ANOTHER SENPAC YEAR COMES TO A CLOSE.

 The SENPAC trophy year finished on the 31st March so congratulations go to the following members. Peter Armstrong won the Golden Maggot trophy and Paul (Pogo) Patterson surprised everyone when storming home to lift the Summer league trophy. Steve Sandiford had an exceptional year winning the  Winter Pike Championship trophy together with the biggest Pike of the year at 27lb 8 ozs, The best Pike on a lure, and the best Pike on a club trip and after all that he was voted by the members as the SENPAC Pike angler of the year. A tremendous result for Steve. Finally the members awarded Andy Eland the SENPAC cup for not only catching some lovely Pike during the year but for the immense amount of work and time he puts into the SENPAC fund raising for our chosen charity Children's Cancer North. The donations and the region's fundraising events just keep rolling on and this year with what has been organised we are expecting a tremendous increase in what we raise for this worthy charity.

MARCH - THE GOOD TIMES RETURN.

 

A much better month in March with some lovely fish being caught. Dave Gardner and Steve Sandiford headed down to the midlands on the hunt for some nice Barbel and Chub and were not disappointed with the results. Dave also managed to land a Pike caught on luncheon meat pictured above.

Congratulations this month to Steve who lifted the SENPAC Winter Pike league in style. After a brisk start Steve never looked back and lifted the trophy with consummate ease .Bruce Turnbull and Jon Tweddle tied for the runners up spot.

                    SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                    AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE £33,549.00.

                             Andy Eland caught this lovely 23lb Pike.

 

And Ross Greaves capped off his season with this 25lb 8 oz fish pictured below.

So another Pike season comes to a close and once again the region's members will be looking forward to fishing for the traditional Summer species and the club's Summer league.

FEBRUARY - WEATHER IMPROVES AND THE PIKE FISHING RESUMES

 

After a barren January with little or no action on the Piking front the weather improved mid February and the hunt for some decent Pike returned. Bruce Turnbull was just one of the region's members itching to get out on the bank again. His day eventually arrived and he set off to fish one of his favourite river stretches. His luck was in and he landed this 22lb 10 oz PB pictured above. Some of the SENPAC members fished the PAC OF GB Lake of Menteith event during the month with mixed results. Ross Greaves landed a 19lb fish and boat partner Andy Eland had an 18lb 8oz. Steve Sandiford and Dave Gardner also caught smaller fish.

                RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE STANDS AT £32,600.00.

SENPAC members were invited along by the Tyne Valley/Borders region RA97 to join them at the "Farewell and thanks for all the fish" talk given by Neville Fickling late in February. On what turned out to be a very entertaining night with a superb buffet we raised another £86.00 for the charity and would like to thank all those that attended for their generosity.

JANUARY - WEATHER BRINGS PIKING BASICALLY TO A STANDSTILL.

 One of the worst months for Piking in a long time. Most of the month a total washout with damp, cold, freezing weather that stopped most of the region members from getting out on the bank. Those who did manage to put baits in the water failed miserably. Round four of the Winter Pike matches attracted a very low turnout on the day and with the venue not being local included quite a bit of motoring. Steve Sandiford trying to maintain his lead in the competition and Jon Tweddle both blanked on the day as well as getting a good soaking in the process. So after round 4 Steve is in pole position with Jon Tweddle and Bruce Turnbull tying for second place. Ross Greaves had a few days on a North West water and managed to winkle out two Pike the biggest going in at 15lbs.

            RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE NOW STANDS AT 

                                           £32,252.00

The region celebrated its 30th year in existence this last month. The first meeting of the region was held on the 25th January 1996 at the Hind Public House in Cramlington, Northumberland. The region was started by Mark Houghton who along with Mike Bell decided to put the wheels in motion and see what they could achieve. Thirty years on SENPAC is still going strong and most of its members have been in the club for over twenty years.

                                                      Mark Houghton.

ANOTHER SENPAC YEAR ENDS BUT WHAT LIES AHEAD IN 2026.

 The end of another truly successful year in the life of SENPAC and we are now looking forward to the year ahead. December started off a really quiet month for the members. Round three of our Winter Pike league was cancelled as the chosen venue had very high water levels and it was decided not to re route to another water at short notice. Turnout would have more than likely been low as it was only a matter of days before Christmas and that last minute shopping took priority. So only a couple of small Jacks up to Christmas but with the New Year rapidly approaching two of our members took the opportunity in soaking some baits up North which brought some extra Christmas presents for them. Pictured below some mid doubles caught by Andy and a lovely 18lb 2 oz for Dave.

                                      Steve And His Christmas Jack,

 

Another outstanding year also for our region;s fundraising for our chosen charity of Children's Cancer North. This year from the 1st January 2025 we have raised an amazing £11,347.00 which has taken the amount we have raised so far to £31,773.00. We have more fundraising events planned for 2026 and are firmly setting our sights on raising a mammoth £50,000.00.

We are also amazed at the success of our blog which is very popular around the world and wish to thank you all for your continued support. We hope that 2026 will supply us with more beautiful Pike and coarse fish that we can share with you all. From all of us at SENPAC we wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable 2026.

SENPAC - A RATHER "SPECIAL" MONTH TO CELEBRATE.

 It has been a fantastic last few weeks for SENPAC with some lovely Pike caught, also being honoured at the Children's Cancer North celebrates awards evening for our fundraising efforts over the last few years and for DOUBLING UP some of our donations that we had set aside for the BIG GIVE CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE which as you will see below has sent the amount we have raised to a much higher level now. The amount we have donated this Christmas to the BIG GIVE CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE will enable the charity to fund six different families to go to Center Parcs and with it being doubled by the Big Give that means that 12 families will get a much needed break away from the hospital wards. Once again Children's Cancer North and ourselves would like to thank everyone for the massive support you have given to us. Without your help none of this would have been possible.

                   SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE NOW STANDS AT

                          £30,333.00

We would like to wish our followers and supporters wherever you are in the world a 

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THE BEST FOR 2026.

SENPAC HONOURED AT CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH ANNUAL AWARDS.

 We are pleased to announce that SENPAC received the runners up award for the 2025 Ian Birtwistle fundraiser of the year award.

The event Children's Cancer North celebrates for 2025 took place at the Boiler House at Newcastle University on Friday 14th November. On the night in question SENPAC was represented by Dennis Fearon and his family, and it came as a complete surprise when the award was announced. We are all proud of what we have achieved and the amount we have raised so far which at present stands at £26,193.00. A big thank you to everyone who has supported our appeal along the way. Without your help and support we would not have raised the amount we have for this very worthy charity.