Buttonhole Fishery
Button Hole Fishery is a highly productive, secluded one-acre match and pleasure venue in Norfolk, celebrated for its stunning catch weights.
Key facts about Buttonhole Fishery
Discover prolific sport at this Norfolk fishery
Button Hole Fishery is a beautifully tranquil, and well managed pleasure and match venue situated in Marshland St James, Norfolk, right on the Cambridgeshire border. Originally excavated approximately 25 years ago by a Mr. Button, the fishery has entered an exciting new chapter under its dedicated new custodians, Peter and Claire Shaw, who officially took over management on January 9th 2026.
This pristine one-acre water table-fed venue offers high-caliber sport in an incredibly peaceful setting. Anglers love the venue for its extraordinary consistency and phenomenal catch rates, with multiple “ton-up” bags frequently recorded from all areas of the lake during competitive and pleasure sessions alike.
The venue is meticulously managed with advice from the Angling Trust, placing the utmost priority on water quality, fish welfare, and pristine habitat protection. Surrounded by mature banks, it offers an idyllic escape for anglers of all experience levels.
On-site facilities include clean toilets, a spacious and secure main car park situated just 30 to 100 meters from the swims, and flat, highly accessible pathways. A charming honesty fridge located in the front part of the main barn provides chilled drinks, snacks, and chocolate bars, with hot breakfast rolls easily arranged for visiting groups when booked in advance. Please note the venue is open to anglers from Wednesday through to Sunday, dawn till dusk.
Buttonhole Lake
Overview and layout
Button Hole Fishery is a beautifully mature, one-acre water table-fed venue. Designed with a substantial, feature-rich central island, the lake profile is designed so that every peg is productive and anglers should expect plenty of action when visiting the venue.
Depth profiles and structural features
The depth of the lake starts from the bank at about 4 feet down to a maximum of 7 feet through the central channels, before gradually shelving back up toward the island margins. The inner marginal shelves are an incredible feature of the venue, offering patrolling specimens a secure, deep-water corridor right against the bank – anglers do not need to fish far out at this venue to be successful.
Premium fish stocks and weight records
The lake is exceptionally well-stocked, supporting 11 distinct species of fish. The bulk of the venue’s staggering match weights is comprised of a massive population of pristine F1s, introduced six years ago, which now average a hard-fighting 4lb to 5lb.
Complementing the F1 stock are mirror and common carp running up to 18lb (with rumors of elusive specimens pushing past 20lb), quality tench up to 3lb, beautiful golden tench, roach, perch, rudd, skimmers, bream, ornamental koi, and large numbers of silverfish.
The venue records demonstrate just how prolific the sport can be. At the time of writing this, the current match weight stands at an incredible 215lb 5oz (recently taken by Andrew Carter), closely backed by a 194lb 12oz net from Chris Smith and a 159lb 13oz net by Martyn Freeman.
Although all pegs are known to perform well, peg performance tracking is available on the Buttonhole Fishery website, where peg 7 leads the lake with an incredible average match weight of 128lb 8oz, followed by highly productive stations at peg 10 averaging 90lb 9oz, peg 15 averaging 87lb 15oz, peg 20 averaging 85lb 9oz, and peg 17 yielding a strong 85lb 4oz average.
Technical angling strategies and tactics
The number one tactic at Buttonhole is pole fishing. During the early and middle hours of a session, shipping a long pole out toward the island contours or fishing down the 7ft central track is highly effective. Maggots, casters, pellets and corn regularly keep the F1s and carp picking up. As the session progresses into the final hours, switching tactics to target the deep inner margins with a robust top-kit setup is the ultimate way to target the larger resident carp.
For anglers preferring rod-and-reel tactics, a pellet waggler set up works well or a precision-cast method feeder loaded with dampened 2mm pellets and clipped up tight to within 6 feet of the island vegetation will provide consistent sport throughout the day.
Bait restrictions and baiting etiquette
To preserve the superb water quality strict bait limits are rigorously enforced across all sessions. Anglers are restricted to a maximum match or day limit of 4 pints of maggots or casters, 2kg of pellets (high oil trout pellets are not permitted), 3 pints of hemp, 2kg of dry ground bait and no more than 3 x 340g tins of sweetcorn.
Heavy, manual balling of ground bait is prohibited; instead, ground bait should be fed accurately using a pole cup or mixed lightly to create a cloud effect. Prolific loose feeding of hemp can cause the F1 populations to become overly hyperactive, leading to erratic line bites, so tight, disciplined bait introduction is the key to maintaining a clean, positive biting rhythm.
Exclusive floodlit evening sport
A truly unique characteristic of Buttonhole Fishery is its trackside floodlight system, which illuminates the entire perimeter of the lake. This exceptional facility allows the venue to host its renowned Tuesday night summer league matches, running from 5pm to 9pm. Watching lines and float tips under the glow of the floodlights as large carp move into the margins creates a spectacular and surreal angling experience that is rarely found anywhere else across the UK.
Rules and conditions
On arrival: Report to the shed (or the bungalow if pleasure fishing) before you go to the lake. All nets must be dipped before fishing (failure to dip all nets will result in a ban). Proceed to your peg and lay / string out nets to dry immediately.
Before the start of a match
Nets may be put in the water no earlier than 15 minutes before the start of the match. No pre-baiting before the all-in.
Tackle rules
Barbless hooks only, Max size 10. Minimum of 12 inches between base of float and hook. Minimum of 12 inch pole lash (between tip of pole and top of float). No Jiggers or over-shotting & pole tip tapping are not permitted.
Bait limits and restrictions
Maggots / Casters: 4 pints TOTAL. Pellets: 2kg maximum (high oil trout pellets are not permitted). Hemp: 3 pints maximum Sweetcorn: 3x 340g tins. Groundbait: 2kg dry weight maximum.
Strictly: No floating baits. No meat baits (Dog / catfood, luncheon meat / (CHP), sausage / Peperami etc or meat paste). No nuts and no artificial baits.
Special bait rules
Bread is permitted as a hook bait only (not floating). Boilies are permitted as a hook bait only (not loose fed). Casters must be soaked and floaters skimmed off and disposed of (no floating casters)
Pole and feeding rules
Pole cup for bait delivery only (not for rig or feeder placement). No pole cup feeding while your line is in the water.
Peg rules
Pegs 22, 23, 24: 16 meter limit (no further than the aerators). Fish to the next peg (near side platform leg only). If the next peg is occupied: fish no further than half way.
Net and weight limits
Net limit 50lb. If your net is 50-55lb it will be reduced to 50lb. If your net is over 55lb, your net is disqualified. Separate nets required for Silvers & F1’s (including carp under 3lb). Separate net(s) for carp over 3lb. Please bring appropriate nets for the time of year. Fishery will provide extra nets if required. Expect weights of 200lbs+
During a match
No floating baits at any time. No disturbing the water unnecessarily. No Mugging whatsoever.
End of a match
Declare fish being played at final whistle by calling “Fish-on”. Fish must be landed by 10 minutes after the final whistle, otherwise they will not count.
General rules
Light gardening is allowed (reed trimming only). No raking or water disturbance. No testing of the bottom with a rake, pole or any other object. Plumbing of the depth with a plummet only.
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