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| FishTails |
On Sutton Pond (former lake in West Virginia)
[May 5, 2003] - By Benjamin Huffman
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| WVBF President John Burdette (l) congratulates Ryan Harmon (center)
and Jim Merical on their first-ever Buddy Trail victory at Sutton Lake. |
Due to apparently unavoidable circumstances, the Buddy Trial's Sutton Lake tournament had one major obstacle LOW
WATER! The lake was down 15 feet at the start of the fishing season. With the chance of rain the prior week the
Buddy Trail officials were hopeful the lake would regain summer pool. However, the rain did not come leaving the
lake at a water level 6-8 feet below summer pool. This made fishing a bit difficult, not to mention navigation,
for people that are not longtime veterans of driving Sutton.
The Huffman/Casteel Team was fishing the upper side of the Holly River. After not seeing any results and most of
the land showing, they decided to return back down stream to the main part of the lake. Their boat ran aground
after cutting a turn close to the middle to avoid a fellow fisherman working the outside bank of that turn. It
was quite an experience. The motor flew into the air and the boat stop abruptly in the clay. They believe the motor
hit a rock then the lake bottom went from 7 foot to 2 foot very fast. Luckily, they were not going very fast so
little damage was done. Basically, only the lower unit was scratched. Watch the message board for stories about
other fisherman's experiences with the low water.
The tournament drew 95 boats on Sunday, April 27th. Merical/Harmon team took the almost $2000 of winnings home
with seven pounds thirteen ounces. They were also last year's winners for the 2002 Buddy Trail.
The top ten positions were paid thanks to the large turnout.
Fishing conditions were prime with the nice day and high temperatures, but the low water was the main obstacle
to overcome. Six boats accomplished that by bringing in a limit. Twenty more fish were caught at Sutton than at
Burnsville.
However, the fish were considerably smaller. The total weight at Sutton was 168lbs. 15oz. making the average fish
weight only 15 oz. vs. Burnsville's average weight of 1lb. 4oz.
Lunker was 3lbs. even, caught by team White/White. Who incidentally caught lunker in Burnsville and finished first
there also. They finished third in Sutton. The payout was $300, $150 per teammate.
Congratulations to everyone who caught fish and the ones who placed. This year has been a good year to fish so
far. Let's keep it going. See you in Summersville. (Lake - not Pond.)
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| Ronnie and Nelson White collect the $300 big fish prize from John Burdette
following the weigh-in ceremony for the 2003 WVBF Buddy Trail event at Sutton Lake. |
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| Anglers shown utilizing the new WVBF staging tank. Tournament contestants
that weigh in fish now have the capacity to insert an oxygen-fed "soap stone" directly into their weigh-in
bags. Better care of the tournament fish ensures better mortality rates for the bass and better fishing in the
future. |
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