Tough going for me!

I am sorry I have been very slack in not publishing a couple of updates over the last few weeks. The second and third heat waves of the year have certainly sapped my strength and my normal drive to ‘publish’! I have also been busy with family stuff and celebrating Judith and my 40th wedding anniversary.

I have not enjoyed being a fishery owner over this period, principally because of the constant worry about water quality, water levels and our Carp.We have also had a bad run of breakdowns and repairs (see later)

Evidently we have had the driest Spring in over 100 years followed by the hottest ever June. This has resulted in the River Churn essentially drying up , as you can see below, and because it is the Churn which feeds our water table, the lakes are already now very low.

The absence of any river flow also means that the normal ‘flushing’ of our lakes as water moves through the water table has to all sense and purposes stopped. As a result we have had to step up our monitoring and testing of the water quality as we as the dissolved Oxygen levels.

With regard to water quality, there is not a lot we can do. The biggest variable is the amount of feed being introduced into the lakes. Currently we have not placed any restrictions on the use of bait by anglers, but we have reduced the amount of feed being applied by ourselves. Hopefully we might get some meaningful rain soon and we can avoid any bait quantity restrictions.

We have aerators on all of our lakes. So when it gets very hot and/or the Dissolved Oxygen levels are getting low, we put them on. Last week I could see we were burning over 12KW hour after hour. Mind you at least it helps me sleep when I know we are doing almost everything we can to protect the Carp from the stress of low Oxygen levels.

Low lake levels also cause us to worry about how Carp are being handled when caught. Fortunately most of our anglers follow good handling guidelines, to slip the net/fish into the retainer before lifting safely out of the water into the cradle. We do however recognise that many of our guests would struggle to lift a 30+ weight straight up from the water which is now several feet below the decking. Fortunately all of our Lodges now have lower steps, which can be used for landing Carp and bait boats, when water levels drop.

As you can see from the lead photo above, we have covered these lower platforms on Cherry Lake with Astro-turf. Not only does this make the steps look more attractive, it also enables our guests to kneel down in comfort when slipping the retainer under the Carp in the landing net. We expect all guests to use the steps to land the fish on all lakes and especially on Cherry Lake.

It is very easy to move the Carp once it is in the net, in the direction of either step. Once the Carp is in your landing net, take your time, make sure everything is ready including the Carp Cradle being dampened down, and then use the retainer whilst being on the lower step, with the Carp still in the broken down net, to safely lift the fish from the water.

I am doing a rain dance every day, but so far I seem to have lost ‘my touch’. There is no sign of a significant shift in weather patterns, and so we have to expect the drought to continue until into the autumn. Lake levels are approaching their lowest in our 15 years here at Cherry Lakes. Whilst we can cope with a further drop up to 150mm, if it drops below this, then the shallower areas of the main lake may become too shallow to fish. If so we may need to close these areas of the lake. We will keep our fingers crossed this is not necessary but will update you if we do.

As indicated above, we have been having a bad run around the fishery. We have had several trees come down requiring emergency tree surgery. The ATV has broken down several times requiring expensive repairs. Our Klargester ( sewage system) has required both a new pump and gear box/engine (don’t ask!). A new boiler in Pochard plus a new fishery desk top computer, and I could go on!

I don’t expect too much sympathy, but all I can tell you is that all these issues are wearing and definitely detract from the enjoyment of having your own fishery And raise our stress levels!

All of the lakes have been unsurprisingly moody in the heat of recent weeks. Sam Allison did however show us it it should be done last week, when he landed 10 Carp from the Cherry Lake Cottage swim. His final tally was 10 Carp including 2 x 30's, and 5 x 20's

Most of the fish came to fairly simple tactics, Cherry Rod Wafters with little PVA sticks of boilie crumb...and a scattering of Cherry Red boiles, delivered via a throwing stick. Well done Sam.

I hope to raise my game and publish more frequently going forwards, hopefully talk about great catches and try to stop whinging.