April 2014...................SENPAC goes global

As the Summer fishing begins to take hold with SENPAC members and the pike fishing begins to take second place, our Newsletter editor took the opportunity to record the growing success of the SENPAC blog this month as well as the usual review of the now varied fishing activity amongst the club members.

 Firstly the blog, which continues to enjoy an ever growing number of visitors and perhaps surprisingly the majority of which come from outside of the UK. The details make interesting reading.................37% are UK based, a further 25% come from America, 7% from Russia and 4% from Germany with the remainder fairly equally shared between France, the Netherlands,Sweden,Ukraine, Romania and South Korea!
As you can probably imagine this all came as something of a surprise to our club members, a shared interest in pike fishing is obviously spread far and wide.

That's how you do it Dad...........

On the fishing front, our April fishing social failed to produce any fish to those present but was none the less enjoyable, a duck of the tufted variety providing the only excitement for one of our number?

Like Father, Like Son!

Also reported, a new pb perch of 2lb-3oz for Dave Gardner whilst on a weeks trip to White Acres, good bags of carp, silvers and some early season tench for Paul Proctor fishing one of the local fishing clubs ponds and a reality check for Dave Greally who was comprehensively out fished by Daughter Faye on one trip. What is it with lady anglers?

Dave saved face to some degree later in the month, this time fishing with Son Aaron up in Scotland when they enjoyed one of those remarkable piking coincidences that occasionally crop up, by catching a somewhat elderly fish of 20lb-2oz which was immediately  identified as Aaron's current pb caught eight months previous in the same swim at a weight of 19lb-13oz. You couldn't make it up?

Looking forward to our May fishing and I suspect that once again our members will be spread far and wide chasing various quarry. Our fishing social for the month will take place on the 18th May when we are off to Northumbrian Water's Whittle Dean complex in the hope that in addition to being sociable we may also enjoy catching a fish or two! Tight lines to all.
                                                                                 
 
                                                                         




                                                                 

March 2014.....................and the winner is

So that was March and for many SENPAC members that brings to a close another piking season. But not for all, one of the benefits of living up here in the north-east is that, for those of us that enjoy a slightly extended pike fishing season, it is only a relatively short journey northwards to the cooler climes of the larger Scottish waters, that provide the opportunity to take advantage of the post-spawning feed-up. So that is something to look forward to as an alternative to the mysteries of the dark-side, boilies, bolt-rigs and the like?

One of eight for Dave

March also saw the conclusion of the SENPAC Club Trip Championship for the season with the final event fished on a day of mixed weather and equally mixed results. Hearty congratulations must go to the runaway winner, Dave Greally who, with a master class of eight fish on this final outing, cemented his almost total domination of this year's competition. Something of a tour de force from Dave this season which left the rest of us floundering in his wake.
As for the March fishing results for SENPAC members, well the highlight of the reports in this month's Newsletter is undoubtedly a second new pb of the season for Peter Armstrong, this time a wonderful fish of 21lb caught from north of the border. This, along with Peter's previous best of 16lb-8oz caught in December has meant that he has enjoyed his best season so far since joining SENPAC in July 2011. Just rewards for the significant effort that Peter has put into his pike fishing with us. Well done.

Peter's new pb

As for April, well we have the first of our SENPAC fishing socials organised for a bit of roach fishing on a local water and I suspect that a few of us will be heading north later in the month to renew the hunt for old Esox.

SENPAC continue to meet throughout the summer, on the last Tuesday of every month at the usual place, the Northumbrian Piper at Fawdon, Newcastle NE3 2AH. If you fancy a natter then why not call in and see us.

February 2014

So that was February then and for SENPAC it was a very quiet month on the fishing front, judging by the reports that I have had from the members. The incessant wind and rain certainly had a part to play and whilst up here in the north east we have been extremely fortunate compared to areas of England in the south and south west, the storms rolling in from the Atlantic have been sufficient to convince some of our less committed members not to venture out and for those that probably need committing the local rivers have really been too much of a challenge and the water levels in the lochs and lakes that we fish have been such that on a number of occasions I am convinced that we have been fishing in the fields!

