Oops!......Apology Time

OK guys, time for an apology. Whilst I was trying to be helpful back in the August 2016 posting by including the update on the progress of the Scottish Wild Fisheries Review (WFR) it turns out that some of what I said was in fact inaccurate, otherwise known as wrong!

 In general the update is fine and does reflect the current state of play however following an exchange of correspondence with the guys at the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling (SFCA) they, very helpfully, pointed out that the law regarding the use of more than one rod and the use of rod rests was in fact changed many years ago. In fact the law was changed at the same time as the use of livebaits was made illegal, a battle over which an awful lot of effort was expended by both the PAC and the PAAS, all to no avail.

So for the sake of clarity, the current legal position in Scotland is that a maximum of four rods may be fished at the same time and those rods can be placed in rod rests. The use of livebaits is illegal.

In my original post I suggested that if you wanted to stay up to date with developments with the WFR then you should monitor the Scottish Governments website and that advice is still valid however, you could also monitor the SFCA's website (www.sfca.co.uk) or their Facebook site if you want the "anglers slant" on how things are going.

And as for progress, well the guys from the north confirm that progress is very slow, with no signs of any imminent changes being made to the status-quo.

Sorry to our readers if I have mislead anybody, particularly if you have spent any recent fishing outings north of the border nervously looking over your shoulder in case the polis turn-up?

September 2016 - On Your Marks..........................

As with most other Regions of the PAC, the end of September and the arrival of Autumn is viewed with some excitement here at SENPAC. The start of another piking season has always been anticipated with a real sense of expectation and optimism, particularly so amongst the Region's more "active" members, one or two of whom have already enjoyed the odd exploratory outing. The end of September also marks the end of our competition year here at SENPAC and the start of a new one.

Of 2015/2016, well it wasn't particularly outstanding if you measure such things by numbers, our Region outings were the usual enjoyable events in social terms but the numbers of fish caught was a little disappointing. The number of new piking PB's for our members was very disappointing, there weren't any and whilst there were only three pike reported over the magic 20lb. mark there were a large number of good double figure fish caught which was viewed by all as a very positive sign for the waters that we fish most regularly. Of the two trophies that remained to be claimed from last season the "Biggest on a Lure" again served to demonstrate that we do not really have many what you could call, dedicated, lure anglers in the Region as the trophy was shared by Dave Gardner and Steve Sandiford, each with a fish of 7lb. Hmm! "Biggest Fish of the Year", well that was taken by our joint RO Bruce Turnbull with a Scottish fish of 24lb. that was despite the best efforts of our other joint RO, Mike Bell with his Lake of Menteith fish of 21b.

Bruce's Winning Smile ?

But now we are all about looking forward to the new season and the joys and excitement to come. Our first Region outing will once again be north of the border on Sunday 16th October 2016 as will our November outing on the 13th of the month and for some of our number there will be a first visit to the Lake of Menteith to look forward to as well as our annual " Jolly Boys" trip, five days away with a new base and new waters to fish. So as I said earlier, excitement, expectation and optimism prevail at SENPAC as we embark on a new piking journey. As our Newsletter editor quite succinctly put it "On Your Marks......"

If you would like to join in the fun then our next Region meeting will be on Tuesday 25th October 2016 at the Northumbrian Piper ( see opposite) as usual starting at 8pm. It would be great to see you,as they say.