November 2015 - A Turn For The Better

Here at SENPAC November tends to be one of the busier months of our piking season. This November was no exception. Our members are now generally in full pike fishing mode, we have the PAC access event on the beautiful Lake of Menteith to distract us from our usual haunts and, in addition to one of our regular monthly outings, a few of our number have the annual "jolly boys outing" to the Lake District to cram in to the fishing schedule.
Having said all that Novembers past haven't necessarily been particularly kind to our crew in terms of the fishing results and I think it is fair to say that over the years a few of us have arrived at the end of this particular month feeling slightly bruised. A lot of effort, mileage and expense with not a lot to show for it is, I guess, the risk that we take in pursuit of our quarry. There are certainly no guarantees in this business! One compensation this time of the year is of course that we do end up fishing in and enjoying some fabulous scenery with the added sparkle of the late Autumn colours which goes some long way ease the pain of long fish-less hours if they are to be endured. A compensation that was celebrated by our editor on the front cover of our latest Newsletter.

However, it will hopefully not of escaped you that the title of this month's missive is " A Turn For The Better"and as somebody famously said "the clue is in the name"! Far from feeling in anyway mistreated by this November past, a few of SENPAC's finest were feeling relatively content with the outcome of their fishing with good numbers of double figure fish being reported during the period from a variety of waters and in addition, a couple of twenties which were the high-point of the month, one each for our joint RO's Mike Bell and Bruce Turnbull.
Mike has been a Menteith regular for more years that he cares to remember I suspect, always in the draw, nearly always with his regular boat partner Dennis Fearon and with a better than average hit rate for getting afloat. However the one thing that has eluded him over all these years is a "Menty Twenty" Not any more, one of only five fish over twenty pounds(mind you one of them was a 35lb'er) that were recorded on the day, Mike's fish of 21lb-3oz was no doubt a particularly significant milestone for him.

Mike

The second of our twenties came later in the month, during the outing to the Lakes.Over the years a number of our "jolly boys outings"have produced fish over the magic twenty pound mark but not previously for Bruce so he very much saw it as his turn this year. At exactly 20lbs and after a less than successful Menteith trip, it no doubt went some way to making the effort feel worthwhile.

Bruce

The only blot on the November landscape was that we were forced to postpone our monthly outing which was going to be fished on a local river but fell foul of a storm that some bright spark had decided to name "Clodagh". Severe gales, heavy rain and a rapidly rising river did not appear to be ideal conditions for what was intended to be something of a social although there were undoubtedly a number of our "keener" members
who thought that perhaps we were turning soft?
So all in all a fairly positive month to report up here in the north, we all now look forward to December, two club outings to fit in as well as trips far and wide over the festive period no doubt. Historically we do not have a formal meeting in December due to the "festivities" but there will no doubt be a few of us at the Piper on the 29th December 2015 if you want to pop-in for a drink.

Tight lines all.