Heavy spawning this week.

We often get the first dose of summer weather towards the end of May, and this year we got it in spades!

From my perspective, the recent record breaking spell of high temperatures came out of the blue. If anything the Spring had been rather cool with nightly frosts lasting until late April/early May.

The record breaking spell built over the course of a week, lasting some 10 days. The good thing about the length of this hot spell, is that very unusually, I believe that just about all of the Carp had the time to ready themselves and finish spawning.

Hopefully meaning this should be it for this year. One and done! The Carp can now concentrate on resting and recovery after their mad exertions.

I never cease to be 'alarmed', as a fishery owner, by how aggressive the fish are during spawning. I hate seeing the bruises, cuts and grazes on the Carp post spawning. I hate even more finding dead Carp.

We inevitably get a few Carp across our lakes which die after becoming obviously spawn bound. We also find the odd Carp which die during this period that are not obviously spawn bound or badly damaged. I think for these fish, often males, they essentially over do it and 'die on the job'. Maybe a good way to go!

May was a busy month for Judith and I, a lot of which was spent away from the fishery. Fortunately Simon's regular posting on Facebook are reaching many of you. Certainly they are much more up to date than my Latest News pieces. The private Facebook page 'Beyond the Gates' page is worth signing up to if you are a past guest or have booked a future visit.

My son Richard (finally!) got legally married during May. We are closing Cherry Lakes for 15-22 June, as we are hosting the 'Wedding' on 20 June. We also had a week away with our two Grandchildren, Mum and Dad, and the other Grandparents . We had a lovely time, and it certainly helped our energy levels to 'tag-team' between the two sets of Grandparents. All of the above being my excuse for being slow to update you and for missing out on many captures

Since my last update we have had three different 40's caught from Cherry Lake, most in the first couple of weeks before the arrival of his pressure and the heat. Sydney Lockwood had a stunning41-04 Mirror, whilst good friend Jon Drake had the Ghost Common at 41-04.

Newcomers Tomas and Dominic Znakovas, visited Cherry Lakes for the first time, with youngster Dominic smashing his PB with this 40-12 Common pictured immediately above. As Dominic was struggling to hold this Common, Dad Tomas did the honours. The photos still however did not do the fish justice (my fault as I took them!), as I saw the Carp in the flesh and I thought it was a real beast and bigger that the 40-12 which I weighed it at.

Regular Nigel Stirrett had a great trip to Cherry Springs landing some 20+ Carp during his stay including this lump of a Mirror, which weighed in at 39-08 above. He has some cracking other fish including this hard fighting Common of 26-08

There have been some cracking fish caught from Cherry Pool. My favourite is this Ghost Common of 22lb caught by Sam Drake.

Let's hope for a lot of summer rain, otherwise I will be spending the next few moths worrying about water levels and water quality. Maybe I am getting too old for this! Take care until my next update.