MAY - A SPOT OF EUROPEAN CARPING.

 

After a successful trip into Scotland last month catching some decent Pike and Perch Steve Sandiford and Dave Gardner grabbed their passports and headed to Spain in search of some big Carp and Catfish. Pictured above Steve with a lovely 35lb 7 oz Carp and pictured below a montage of some of their other magnificent catches they had during the week.

Bruce Turnbull continues his quest for a PB Tench this season. He may not have been successful yet but he has still been catching some beautiful fish. Catch all the action on Bruce's Anglers Diary on the You Tube channel.

Chris Graham has been on one of our local waters catching some nice Carp on light gear.

Ross Greaves has also been on his travels catching some nice Pike.

RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

A FANTASTIC LAST MONTH WHICH HAS NOW SENT THE TOTAL RAISED TO AN AMAZING

£36,352.00.

AND WITH ALL THE MONEY RAISED BY THE REGION OVER THE YEARS FOR CHARITY A TOTAL OF

£52,352.00.

A SPECIAL MONTH.

 

A very special end to the month of April for one of our members. Andy AKA "Catman" Eland and his incredible capture of the 66lb 4oz Moggie pictured above caught on his first attempt at catching one of these amazing creatures. Andy has been setting his stall out the last few months but one thing he was probably not expecting was to catch one of this size. The only thing he has to achieve now is to catch a bigger one. Watch this space.

Some of the other region's members had success as well during April. Bruce Turnbull continued his quest to catch some large Tench on one of our local waters and Steve Sandiford, Dave Gardner and Wayne Gardner enjoyed good success North of the border catching some nice Pike and two PB perch the best weighing in at 4lb 3 ozs.

Dates are now in place for our annual "Golden Maggot" match and our four match Summer series which always prove popular with the members.

SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE NOW STANDS AT £33,829.00.

With more fundraising events now in place for this year we are expecting a big increase in the amount raised for our chosen charity.

ANOTHER SENPAC YEAR COMES TO A CLOSE.

 The SENPAC trophy year finished on the 31st March so congratulations go to the following members. Peter Armstrong won the Golden Maggot trophy and Paul (Pogo) Patterson surprised everyone when storming home to lift the Summer league trophy. Steve Sandiford had an exceptional year winning the  Winter Pike Championship trophy together with the biggest Pike of the year at 27lb 8 ozs, The best Pike on a lure, and the best Pike on a club trip and after all that he was voted by the members as the SENPAC Pike angler of the year. A tremendous result for Steve. Finally the members awarded Andy Eland the SENPAC cup for not only catching some lovely Pike during the year but for the immense amount of work and time he puts into the SENPAC fund raising for our chosen charity Children's Cancer North. The donations and the region's fundraising events just keep rolling on and this year with what has been organised we are expecting a tremendous increase in what we raise for this worthy charity.

MARCH - THE GOOD TIMES RETURN.

 

A much better month in March with some lovely fish being caught. Dave Gardner and Steve Sandiford headed down to the midlands on the hunt for some nice Barbel and Chub and were not disappointed with the results. Dave also managed to land a Pike caught on luncheon meat pictured above.

Congratulations this month to Steve who lifted the SENPAC Winter Pike league in style. After a brisk start Steve never looked back and lifted the trophy with consummate ease .Bruce Turnbull and Jon Tweddle tied for the runners up spot.

                    SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                    AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE £33,549.00.

                             Andy Eland caught this lovely 23lb Pike.

 

And Ross Greaves capped off his season with this 25lb 8 oz fish pictured below.

So another Pike season comes to a close and once again the region's members will be looking forward to fishing for the traditional Summer species and the club's Summer league.

FEBRUARY - WEATHER IMPROVES AND THE PIKE FISHING RESUMES

 

After a barren January with little or no action on the Piking front the weather improved mid February and the hunt for some decent Pike returned. Bruce Turnbull was just one of the region's members itching to get out on the bank again. His day eventually arrived and he set off to fish one of his favourite river stretches. His luck was in and he landed this 22lb 10 oz PB pictured above. Some of the SENPAC members fished the PAC OF GB Lake of Menteith event during the month with mixed results. Ross Greaves landed a 19lb fish and boat partner Andy Eland had an 18lb 8oz. Steve Sandiford and Dave Gardner also caught smaller fish.

                RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE STANDS AT £32,600.00.

SENPAC members were invited along by the Tyne Valley/Borders region RA97 to join them at the "Farewell and thanks for all the fish" talk given by Neville Fickling late in February. On what turned out to be a very entertaining night with a superb buffet we raised another £86.00 for the charity and would like to thank all those that attended for their generosity.

JANUARY - WEATHER BRINGS PIKING BASICALLY TO A STANDSTILL.

 One of the worst months for Piking in a long time. Most of the month a total washout with damp, cold, freezing weather that stopped most of the region members from getting out on the bank. Those who did manage to put baits in the water failed miserably. Round four of the Winter Pike matches attracted a very low turnout on the day and with the venue not being local included quite a bit of motoring. Steve Sandiford trying to maintain his lead in the competition and Jon Tweddle both blanked on the day as well as getting a good soaking in the process. So after round 4 Steve is in pole position with Jon Tweddle and Bruce Turnbull tying for second place. Ross Greaves had a few days on a North West water and managed to winkle out two Pike the biggest going in at 15lbs.

            RAISING FUNDS FOR CHILDREN'S CANCER NORTH.

                AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE NOW STANDS AT 

                                           £32,252.00

The region celebrated its 30th year in existence this last month. The first meeting of the region was held on the 25th January 1996 at the Hind Public House in Cramlington, Northumberland. The region was started by Mark Houghton who along with Mike Bell decided to put the wheels in motion and see what they could achieve. Thirty years on SENPAC is still going strong and most of its members have been in the club for over twenty years.

                                                      Mark Houghton.

ANOTHER SENPAC YEAR ENDS BUT WHAT LIES AHEAD IN 2026.

 The end of another truly successful year in the life of SENPAC and we are now looking forward to the year ahead. December started off a really quiet month for the members. Round three of our Winter Pike league was cancelled as the chosen venue had very high water levels and it was decided not to re route to another water at short notice. Turnout would have more than likely been low as it was only a matter of days before Christmas and that last minute shopping took priority. So only a couple of small Jacks up to Christmas but with the New Year rapidly approaching two of our members took the opportunity in soaking some baits up North which brought some extra Christmas presents for them. Pictured below some mid doubles caught by Andy and a lovely 18lb 2 oz for Dave.

                                      Steve And His Christmas Jack,

 

Another outstanding year also for our region;s fundraising for our chosen charity of Children's Cancer North. This year from the 1st January 2025 we have raised an amazing £11,347.00 which has taken the amount we have raised so far to £31,773.00. We have more fundraising events planned for 2026 and are firmly setting our sights on raising a mammoth £50,000.00.

We are also amazed at the success of our blog which is very popular around the world and wish to thank you all for your continued support. We hope that 2026 will supply us with more beautiful Pike and coarse fish that we can share with you all. From all of us at SENPAC we wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable 2026.