October 2014............Off and Running...........Sort-Of !

Well that is the first month of the new Piking season already behind us, where did that go? It was all a bit of a blur for most at SENPAC as far as I can tell and to be honest it didn't really feel like the season had really started. The Regions first club outing was a surreal experience in many ways, particularly the weather. In last month's blog we were expressing the hope for some decent weather for what is a fairly exposed water. What we got was almost tropical in terms of temperatures as was highlighted by our Newsletter Editor on the cover of the November Newsletter. Most of those present felt distinctly over-dressed by the end of the day despite a short monsoon-like interlude about mid-afternoon. That said the conditions were not particularly conducive to catching Pike or anything that swims for that matter. But a few fish did show up with three of our sunburned stalwarts managing to net a modest fish each.

A Slightly Pensive Jim Moody

Particularly pleasing was a first SENPAC Pike for one of the Region's newest members, Jim Moody, on what was his first outing with us. Dave Gardner and Bruce Turnbull were the others with a wet net as far as the Pike were concerned however Pat Hamilton left it late in the day for his excitement when he had the rest of us convinced that he had located one of the bigger fish reputed to be present in this water, only to be surprised, perhaps disappointed, to see an eel of some 4lbs eventually come to the surface. Difficult to be disappointed with a fish of that calibre was the final view of all present I think.

A Slippery Customer........Nice Eel As Well Dave!

And speaking of inadvertent eels! Dave Gardner had a session on one of our local commercials in the hope of intercepting one of the specimen perch that featured in our September blog and thought he had struck lucky when his king prawn bait suddenly came back to life and headed off to the far side of the pond putting a worrying bend into his feeder rod. 3lb-10oz this one and whilst this is a good sized eel Dave was genuinely disappointed that it wasn't the perch that he was seeking, particularly after the head-shaking battle that he had to endure in the murky waters of the fishery had him completely convinced that he was connected to a monster stripey. Hey-ho, next time perhaps. Back to the Pike fishing and other notable fish caught during October were a repeat capture from a  south-west Scotland loch for Dave Greally of a very recognisable fish of 21lb which is fast becoming a part of the Greally family ( see our April 2014 blog) and an immaculate fish of 16lb for Bruce Turnbull from one of the larger Highland lochs whilst on a week long visit. Larger being the operative word as his visit coincided with ten inches of rain which fell in the first three days of his stay making swim selection interesting!

Looking forward to November and a busy month here at SENPAC, with our annual four day jolly-boys outing to the Lake District, our monthly club outing, this time to a hydro-electric loch north of the border which brings the additional variable of water levels to add to the challenge and a visit to the Lake of Menteith for a couple of our number. No doubt there will be a lot to talk about at out November meeting which will take place on Tuesday 25th November 2014 at the Northumbrian Piper.