Storm Arwen rocks on Cherry Mere

Several times typically each winter, some fortunate angler(s) has an amazing session on Cherry Mere. We had one of these last weekend, when the gales of Storm Arwen was followed by cold winds and snow. First time visitors Paul Crone and David Knock sent me this lovely description of their visit. So rather than read my normal verbiage I thought you would prefer to read theirs!

Pochard Lodge on Cherry Mere

''What a wonderful venue for any passionate carp angler to spend a few days. We arrived on a cold Friday afternoon knowing that storm weather warnings had been issued and the chance of snow was high, needless to say our confidence  was not great.

To our surprise we had two bites within a couple of hours landing one and losing one. Then just after dark the buzzers started going crazy resulting in three quick fish, two in the slings (23.5lb + 21lb commons) and another stunning mirror of 24lb 8oz in the net (see the lead photo above for the 24-08 Mirror). We couldn’t believe our luck on a new venue.

A fairly quiet night followed but the following day fish continued to bite with more stunning mirrors and commons slipping the net from various spots along the opposite margins. The best action seemed to consistently come from 4ft of water. Our simple winter approach of small pop ups tipped with a couple of maggots over boilie crumb mixed with a handful of maggots worked a treat on this occasion''.

''As Storm Arwen arrived with strong winds, snow flurries and sub zero temperatures the action slowed but despite the difficult conditions the fish continued to feed periodically.

Pochard Lodge is a fantastic, what a set up. A spacious easily accessible platform with full AstroTurf to fish from with plenty of space for storage of all your gear on the upper deck. The accommodation itself is very nice, overlooking the lake with a glass of wine awaiting the next run is an amazing way to appreciate Cherry Lakes.

In the three days we landed 18 fish including 8 over 20lb and the others all in the mid to upper double range. Every fish has clearly been cared for and in incredible condition, the upper doubles will soon grown in to spectacular 20lbers for us all to enjoy catching on our next visits. We can’t wait to make a return visit in the new year.

Many thanks to the owners and congratulations on such an impressive establishment. A special thanks to Dave the Bailiff who gave us some great pointers that all produced some crackers.''

Thanks to Paul and David for the feedback, write up and photos. One of my easiest updates to produce for quite a while!

We do not have spaces left this year in Pochard Lodge, and we have a fair amount of work to do both the Lodge and the lake. We are however taking bookings for January and February vacancies, when I suspect several other exceptional winter 'hits' will be on the cards! First come first served!