May 2015 - Between a Pike and a Carp Place?

Regular readers of the SENPAC blog will sense something of a theme developing here. Having bemoaned the poor fishing in April in last month's missive and at the same time predicted an improvement in the coming month of May, what happens, the hoped for improvement fails to materialise for most of the SENPAC regulars, certainly for those that have made the switch from pike to carp and/or the commercials.We are experiencing a very slow start to the Summer fishing up here in the north, the interminable cold north-west wind keeping water temperatures low has certainly impacted on the fish activity, with spawning apparently delayed on all but the shallowest of our waters. On one of our local, shallow, municipal park lakes which has a good stock of carp and bream, the annual spectator sport of "watching the spawning" which is usually concluded by the end of May is only now starting to get underway.

So May has seen a re-run of the April conundrum here at SENPAC, with one or two of our members succumbing to the frustrations of not catching carp/silvers and heading further north with the pike gear and reaping the rewards. Our "fish for what you want" day saw both pike rods, carp rods and feeders employed by the modest number of members who turned out on a day which was best described as challenging. Bright sun and a very cold wind saw all concerned struggle, two very small roach providing full bragging rights on the day to our RO, Mike Bell. An opportunity that was not wasted by him!

Our Newsletter editor trying to bring a perspective to the results described the catch as "two maturing roach fry" which I think was getting close to sour-grapes as a result of his complete failure to catch anything on the day.He did however, manage to sum up the challenge for SENPAC members presented by the past month, fairly succinctly, with the choice of image for the Newsletter front cover ( with a lot of help from Brian Roberts wonderful pike fishing blog) describing the month as one for "PARP FISHING".

 


As I write this with June on the horizon, the forecasters are telling us that we can look forward to  four days of rain and strong winds following which we can expect it to become more settled and warmer. Let's hope they are right. We have our first match of the Summer on the 7th June 2015, The Golden Maggot Trophy and reports would seem to indicate that the normally prolific commercial that we use for the competition has not as yet woken up, so a few day of warmer weather would be welcome. And then of course a week later the rivers re-open and if nothing else that will make it feel more like Summer?

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 30th June 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper as usual, if you are a local piker or you would like to learn more about piking and fancy a chat why not come along. You would be made very welcome.

April 2015.........Love It.........Hate It

The title of this month's Blog is taken directly from the cover of this month's Newsletter, our editor bemoaning the fact that he considers April to be a distinctly poor fishing month up here in the north, going as far as to describe it as a "fishing no-mans-land". Not everybody will agree with this view I'm sure and he makes the point himself that being out on the bankside somewhere in April, is in itself an enjoyable experience as the natural world re-awakens after the Winter.

Mind you, judging by the level of fishing activity amongst the regions members our Newsletter editor may have a point. Of those that have reported their results it was clear that there was a mix of decisions as to what the chosen quarry was to be. Some elected to continue their pike fishing others made an early switch to the carp and/or the commercials. Many others decided not to bother with either or thought their efforts were better spent sorting out the garden as the weather became more conducive.

We'll ignore the gardeners amongst our number and as far as I can tell from the reports received those that elected to continue their pike fishing did significantly better than those who made the switch to the carp or commercials. In these northerly climes it obviously takes that little bit longer for the water temperatures to notch upwards before worthwhile results can be expected by the boilie and maggot brigade I guess.

Highlights of the piking month were two post-spawning fish, a 15lb'er from a Scottish Loch for Dave Greally and a 14lb fish from what is a tough local water for our long-standing RO, Mike Bell. The slight downer on this capture being that the fish had a very un-sightly and in my experience very unusual growth on its upper jaw, promptly earning itself the nickname of "lumpy" from those present.

Mike Bell and "Lumpy"

As for the coming month, well we have a "fish for what you want" day out on a local water on the 17th May and our next region meeting on Tuesday 26th May 2015 at the usual venue, when we will be starting to pull together arrangements for both next seasons monthly piking trips as well as our annual four day jaunt to the Lake District. If you're interested why not call in for a chat, it would be good to see you.

 

March 2015 - A Reality Check

A SENPAC March is usually all about the really serious Pikers amongst our number and their end of season efforts to locate those big fish which are the ultimate prize, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that we hanker after. However, this SENPAC March we have had to endure a massive reality check when many of our members found out that they had to come to terms with the news of the sudden and premature passing of a friend and fellow Piking enthusiast Shane Patterson. 

