Get in the picture

PAC Pike Angler of the Year, Graham Slater, has provided some helpful tips for taking photos of your pike while fishing alone for the PAC website. Although he seems to have forgotten to pick the fish up for the shot on the right!

You can read the page here.

NACA Open Day - June 1st

The Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association (NACA) is holding its annual Open day event at the renowned Bawburgh Lakes Fishery just outside Norwich on Sunday 1st June 2008 between 10:00am and 4:30pm.

Entry will be free, with plenty of parking for the public to enjoy watching and meeting experienced anglers, fish with licensed angling coaches and watch many demonstrations.

All juniors must be accompanied by an adult.

Dogs are welcome but must be kept on a lead.

There will be the opportunity to meet with special guest for the day, 4 times World Champion “Bob Nudd MBE”.

Demonstrations will be ongoing and include pike handling and welfare, lure fishing, trace making in conjunction with PAC, NACA and Norwich Pike Anglers Club, carp fishing, boilie making and rig clinic with Carp Connection, feeder fishing with Nick Larkin, Learn to cast with Terry Houseago, Salmon and Trout Association, Norfolk Wildlife Trust, electricity and carbon rods with EDF, pond dipping and guided bird watching.

The Environment Agency will be the main sponsor of the event.

Bait for the coaches will be sponsored by Angling Direct and Sensas.

There is an emphasis on newcomers, young and lapsed anglers. NFA and PAA licensed coaches will be set up on Bawburgh, Finger and Semons Lakes to provide instruction.

Bring a picnic to this beautiful Conservation site, managed by NACA or purchase refreshments and food from the barbecue being served all day.

Access to the event is in New Road between Bawburgh Village and Bowthorpe, approximately 4 miles west of Norwich. Turn off from A47 bypass on to the B1108 Watton Road signed ‘Colney and N&N Hospital’ then head towards Watton, taking the first right down Stocks Hill to Bawburgh Village. New Road is immediate right turn after the bridge, follow the road back under the A47 with the Fishery entrance a further 100 yards on the right.

From Bowthorpe, New Road turn is directly off the perimeter Chapel Break Road.

Sat Nav NR9 3LZ

For any further information please contact NACA Publicity Officer Chris Smith on 07826 811036.

MPs debate threat to Broads

MPs were set to debate the threat to the Upper Thurne and its broads today - as the head of the agency behind proposals to allow them to be flooded by the sea apologised.

Natural England is behind proposals to abandon coastal defences between Eccles and Wintertion, on the Norfok coast.

If adopted by central government, the move would mean the looss of Horsey Mere, Hickling Broad, the Martham broads and heigham Sound, along with hundreds of homes in six low-lying villages.

More than 1600 people have now signed a petition to save the Upper Thurne system, which includes some of Britain's most historically-important pike fisheries.

Today Dr David Viner, Natural England's chief specialist on the impacts of climate changes, said difficult choices would need to ba made. In an interview with the Eastern Daily Press, he said the agency was right to initiate a debate over the future of flood defences.

The Environment Agency believes it can keep the North Sea at bay for at least another 50 years.

But the defences cost £1.5m a year to maintain and some officials believe allowing the area to flood would help send out "the right message" about the severity of climate change.

Other options, ranging from strengthening sea defences to doing nothing have also been proposed.

The plans became public after a draft report - not intended to be published until September - was leaked to newspapers threee weeks ago.

Today MPs led my Mid Norfolk's Keith Simpson were set to challenge the government to come clean over its plans, in a 90-minute debate.

To read the interview with Dr Viner, click here.

To sign the petition, click here.

Four must-see speakers for Piking 2008

Four must-see speakers have been signed up for this year's Pike Anglers Club Convention.

Piking 2008 will be held at Stoneleigh, Warks, on Saturday, September 27.

Predator fishing in all four corners of the British Isles, along with Holland and Sweden are covered by Derek MacDonald, Graham Slater, Michel Huigevoort and PA Högberg.

PAC promotions manager Mike Kelly said: "All four speakers have varied experience and fish differently, but one thing's for sure - they'll all knock you out with their talks and catches."

Derek Macdonald may be one of the country's best-known lure anglers but he rarely shares the secrets of his success.

"On my travels I have fished in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales even as far afield as Eastern Germany," he said.

"After a long and winding road, I have managed to reach my Everest and fulfil my dream, catching a monstrous fish weighing over 40lbs."

Graham Slater is another one of pike fishing's quieter exponents, who has enjoyed some phenomenal catches.

