December 2015 - Tight Lines for 2016

Christmas gone and a new year to look forward to. Looking forward feels the right thing to do as far a SENPAC is concerned especially after the December that we have all been forced to endure in piking terms up here in the north-east of England. We are almost certainly not alone in feeling pretty badly bruised as far as our fishing is concerned,  all of which pales into insignificance as the appalling weather wrought chaos and misery of a much more fundamental kind on so many other areas of the country.

So looking forward is very much the flavour of this month's Blog........A happy, healthy and successful new year to you all from everybody at SENPAC.

January is usually a busy month for SENPAC and this coming month will be no exception... we hope? We have not one but two region outings to anticipate, having been forced to postpone our planned November trip to the North Yorkshire rivers, twice, we will be trying again on the 10th January followed two weeks later by another journey south, this time to a favourite venue on the Lincolnshire drains. Towards the end of the month we have the evil necessity of our AGM to look forward to but that is quickly followed by our principal social event of the year, the annual presentation of the regions awards and review of our 2014 - 2015 year. Not quite "Sports Personality of the Year" but based upon a very similar if somewhat more modest model!

Having to spend most of last month reliant on You Tube for our piking action, particularly to fend-off the inevitable cabin fever that is the festive period, it would be especially welcome if we could be granted some proper Winter weather this coming month, you remember the sort of thing,  clear crisp frosty dawns, camera ready sunrises and the promise of a fish or two instead of having to paddle around in mud!!

Is that too much to ask, probably I hear you say?

So to finish off, our next region meeting/ AGM will be on Tuesday 26th January 2016 at the Northumbrian Piper as usual which will also be the venue for our awards/review night on Saturday 30th January 2016. If you have been toying with idea of coming to see us, then why not join us for the evening, you will get the best possible in-sight into what we are all about.

Tight lines to you all.

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

November 2015 - A Turn For The Better

Here at SENPAC November tends to be one of the busier months of our piking season. This November was no exception. Our members are now generally in full pike fishing mode, we have the PAC access event on the beautiful Lake of Menteith to distract us from our usual haunts and, in addition to one of our regular monthly outings, a few of our number have the annual "jolly boys outing" to the Lake District to cram in to the fishing schedule.
Having said all that Novembers past haven't necessarily been particularly kind to our crew in terms of the fishing results and I think it is fair to say that over the years a few of us have arrived at the end of this particular month feeling slightly bruised. A lot of effort, mileage and expense with not a lot to show for it is, I guess, the risk that we take in pursuit of our quarry. There are certainly no guarantees in this business! One compensation this time of the year is of course that we do end up fishing in and enjoying some fabulous scenery with the added sparkle of the late Autumn colours which goes some long way ease the pain of long fish-less hours if they are to be endured. A compensation that was celebrated by our editor on the front cover of our latest Newsletter.

However, it will hopefully not of escaped you that the title of this month's missive is " A Turn For The Better"and as somebody famously said "the clue is in the name"! Far from feeling in anyway mistreated by this November past, a few of SENPAC's finest were feeling relatively content with the outcome of their fishing with good numbers of double figure fish being reported during the period from a variety of waters and in addition, a couple of twenties which were the high-point of the month, one each for our joint RO's Mike Bell and Bruce Turnbull.
Mike has been a Menteith regular for more years that he cares to remember I suspect, always in the draw, nearly always with his regular boat partner Dennis Fearon and with a better than average hit rate for getting afloat. However the one thing that has eluded him over all these years is a "Menty Twenty" Not any more, one of only five fish over twenty pounds(mind you one of them was a 35lb'er) that were recorded on the day, Mike's fish of 21lb-3oz was no doubt a particularly significant milestone for him.

Mike

The second of our twenties came later in the month, during the outing to the Lakes.Over the years a number of our "jolly boys outings"have produced fish over the magic twenty pound mark but not previously for Bruce so he very much saw it as his turn this year. At exactly 20lbs and after a less than successful Menteith trip, it no doubt went some way to making the effort feel worthwhile.

Bruce

The only blot on the November landscape was that we were forced to postpone our monthly outing which was going to be fished on a local river but fell foul of a storm that some bright spark had decided to name "Clodagh". Severe gales, heavy rain and a rapidly rising river did not appear to be ideal conditions for what was intended to be something of a social although there were undoubtedly a number of our "keener" members
who thought that perhaps we were turning soft?
So all in all a fairly positive month to report up here in the north, we all now look forward to December, two club outings to fit in as well as trips far and wide over the festive period no doubt. Historically we do not have a formal meeting in December due to the "festivities" but there will no doubt be a few of us at the Piper on the 29th December 2015 if you want to pop-in for a drink.

Tight lines all.

October 2015 - Loch Reflections

The opening month of SENPAC's new season seems to have flown by, and it appears from reports received that those of our members who have been out and about have been rewarded with a few fish. No record breakers yet, but enough fish to make it feel like a reasonable start to the season for most.

Whilst there has been some modest success reported locally a lot of the early season effort has been focused north of the border and one or two of our more reliable waters over in Dumfries and Galloway have been just that, reliable, which makes the relatively long journey seem worthwhile.Sadly that cant be said for our first Region outing. With a relatively good turn-out of eight SENPAC stalwarts heading high into the Scottish hills we were greeted by a very welcome light frost which frustratingly developed into near tropical conditions of bright sunshine and gentle breeze. Not the ideal combination for fishing a relatively shallow clear water loch? Excuses in early then as the fishing was best described as slow with only five small fish to report. Disappointing for those that failed to catch for sure in what were undoubtedly less than good conditions, but the social aspects of the trip were enjoyed none-the-less and the photographers amongst our number found plenty of opportunities to exploit much to our newsletter editors delight. More pictures less writing to do!

Speaking of pictures, long time SENPAC member Steve Sandiford enjoyed a weeks fishing on the River Severn during October, a finale to his barbel fishing season, prior to getting stuck into his predator fishing. Steve reported some significant success with a number of good fish up to 10lb, however his other success was with the camera, capturing the archetypal angler's shot that we have all tried for at one time or another, usually unsuccessfully. Our newsletter editor failed miserably to hide his envy when he received the image from Steve entitled "a Shropshire bite alarm", suggesting that this will probably be the picture of the year as far as SENPAC are concerned.

Shropshire Bite Alarm

Looking forward to November, well, this is always SENPAC's busiest piking month. With some of our number heading to the Lake of Menteith, quickly followed by our annual five day visit to the Lake District and then our Region outing to deepest Yorkshire. We will hopefully have a lot to talk about at the next Region meeting on Tuesday 24th November 2015 at the usual venue.

Tight lines to you all

September 2015 - Best Of Luck For The New Season Guys

Having started last month's blog with an apology, this month a double apology. It's late again and it's brief, in the main that is because we have all been out fishing as the new piking season got under-way.

Best of luck for the new season was the principal message in the Region's September newsletter and as the fishing reports began to arrive at our editor's desk it appears that a number of our members have got off to a reasonable start with their fishing. No monsters reported as yet but a number of good doubles for some and good numbers of smaller fish for others. It would be premature in the extreme to try to start and predict how the season will develop but a promising start none-the-less.

Our first Region outing is imminent as I write this, when we are off to bonny Scotland to visit a remote water which enjoys a very exposed and elevated location so I guess all concerned will have an eye on the weather forecast when it comes to packing their fishing wardrobe for the trip. Over the years that we have fished this water we have had everything from tropical sunshine to tropical monsoon conditions, so careful sartorial consideration will no doubt be given to what goes into the car boot.

So, like I said at the start, brief ! Hopefully next month's missive will be more extensive and on time? If you want to know more and live in the north-east of England why not consider calling in to see us at our next Region meeting. Tuesday 27th October 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper, Fawdon ( see opposite)

Tight lines and as it says at the top, good luck to all for the new season.

August 2015 - Not Long Now

Firstly this month an apology to all of our regular followers for the delayed posting of this month's offering. Didn't quite get this sorted before being forced to put the rods away and head off to somewhere warmer which if I was being honest proved not to be the hardship that it sounds!

"Not Long Now" seemed like an appropriate title for our September Newsletter as our editor spent most of the time looking forward to the coming season of piking with some relish I have to say.

He was almost in celebratory mood over the fact that the process of selection for our 2015/2016 club trips had seemingly gone so smoothly (unusual in the extreme) and was able to confirm the final list of venues and dates. Of the waters chosen by the members there are four old favourites and two new venues including for the first time ever I think, a day on a river, all of which I suspect will have wet the appetites of a most of our number and sent them scurrying to their tackle sheds and their freezers judging by the requests that I have been receiving over the last few days about bulk bait orders. I hope that Neville's stocked up!!

Also of note during August was the conclusion of our Summer League match series which turned out to be a very close run thing. The final two rounds couldn't have been more different the first fished on a very small, heavily stocked, local pond and the finale fished high in the Durham Dales on a very large reservoir. That wasn't the only significant difference. We had a full compliment of protagonists turn out for the first of the events but then the law of sod seemed to kick-in for the final match and for a huge variety of reasons only two of our number managed to make it, which was a bit of a shame. But as I said it was a close run thing, the eventual winner by just one point, Dave Greally from Bruce Turnbull in second place. Congratulations to Dave who will pick-up his trophy at our prize giving night at the end of January 2016.

Dave Greally

Of the other fishing well Mr.Greally posted another success in the month reporting the biggest pike from one of his visits north of the border, a nice double of over 17lbs, whilst enjoying a family camping trip with daughter Faye who, not to be outdone also got in on the act catching some nice bream and silvers.

The other fishing reports from the Newsletter were the usual mixture of just about everything that swims including a nice Koi for our RO, Mike Bell. Coy and Mike Bell in the same sentence is not something I thought that I would ever see??

Mike Bell.....Coy?

Personally I can't wait until all the fishing reports are about pike!

So what to look forward to in September, well more of the same probably although I know that there are a few of SENPAC's number who will be beginning their new season's campaign in earnest so hopefully I will have some nice pike to report.
Our September club meeting will be on Tuesday 29th September 2015 at the Northumbrian Piper when all thoughts will no doubt be on the first club trip of the new season and final preparations for what we all hope  will be an enjoyable and productive season. Enjoyable is almost guaranteed, productive, well we will just have to wait and see.

Till next month.

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.