Buttonhole Lake, 28 June 2009 - Report

Thanks to Mr T for putting a few words together in my absence:

Only ten members attended the match at buttonhole even though the whole lake was booked ( something for a future AGM perhaps), in liaison with the owner, pegs were well spaced and unproductive ones left out? The day started overcast and misty but come the time of the draw it was already starting to warm up and expectations were high, but as the day progressed and the temperature soared, the fish were somewhat elusive for many. With the sun beating down there were muffled expletives as third degree burns were administered to unprotected hands as poles were shipped in and out and cry’s of ‘ I’ll never play the piano again’ were heard around the lake!!

Drawing fancied peg 20 Trev first fished to the island on the waggler but unable to locate the carp both in front and in the margins, decide to target the silver fish. Fishing shallow on casters he worked hard in the sweltering heat with a steady flow of silvers coming to the net. Three quarters of the way through the match his number four section slide down the bank and disappeared into the lake, after some frantic searching, it was declared lost and without a replacement with him he carried on with the rod and wag until the final whistle. At the weigh-in he had a respectable and hard earned 33lb of silvers plus a nice tench and a specimen bream of 5lb 17oz? ( JB now on scales!!) finishing third with a total weight of 41lb 8oz.

At right angles to Trev and fishing the same bay was Ray T on peg 23, after speaking to Mr Button ( owner) before the match, he decided to take his advise and fish long out into the bay at 13 metres and cup in plenty of catmeat and pellet from the off. Fishing catmeat to a 14’s in eight foot of water he was soon into a couple of carp early on but this soon dried up and the margins weren’t producing either, but regular cupping in at distance slowly brought the carp in and by early afternoon they were steadily coming to the net. A short session later in the margins brought him some bonus fish on pellet including another specimen bream of 6lb 1oz. Not wanting to be out done by Trev on the pole front, ten minutes before the end of the match he ‘popped’ the top five sections off his pole on a carp which towed it around the bay like a barge. With it heading for the aerator and a good shredding, Mr T scampered after it with the remaining sections of his pole and manage to reclaim it and with the kind assistance from Dennis, also landed the fish (fish was released). At the scales Ray T secured second place with 61lb 4oz.

Unbeknown to the rest of us at the top of the lake, the real action was happening at the other end. Drawn peg 12 by proxy as Jon Bowland was running late ( what!! JB late..never!!) he plumped for a surface bait tactic for stunning effect. Fishing floating dog biscuit it was slow to start but come the afternoon, they were ‘having it’ and put together a nice couple of nets of fish. At the weigh in a nonchalant JB quipped ‘ only got four in this net, as he slipped four slabs into the weigh net which sent the scales pointer slamming round to 44lbs ( er, me thinks these are all doubles gentlemen), bringing out the second net for the ‘coup de grace’ (that’s froggy language for` you are all stuffed’) takes his total to a match winning 94lb 4oz. Nice one mate.

Taking the winners pot, he missed out on the ‘winner takes all kitty’ as he was late arriving so this went to runner up Ray T, on being asked how he felt about this unexpected windfall Mr T replied, JB’s doing a good job and should continue to arrive let in the future.

You could say the match was a game of two half’s as the weights came from both ends of the lake around the area of the aerators, considering the heat it was unsurprising but the club members did well as the weights were well above the previous days match also fished by ten anglers.