June 2016 - On The Up

At long last we seem to be getting something like the Summer fishing that we have come to anticipate locally. There were times over the last couple of months when it felt like Spring was was never going to end and the constantly changing weather, particularly the winds from the northerly quarter, dictated that we were going to have to continue to struggle for our fish.

Well June finally saw an up-turn in results for most of our SENPAC members. The match fishermen began to see decent bags of fish, the few carp anglers that we have reported the odd fish, the mackerel arrived off the north sea coast and we had the first salmon of the season reported from one of our local rivers. Even the pike began to co-operate for the lure anglers amongst our number, particularly for Steve Sandiford ( he of the first salmon) who reported fourteen hits with eight to the net on a half-day session on one of our local waters! Our Newsletter editor persuaded Steve to disclose the successful lure that he used on the day and here it is, looking slightly second-hand but remarkably intact bearing in mind the action that it has seen.

This One Definitely Works

And speaking of action the other highlight of the SENPAC June, and thankfully it turned out to be a highlight, was our Golden Maggot Match. Six of our number fished the competition and all were grateful for some half-decent weather and some fish. The eventual winner was our joint-RO, Bruce Turnbull despite being somewhat outside of his comfort zone, having to adapt to 2lb hook-links and size 18's from his more usual 3oz. leads and 40lb. traces being a real test for his eyesight. An age thing you know!

The Golden Maggoteers

What of July, well we have the first two rounds of our Summer League matches to look forward to and whilst we are just starting to celebrate the arrival of Summer up here in the north-east we will also have an eye on next season's piking as our Newsletter editor will be confirming our club trip calendar and venues in the next edition of the Newsletter just to whet everybody's appetite.

Speaking of the Newsletter, there was a brief focus on fishing fashions in the July edition with a lot of talk about camo and olive green, although waterproof and warm seemed to be the priority for us piking types, regardless of what it looks like and I think most if not all of the SENPAC squad would hesitate to be seen on the banks (or the high street) in the footwear that featured on the front cover??

Our July meeting will be held at the Northumbrian Piper on Tuesday 26th July 2016 at 8-00 pm. We have had one or two enquiries from potential new members over the last month so we may see some new faces at the meeting which would be great.


Tight lines to all.