“Thirty years of fishing waters in England, Ireland and Scotland have shaped both the way I think about my fishing and the way I go about it," he said.

"My presentation will details some of my experiences and things I've learned from them, along with last season’s results and how I achieved my most successful season ever."

Michel Huigevoort will be travelling from Holland to share the Dutch style of fishing rivers.

He said: “I grew up close to the river Maas in the south of Holland. And after my very first pike the call of the river and the hunt for the biggest predator never went away.

"A part from pike fishing I like fishing for zander as well. Challenging the biggest bodies of water is what I like most, in Holland and abroad."

PA Högberg, from Stockholm, will be outlining his approach to both the increasingly popular Baltic and other Scandinavian waters.

"My talk outline will be the Swedish pike of different types like lake pike, river pike, Baltic pike and sub-groups like stationary pike.

"I'll be covering techniques to catch them. How to pick the right lure. Fishing technique with different types of baits. Rods and reels and how to chose the proper gear."

As well as the speakers, the PAC Convention is regarded by many pike anglers as the start to their winter campaign.

Stalls featuring the latest predator tackle, the lively second-hand tackle sale, demonstrations, awards and the chance to meet some of the sport's top names add up to a top day's entertainment.

All predator anglers are welcome, with tickets costing £12 for PAC members and £14 for non-members on the door.

Up to two juniors (under 16...) are admitted free with each paying adult, while advance tickets are available priced £10.

Parking is free and there are refreshments and bar.

For advance tickets, send a cheque payable to the PAC for £10 per ticket, with a stamped address envelope, to: Mike Kelly, 47 Yew Tree Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 0BG.

A day not to be missed...

Natural England boss on threat to Broads

Natural England boss Martin Doughty spells out the rationale behind plans to abandon coastal defences and allow the Upper Thurne and its broads to be flooded by the sea on The Guardian's website.

The post has already sparked an angry response from those whose homes would be lost if the plans are put into action.


Why not add to them after you've read it..? Click here for more...

Developers eye up Cotswold Water Park

Parts of one of Britain's best-known gravel pit complexes are under threat.

SAA Matters, newsletter of the Specialist Anglers Alliance, warns developers are buying up lakes in the Cotswold Water Park and building holiday homes around them.

"It seems the market cannot get enough of these properties and now there is a queue of developers around the block trying to buy up any piece of available water," writes Tim Marks.

"Any piece of water and the adjacent land in the Cotswold Water Park area is now the subject of developer attention.

"Those fisheries that are on short-term leases are extremely vulnerable. When the times comes for renegotiation, the anglers are simply outbid with the net result that the water is lost to angling."

Waters owned outright by South Cerney AC are safe from falling prey to the log cabin invasion, the piece goes on. But it warns gravel pit complexes in other parts of the country could also fall prey to developers.

Army chief joins battle to Save the Broads

Britain's top soldier who has spent a lifetime defending Queen and country today fired a broadside at proposals to allow parts of the Norfolk Broads to be flooded by the sea.

Government conservation group Natural England is behind proposals to abandon coastal defences and allow the North Sea to claim the Upper Thurne and its broads.

If adopted, the plan would spell the end for some of Britain's finest pike fisheries such as Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere.

In an interview with the Eastern Daily Press newspaper today General Sir Richard Dannatt, who is the head of the British Army, said: “I think it would be a tragedy if we allowed that area to be given up and inundated.

“I think to give up a great chunk of Norfolk to the sea without a fight is something I find quite counter-intuitive and quite difficult to do.

“I really think we should continue to invest in the sea defences around there, I think it would be a tragedy to lose a wonderful area of the county by allowing the sea in without a fight. After all, the Dutch manage to achieve this perfectly well so why can't we do this on our side of the North Sea.”

Click here to read the interview.

Click here to sign our online petition.

Broads Society condemns flooding plan

The government must continue to fund coastal defence projects to prevent the "completely unacceptable" loss of 25 square miles of the Broads to the sea.

That was the plea from the 1600-strong Broads Society today, which said it was "extremely concerned" to learn of proposals being considered by government conservation advisers Natural England to abandon coastal defences and allow the Upper Thurne and its broads to flood.

It came as the PAC's online Save the Broads petition, on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 10 Downing Street website, clocked up more then 1200 signatures.

Click here to read more on the Broads Society's response.

Click here to read today's Great Yarmouth Mercury story on the latest.

Click here to sign our online petition.

Don't swim in't cut Gladys - tha'll get eaten

A monster pike is prowling a canal on the outskirts of Rochdale, Lancs, the Middleton Guardian reports today.

Click here for story.