the last couple of months have been. The relentless heat and absence of rain has left me constantly worrying about water quality, water levels and most of all oxygen levels. And we are still only in mid-July!

The intense sunshine has led to an explosion of algae with the water on all of the lakes much greener than normal. When temperatures and day length decline in the autumn I have no doubt I will add 'algae crashes' to my worry list.

I cannot remember who first said to me that I must quickly learn not to get too upset when fish die, because this is absolutely part of fishery management. 'live-stock is dead-stock! This year has been no different and we have have had several bouts of mortality across the site. Cherry Lake suffered some notable casualties as a result of spawning, and I am disappointed to report the passing of 'The Peach', a distinctive mid-30 Ghost Mirror. My feeling is that the young bucks were too much for several of the older females. My best guess is that 'The Peach' was at least 30 years old. Such a shame.

As I have said before, it is important to keep having a good stock of younger fish consistently coming through, as unfortunately Carp like us, don't live forever.

Cherry Pool has proved to be the most difficult lake to manage, with big swings in the colour of the water (several times it has looked very dark and almost stagnant) as well as struggling to get oxygen levels up to safe feeding levels. I think this has something to do with the depth, the small surface area, the mad hot temperatures, and the high stocking levels. Don't ask me how and why, but it is!

With the fishing being poor, and with no real confidence in a significant change in the weather, we recently took the decision to close Cherry Pool until at the earliest late August. We fully appreciate how disappointing it is to have a holiday cancelled, and especially with little notice, but we do not want to guests to have a predictably disappointing trip and/or add to the stress the fish are already under. I really appreciate the supportive and understanding of all the guests directly affected by this.

I very much hope we do not have to cancel any more holiday breaks before this summer is out. Fingers are very much crossed.

I used to be good at keeping up to speed with what is being caught and was religious about my 30+ catalogue. I am not sure if it is my age (I am 65 this time), the demands of Grand-children, or just a little tired having run Cherry Lakes for the last 15 years, but my records are not what they should be.

Since my last update, I think we have had at least 10 different Carp over 30lb, being shared by 7 different anglers. Most of these have been landed over the last 10 days or so, as the last heat wave has been replaced with typical good English summer temperatures.

Regular Tom-Nixon Taylor landed a couple of 30's including this 35lb beauty in the lead photo above. He also landed "Pac-Man's' mate at 33lb, pictured immediately above.

The biggest was this 43lb Carp, which smashed his PB, landed by Dave Hutchinson on his first visit to Cherry Lake., pictured below. The 9th different Carp over 40lb+ landed this year. This Carp weighed 39-08 when it was weighed in January having been caught in our netting activity. It looks like it has been firmly on the munch and shows that at least some of our Carp have benefited from the high temperatures!

David White is another of our long term regulars, who recently stayed in the Cottage. He landed two Carp during his stay, both 30's, including his new PB, a Common of 34-01. As he was struggling to pose with it, I was only too happy to step in.

I will try not to leave it so long before my next update!