Slow going, but good fish are being caught.
We are still waiting for the water to warm the Carp up!
Thursday 2 May 2024
A nicely balanced 'round Robin' this time with big Carp being displayed from all of our lakes. I will resist the temptation to bang on about the weather again and how cold the water is. Fishing over the last few weeks has been much harder and less productive than you would normally expect at this time of the year.
Despite the Carp being at least a month behind their normal pre-spawning condition, there are some good fish to be caught.
I will start with Cherry Mere. As always this lake has continued to fish either OK or well. It so rarely completely turns off. The biggest since my last update is this 34lb, old warrior of a Mirror Carp, caught by Roy Clare, pictured below.
Similar to Roy, Richard Orme is also another regular, and he had a good trip last weekend catching (from memory) 9 Carp including this 31lb Mirror featured in the lead photo above.
David Miller visited Egret Lodge on Cherry Pool and managed this real beauty above. A Mirror Carp of 28lb. The biggest of the year so far. Not surprisingly he is already looking forward to his booked return later in the year
He was followed into Egret Lodge this week by Ian Roberts. Ian who is clearly an accomplished angler, has had to work for his fish so far, and was very pleased with this 26lb Common. He caught this on the slope from the far bank in just under 10 feet of water on a large bait. The same depth where he could see a lot of fish simply holding steady.
Jamie Phillips also returned to Cherry Lakes this week for his third visit, staying this time in Kingfisher Lodge on Cherry Springs. Jamie has caught steadily this week. His biggest so far is this 27lb Mirror. Similar to both Cherry Pool and Cherry Mere, the Carp have not been giving themselves up and he has had to work at it.
And yes, as you can see from Jamie's picture, we did actually see the Sun briefly this week!
Cherry Lake has also continued to be slowish for the time of the year. The Carp are catchable but they are far from easy.
The biggest fish of the weekend was caught by Neil Taplin, who was fishing with his brother Ian in Heron Lodge. Ian is also a very good angler who is a regular at Cherry Lakes. Between them they landed 3 Carp and unluckily lost a similar number. Neil did however have the biggest Carp of last weekend when he laned this 34lb Carp at 02.00 in the morning!
This week we have had two different anglers land 30's from different Lodges on Cherry Lake. Dave Wright returned to Heron Lodge and has so far had a couple of Commons, including one of 32lb which also picked up his bait in the early hours.
Perry Walton, chose to fish in Grebe Lodge this week, and has caught the best looking Carp of the week. This lovely 'Cotswold Carp' looking beauty is a real stunner and a fish I think most Carp anglers would love to catch.
Well done to all the anglers featured above and thanks for the photos.