As a result of this the fishing has been fairly poor and the over-riding feature for most of us that were out was the mud! We didn't seem able to escape the stuff no matter where we went, so much so that the club's Newsletter editor felt the need to reminisce about the good old days when we all enjoyed those magical, still, frosty, mornings when you just knew that the fish were going to be interested as the pale sun appeared over the horizon and began to burn off the mist.

Our February club trip coincided with one of the more vigorous storms and we had to battle 70mph winds, rain as well as the inevitable mud and by the end of the day, despite all present having numerous takes and runs no-one managed to get a fish to the net. Frustrating!

Of the February fishing results well it was generally a month of small jacks with a couple of exceptions, Steve Sandiford enjoyed an exploratory trip on one of the local rivers which needless to say was well up, coloured and running through and so reverted to the worm rod to take a very nice 3lb sea trout and a something over 3lb chub but by far and away the best fish of the month fell  to SENPAC joint RO Bruce Turnbull who after something of an extended fishless campaign on a water finally cracked it with a very fit fish of 24lb-10oz.
As for March, well the SENPAC squad will be off to one of the larger lochs in Dumfries and Galloway for the final club trip of the season on Sunday 16th March, a location which at this time last year produced two 20lb'ers in a week for one lucky (skillfull?) club member and there will no doubt be the usual end of season flurry of activity on many other waters in the area. A little colder weather and less mud would be a real treat if somebody could organise that please?

NEW YEAR - NEW START

South East Northumberland Pike Anglers Club (SENPAC)wish to record their thanks to Neil Baker who for many years has shared the role of Regional Organiser (RO) with region founder Mike Bell. Amongst other responsibilities Neil looked after our Blog. Recently he has decided that he had to retire from the position of RO and that mantle has passed to Bruce Turnbull and with it the very steep learning curve necessary to get to grips with the Blog. So here we go................January was as usual a very busy month for SENPAC. In addition to the peak season fishing we held our annual presentation of awards and slideshow review of the SENPAC year which seemed to be enjoyed by all members present. Trophy winners this year were; Biggest Fish on a Lure.............Paul Proctor/Biggest Fish on a Club Trip.......Bruce Turnbull/ Junior Angler of the Year.........Aaron Greally/ Club Trip Champion................Bruce Turnbull/ Biggest Fish of the Year.........Dave Greally/ and the principal trophy, that of Pike Angler of the Year, which is decided by the votes of the members was deservedly taken by Dave Greally, who had to put up with what has now become the traditional p**s take, celebrated on the front cover of our February Newsletter.

As for the January fishing, well, SENPAC members were out and about on a variety of waters and a few fish were being reported, however highlight of the month came on our club trip to a Lincolnshire drain and it was that man Dave Greally again who showed us all how to do it. This time with a fine fish of 20lb-3oz.

Dave Greally.........down the drain?

Looking forward to February,we are staying a little closer to home for our club trip on the 23rd February, we are going to a water which just prior to Christmas produced a red-letter day for two of SENPAC's finest with Pat Hamilton and Paul Proctor sharing a day of 13 fish. Doesn't happen very often that, in my experience, be nice if it happened again for our visit!

                                 Ever wonder why we do it

                                             This is why

                                                28lb 4ozs                 

Flying Start

Bruce Turnbull got the new season off to a flying start when he and Dave Greally visited a trout water North of the border. This clonker weighing in at 25lb leaves the rest of us with one hell of a task in the chase for silverware. The one thing in our favour is that Bruce has given us just about the whole of the season to do it. Well done Bruce, great fish.

Pre-Season Taster

With the official pike season just over a month away young Aaron Greally gave us all a reminder of what hopefully lies in store for us all with this 13lb 5oz summer beauty from Loch Ken.