February 2015 - Pictures Rather Than Pike?

What was abundantly clear from the month past was that most SENPAC members who spent time on the bankside were not disturbed by the fish and most seemed to spend their time taking photographs instead ! I guess that we are fortunate up here in the north in that much of our fishing is done in some wonderful surroundings, which provide innumerable opportunities for great images, particularly when the climatic conditions provide a little drama to the location. Our Newsletter editor was spoilt for choice this month.That said we are a region of the Pike Anglers Club, not a photographic society. It would be nice to have a little less of our time available for photography when we are behind the rods.

The general consensus amongst our members seems to be that the season so far has been one of the hardest for a number of years. With only a month to go, all concerned are hoping that there is a significant upturn in results as we head for our favourite swims which have served us well as the fish begin to gather for their annual nuptials. Over the years SENPAC members past and present have enjoyed significant success in the March rush at the end of the season, both on our regular waters as well as on events such as the PAC visits to Lake of Menteith and the like. For those of our number who will be heading north for this year's visit to "The Lake" the memory of ex-SENPAC member Lyn Baker's fantastic fish and the story of her day back in 2007 will still burn bright in the memory.

As for February, well our club outing produced a few small fish, Paul Proctor doing best with three modest fish which moves him to the head of the competition table with only one more trip to come. Some of the others took the opportunity for a rest!

Paul Proctor Walks on Water

Chris Graham, Un-Disturbed By The Fish

Best fish of the month was a 12lb'er which fell to the rods of Dave Greally which rather illustrates the nature of the month past and there was very little else to talk about at the last club meeting.
Looking forward to March, well in addition to the trip to Menteith, our club outing will see our number once again heading to south-west Scotland the outcome of which will decide our Club Trip Championship which will no doubt add a little "edge" to the event.

Our March club meeting will take place on Tuesday 31st March 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper, all very welcome. And to finish I will leave you with one of those photographs that I spoke about at the start of this. Tight lines to all.

Dodging The Ice Flows

January 2015 - and the winner is................again

Having reported in last month's blog how quiet things were on the SENPAC fishing front, it got worse in January.
People were out and about throughout the month, and although the weather did get in the way a little, the reports of fish caught were almost non-existent. I can't remember such a dismal spell. Fortunately we did have something to celebrate last month here at SENPAC, our annual presentation of awards and slideshow review of the 2013/2014 year, which took place on Saturday 31st January 2015. Highlights of the night (there were two actually) were the usual piss-take centred upon the Pike Angler of the Year trophy which this year was deservedly won by Peter Armstrong as featured on the cover of our latest Newsletter and the presentation of a special award to our RO, Mike Bell, to mark 15 years in that post. Our congratulations go to both.

Mike Bell, long serving RO for SENPAC

 It is worth noting that the trophy presented to Mike consisted of one of Mark Houghton's wonderful hand-crafted lures suitably mounted ( mhcustomlures.blogspot.co.uk). Mark was founder of SENPAC and Mike took over from him as RO in 1999.

What of our other trophy winners, well, Steve Sandiford took the "Biggest on a Lure" trophy which has become something of an annual event! Dave Greally won the "Biggest on a Club Trip" and the "Club Trip Championship" and daughter Faye was our "Junior Angler of the Year". Bruce Turnbull took the "Biggest Fish of the Year" and completely appropriately the members voted for Mike Bell for our Stuart Mordue Trophy for his contribution to the Region.

The photographer said smile.........?

Of the fishing, well, our January club trip was planned for Dumfries and Galloway and we were met with floods and frozen margins resulting in a quick u-turn back south of the border with a resulting delay to proceedings. Three modest fish were caught, two fell to the rods of Dave Greally and one to Pat Hamilton and just so that we can remind ourselves that our principal interest is in catching pike, I include this........................

Dave Greally showing us how to do it........again!

Looking forward to February and no doubt our members will be hoping for a better return for the effort than we saw in January. We are heading to south-west Scotland again for our club trip on Sunday 15th February 2015, snow, ice and floods permitting and our club meeting will be on Tuesday 24th February 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper as usual.

And to close this month's blog I will leave you with a personal highlight of last month..............................