July 2015 - The Planning Begins

Here we are, at what is supposed to be the height of the Summer and traditionally SENPAC's thoughts turn to the piking to come. Summer, that's a laugh, one of our number reported a temperature reading of 2 degrees on the car thermometer on one of his early morning starts to fish north of Hadrian's Wall and the rest of us are rapidly becoming acclimatised for when the pike rods next see the light of day!

And so the debate begins.............where are we going to go?..........................when are we going to go? Whilst the SENPAC membership has a few of what could be called "traditional" pikers who enjoy nothing more than getting away from everybody and everything for a days fishing on a favourite water, we are also lucky enough to have members who enjoy the shared experience and so we have a well supported series of monthly club trips with some silverware (silverish?) on offer for the more successful amongst our number just to add a little "edge" to proceedings with some, usually, friendly competition. So the last club meeting and the subsequent Newsletter was all about the anticipation of things to come.

We start with, a long list of waters suggested by the members from which we select, by totally democratic means, the six venues that will comprise our season's club trips, hopefully achieving an equitable selection that offers something to all those members who are likely to attend the outings and at the same time providing the opportunity to involve as many members as possible. Of slightly more difficulty is choosing the dates for the trips to suit as many diaries as possible and the only way we have managed to achieve that, in the past, is to publish a list of proposed dates and then invite comments? It usually works..................eventually! Of particular interest this year was the variety of waters that made up the long-list of twelve. Some of the old favourites obviously but there are four new waters suggested including three rivers which I have to say we have been guilty of ignoring in the past as far as our club trips are concerned. As usual we will be doing a fair amount of travelling regardless of which the final six waters are, but that is a piking way of life up here in the north-east so we are used to it. Of the long-listed venues we will be heading either north or south, five waters in Scotland or very nearly Scotland and the remainder in Yorkshire or a little bit beyond which means that our, usually effective car sharing arrangements, will once again be put to the test. Always an exciting time of year this, as I said, full of anticipation, especially when you add to the mix our annual trip to the Lakes which is now booked as well as mention of possibilities like the Lake of Menteith and others.

Of the July fishing, well the usual mixed bag of reports from our members who are off chasing all manner of quarry. The stand-out angler for the month though was undoubtedly Steve Sandiford who has been fishing early morning short sessions on one of the local rivers and has been enjoying impressive success.

Steve's Salmon

 A bit of an all-rounder our Steve, a new pb salmon of 17lb-8oz was definitely the high point but his other results include good trout, grayling,chub, and not one but two 4lb eels. The only thing missing is a barbel but he is working on it as far as I can understand. The damp Summer obviously of some benefit to those of us who have an interest in water of the running kind.
July also saw the fishing of our first two Summer League matches which were, I think, a little disappointing in terms of the fish caught. Our joint RO, Bruce Turnbull, has a slender lead in the competition at the mid-way
 point with everything to play for over the remaining rounds when a few more fish than we have see thus far would be welcomed by all concerned!

As for August, well more of the same as far as SENPAC is concerned I expect, hopefully we will resolve the discussion on our club trip venues and of course we will decide the winner of the Summer League. The August club meeting will be held on Tuesday 25th August 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper. If you want to join us for a chat then please do, you will be very welcome.

June 2015 - Silly Season Well Underway

I think that it is fair to say that SENPAC's silly season has officially started.

 In common with a lot of the PAC Regions things go a bit quiet up here at RA 24 as the Summer proper kicks in, the holiday season gets under-way and the Region's members become embroiled in the various domestic pressures that are an inevitable part of building up the necessary account of brownie-points that will be drawn against once the Piking gets started again. That's not to say that we are not fishing because most of us are but perhaps not quite as " seriously" as we will be come October.

Speaking of which, what should have been one of the highlights of the SENPAC fishing in June turned out to be a disaster! The eagerly anticipated Golden Maggot Trophy match which we have fished over the last three years on what has been a reliable small local commercial, failed us miserably this time around. This is not a case of poor anglers making excuses honestly, the fish seem to have disappeared? It wasn't just our merry band who struggled, the results were just the same for all others present and a quick look at the catch return book confirmed that all is definitely not well. A bit of a disappointment all this and frankly something of a mystery. The fishery is a little remote, surrounded by trees and does not have any resident supervision so there was no shortage of suggestions from those present as to where the fish had gone. As you can no doubt imagine, all the usual culprits were on the list.
So we were faced with something of a farce when it eventually came to the weigh-in and it is definitely the first time, in my experience, that the universal reaction to the final whistle was "thank *?!; for that!! Last year's winning weight was something over 11lb's. This year's winning weight.............9 ounces, and our Newsletter editor made full use of the situation by featuring that winning bag on the front cover.

However it is what it is and so congratulations go to Dave Gardner, who, like the rest of those present was slightly bemused by the whole experience.
Other fish of note from June, well, Paul Proctor recorded the only Pike of the month when he met up with "Lumpy" on one of our local waters. Previously caught back in April of this year (see the April blog) by our RO Mike Bell, she seems to be managing to prosper despite the significant disfigurement that she has to endure. Hopefully we may hear more of her later in the year.

Paul Meets Lumpy

And there was a new pb reported by our other RO, Bruce Turnbull, fishing one of our urban lakes, with a really chunky 9lb-8oz bream. Mind you he was fishing for carp??
Looking forward to July, well our thoughts are now turning to the arrangements for the Region's Piking trips next season and no doubt there will be the usual vigorous debate about the venues and dates that will constitute our monthly trips. Before all that though we have the first two rounds of our Summer League matches to look forward to which will hopefully be more productive than our last match!
The next club meeting will be held at the Northumbrian Piper as usual on Tuesday 28th July 2015 which I suspect may be a fairly quiet affair bearing in mind the time of year. That said, you will be made very welcome if you choose to pay us a visit for a chat.

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