Those of us at SENPAC that have come to know Shane over the years have, enjoyed his company, reflected in his enthusiasm, admired his total commitment to the PAC and more recently the Angling Trust and applauded his charitable works. Someone said that only the good die young and cliché or not that is most certainly the case where Shane is concerned.

SENPAC RO Mike Bell provided a moving tribute to his long term friend and fellow PAC RO of the Teeside and Darlington Region for inclusion in our April Newsletter, the sentiments of which were undoubtedly shared by all at SENPAC. A very sad day.

RIP SHANE.

Of the Piking last month well, nothing much to celebrate I’m afraid. Four of our number represented SENPAC on the PAC Lake of Menteith visit and all found the going a little tough. Bruce Turnbull managed a couple of jacks, Mike Bell and Dave Gardner one each, Dennis Fearon failed to find a fish. Dave however did have a busy day with the lure gear attracting large rainbow trout after large rainbow trout, we stopped counting at eleven! This was another Menteith event where the overall results followed what has now become a recognisable pattern, hundreds of small fish with a very modest number of upper doubles and twenties. The Pike stock profile has undoubtedly changed over recent years. Still a great day out though with good friends.

MIKE BELL'S MENTEITH FISH

Best SENPAC fish of the month went to Bruce Turnbull with a nice 17lb fish from north of the border however the main highlight of the month was the concluding event of the season for the SENPAC Club Trip Championship. Seven region members took part and fourteen fish were caught which by recent standards was an outstanding result. A virtuoso performance on the day by Paul Proctor saw him take the championship with the eventual winner of the Biggest Fish trophy being Peter Armstrong. I think the general view amongst the SENPAC regulars was that this final event was by far the most enjoyable of the season both from a social and fishing point of view. The season more generally has not been the most productive and I guess we will spend the Summer club meetings chewing over what we should do next season to try and improve on our results.

SENPAC REGULARS

 And speaking of the Summer, plans are coming together for our Summer League matches with a draft list of dates and venues published in the latest Newsletter as we begin to look forward to returning to the commercials and some of us renew the struggle of tying size 16’s to invisible rigs and the annual pole versus waggler debate begins all over again.

Our April meeting will take place on Tuesday 28^th at the Northumbrian Piper as usual.

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..............................

December 2014 - It Can Only Get Better

With the Christmas/New Year celebrations safely out of the way as I sit down to catch-up with the SENPAC Blog, the unavoidable retrospective on 2014 immediately came to mind and I am pleased to say just as immediately left again when it occurred to me that if any of our readers wanted to know how SENPAC and its members faired during 2014 they only had to scroll down! See below as they say.

Happy New Year to one and all.

Looking rearwards just as far as December and I would have to say that it was a very quiet month for RA 24 as far as the fishing was concerned, despite some completely suitable weather conditions and despite the fact that many of our number made full use of the increased opportunities offered by the seasonal holiday to get out on the water, very few fish were reported.

Peter's Reward For Sitting Still

Our much anticipated club trip to the Lincolnshire drains proved to be very disappointing with only one of the seven hopefuls that made the journey able to celebrate with a fish. Peter Armstrong was the lucky (skillfull?) angler who had adopted the tactic of "pick a swim and wait for the fish to arrive" whilst many of the rest of us walked miles (exaggeration) in every direction in search of a fish, which I suspect, made his success even more satisfying and the drive home even longer for the rest of us.

A Christmas Present For Bruce

Best pike reported during December in what was otherwise a very low key affair was a nice fish of 15lb.-8oz. taken by Bruce Turnbull on a trip to South-West Scotland on what was an absolute classic of a day, deep frost, high pressure, not a cloud in the sky from sunrise to sunset, the sort of day when being there is all that really matters. Perfect.

A Perfect Day

And what of January, well this is a busy month for SENPAC. Our club trip comes up first and we are heading to South West Scotland again, this time to one of the waters that is nearer to Newcastle than most and which produced a very nice fish for one of our number on our visit last year. We live in hope!

Next there is our Annual General Meeting which will take place on Tuesday 27th January 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper. Then, at the same venue, our annual presentation of awards night on Saturday 31st January 2015 which is the social highlight of our calendar when friends and families join in the fun, with slideshow review of the year past, buffet, raffle and of course the presentation of awards culminating in the naming of our Pike Angler of the Year. So a bit to look forward to and hopefully a more productive month on the fishing front.

As I said at the start, "it can only get better."

S.E.N.P.A.C. - Seasonal Greetings To All

With thanks to Fred Buller OBE
and his definitive work "The Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike