The PAC president's new address

The Angling Trust has appointed Dilip Sarkar, a "recent former president of the Pike Anglers Club" as its first-ever enforcement officer.

Recent, to say the least. For I'm not sure exactly when he went from being president to former president, but the copy of Pikelines which arrived on the same day as the Angling Trust's press release has a two-page President's Address chronicling Dilip's recent activities on the PAC's behalf.

"One of the best things about PAC, I have always thought, is being connected with like-minded people," he writes. "I'm sure we've all made many friends."

I'm sure some of those like-minded people would now love to know what's been going on behind the scenes of late. And I'm sure they'd rather hear it from the club, than the first angling journalist who decides it's worth investigating this a little further.

The PAC has been a cornerstone of pike fishing for more than 30 years. It's survived worse in its time. It needs to get a grip on this and move on.

++The PAC has announced Mark Green as its new president on Twitter tonight.

+++Angling Trust press release of November 14 *linky*.

How time flies pike fishing in the Fens

I started this a year ago today. It's amazing how time flies.

It's even more amazing how many people now visit this blog on a regular basis.
 
Some of them leave comments. Some of them rib me about it when they see me on the bank.

It's all good fun - not to mention largely being composed of my honestly-held personal opinions, rather than conjecture or speculation being presented as fact.

An evening with Rodders

Steve Rodwell's the special guest at next week's King's Lynn PAC meeting - definitely one not to be missed. It's at the Wm Burt Club at West Winch on Wednesday, November 21 (7.30pm). 

Having fished with the bloke once or twice, he's a real legend who seems to be at home on just about any kind of water.

It's hard to think of anyone as consistent when it comes to catching those hallowed twenties in recent seasons. While others struggle, Rodders catches.

See you there.....

Slow start to pike fishing in the Fens

It says a lot when November comes around and you're running out of ideas already. Just about everyone else I know is struggling, which lessens the pain somewhat. But the question that remains is why.

I spoke briefly to a couple of the Cambs guys at last week's King's Lynn PAC meeting. One said the smaller fish which used to save a blank seem to have disappeared from a lot of waters down their way.

The swim above used to reliably hold a few pike of all sizes, as it's on a deep bend where the roach and skimmers shoal. Nowadays, getting a run's an event in itself on there.

One school of thought doing the rounds is there's now so much food in our drains and rivers that the pike are probably swimming around stuffed to the gills. Well fed pike are much harder to catch than hungry pike, for obvious reasons.

Lure anglers seem to be faring better than the herring soakers at the moment - possibly because pike will attack a lure on instinct, whereas one with a full belly might baulk at cramming in another deadbait.

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the first frosts will throw the switch and bring them on the feed. But in the 15 seasons I've fished the Fens, I've normally caught far more fish in the first couple of months of the season than the rest of it put together.

This could be because I usually fish a lot harder for the first few weeks after the summer lay-off, because I'm full of the joys of going pike fishing again. Christmas is usually followed by a cold snap, meaning January and February can be quite slow in my experience.

Instead of a few hints on waters to try, my response to a couple of e-mails from anglers thinking of having a go in the Fens has been don't bother - it's so slow at the moment it's not worth the effort and expense of travelling from the North or Midlands.

This is a warts and all blog, meaning one that tells it like it is. Someone also suggested I was down playing things to put people off fishing the waters I fish. If I was catching, I'd be saying so - probably without mentioning where.

I met some Polish guys who'd travelled up from London for a weekend's fishing the other day. They were serious lure anglers, who looked like they knew what they were doing. One said he'd heard and read so much about the Fens he was surprised how hard it was to find a few fish. Join the club mate, I said.

Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door

The Chipper Bailiff has tears in his eyes as he hands me the revolver. "I'm, um, we're all really sorry it, um, had to end like this," he says.

"It's not your fault old podna," I reassure the Chipper Bailiff, as a I chamber a round in the breech and flick off the safety catch. "It's just one of those things."

"But I used to like checking your ticket," he sobs. "I mean, you were one of the ones I used to look forward to seeing on the river. We always used to have a right old mardle.

"I never realised all them times you said you hadn't caught any you was tellin' the truth."

As I kneel down in the reeds, the Chipper Bailiff's mobile phone goes. He has Knockin' on Heaven's Door as his ringtone.

Greys Prodigy Tip & Butt Protectors

Chef asked me if I'd ever broken a rod the other day. I don't know if this was a comment on my casting, as the tip bounced off a tree in mid-chuck.

It's probably a testament to how well made modern pike rods are that we don't break more of them heaving them in and out of the car or rattling around on the boat.

With a change to a smaller vehicle imminent, I'll have less space to cram everything into, so I'm stepping up the protection afforded to my eye-wateringly expensive collection of carbon fibre. I've seen one or two people using these tip and butt protectors from Greys.

They pass my usual maxim of if my mates can't break it, then it's probably a fairly durable bit of kit with flying colours. I liked them straight out of the packet, especially as they were £5.99 a pair from Harris.

The slimmer one fits snugly over the butt and tip of a rod once you reverse the sections and hold them together with a rod band above the reel to keep them secure and hold the trace clip. The thicker one will hold two rods if you use it to cover the male and female half of the spigot or overfit (if you have posher rods than me...).

One minor disappointment is the tip/butt half of the bundled up rod won't fit into the pocket of a Korda quiver with one of the protectors on. No big drama, as I don't always use a quiver.

They fasten securely with the Velcro strap and offer far more protection than using a rod band to keep the tip and butt sections together.

Half price Rapala Glidin' Rap

I didn't know Rapala made jerkbaits either. First impressions of this one straight out of the box are it's a well-made, good looking lure. It's roughly the same shape and size as a Shad Rap, but without the lip and with finer-guage VMC trebles.

Not every mass-produced lure does what it says on the tin, but they reckon this one will get down to 5ft and zig zag if you bring it in with downward taps of the rod. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

+++They're half price at Harris Sportsmail at the moment - £8.49 instead of £16.99.

Chef rustles up a quick pike

As we pitched up in Sump Corner, I glibly told Chef I managed to nail seven or eight last time I fished here. I felt quite confident as I threw a joey down the reed line and launched another one out into the deeps.

Skeins of geese glide in as we bustle over the rods. Netting a fish here means a balancing act on the mat of dying flag rush - possibly a wet foot.

But it's a glorious morning as a brisk westerly pushes the clouds down the valley. And if catching one means soggy tootsies, I have a spare pair of socks in the car; which means in theory I could net three before risking trench foot.

When Chef's float goes, I discover he has come wearing clodhoppers which are waterproof to a depth of a couple of inches, so in I go to net it. My socks stay dry as out comes a gloriously pristine, if slightly pissed off-looking pike.

I guess if you fastened your munching gear around a nice fat sardine, got yanked out of the lake and ended up with me and Chef staring at you, it might drive a coach and horses through your morning.

This is it, I'm thinking. We might catch a few today. This turns out to be a somewhat  optimistic prognosis, as we move to a nearby water, then another, with a lost fish the only other run.