Martin Bowler catches a 38-04 Common for the Angling Times cameras!

It was good to meet Martin Bowler recently and to welcome him to Cherry Lakes. Although Martin was no doubt most interested in the Crucian Carp of Cherry Springs as we walked around the Cherry Lakes complex, as he was unable to find a date that worked for him, he booked himself into Heron Lodge on Cherry Lake.

As you can see from the lead photo above, Martin landed a real cracker, the Common I know as 'The Swirl' at 38-04. Martin is now 'saved for posterity' in my 2025 30+ catalogue, of which more below. He also caught 4 other Carp during an enjoyable stay. Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to pick Martins brains, instead he had the A team as he was 'looked after' by Simon and Dave.

Martin's trip featured as the centre pages spread last week and if you are interested you can read it through this link here.

Hopefully I will be around when Martin returns to chase the Cherry Springs Crucians!

I am getting very fed-up with this weather. I enjoy sunshine like the next man, but weeks of high pressure and East/North-easterly winds has never been good for consistent fishing. Despite the regular sunshine, the winds have kept temperatures back. Currently most of the lakes are around 17C. All of the lakes have had some of the fish spawning, and with the possible exception of Cherry Mere, I suspect all the other lakes will see further spawning activity when we get the next warm spell.

Good friend Andy Watts has returned to Cherry Lake staying in his preferred Heron Lodge. Andy has experienced both good (Carp feeding and moving) and bed spells (the lake appears dead and the Carp off the feed) during his stay. He was delighted on Saturday to land his biggest Ghost carp to date, when he landed this fantastic Ghost Mirror at 43-04 above.

Now although the fishing has been harder across the complex than you would normally expect for this time of the year, some cracking fish have been coming out. I think I could say this about all the photos here, but my particular favourite is this one above caught by Matt Hughes at 36-08. A fantastic specimen to set a new PB for Matt. Matt went on to catch a further 3 Carp including two other 30's whilst his dad Chris blanked. You can imagine how much ribbing Chris got!

I mentioned above that I would return to our 2025 30+ catalogue. Our running totals are creeping up. I am not doing the best job at getting all the photos of the 30lb+ Carp being caught. Regardless of my tardy efforts, our running total of different 30's+ now stands at 40 for 2025. Of these 6 are over 40lb+. There are plenty more to come!

Fishery friends Elaine and Stephen Mitchell visited during the first week in May. Whilst the fishing was tough for most of theuir stay, they did catch some good fish, with the last 48 hours of their stay proving to be the best. Stephen Mitchell had several 30's including a night caught 34-08 Ghost Common. Elaine Mitchell beat her PB, twice during the stay. The first being this beauty above, a 29-04 Mirror, and extended her PB further with a 33-12 Mirror.

Just to show it is not all about 30's, I thought I would show Cameron Brannaghan's photo of a 20-08 Ghost Mirror pictured below. Cameron was very enthusiastic about this particular fish. He commented on what a great shape it has as well as it's beauty, and said he next wanted to see her in his hands as a 40+. Wouldn't we all!!