Slide show season going well

The fishing might have been pants this week but the talks have been packing 'em in.

Mark Barrett's slide show in Lincoln and Eric Edwards' presentation to the Cambridge region were both attended by around 40 people, and both were cracking evenings' entertainment by all accounts.

Check out what's happening in your part of the world, around a dozen regions now have their own blogs featuring forthcoming meetings and activities, with links down the right-hand side of this blog.

Meetings are a good way to get to know people, renew aquaintances with people you've bumped into on the bank and even broaden your pike fishing horizons.

Walton on Thames are hosting Eddie Turner on Monday, December 11. For more details, click here.

Reviews added to PAC Members Forums

The PAC Message Boards now have a review forum where you can tell other anglers about the tackle you've used and abused, how well it stood up to the rigours of pike fishing and whether it was worth the money.

These are real reviews from PAC members who've used the tackle concerned after forking out their hard-earned for it.

First up was webmaster Dave Lumb, with his thoughts on an innovative new rucksack system. He was sceptical to start with, but it soon grew on him.

If you're a member and you haven't already signed up for the forums, here's another good reason to.

Please read the terms and conditions carefully before trying to register. Posters must be PAC members who use their real names to sign up.

We don't need a pike cull - Barrie

Leave things as they are, we don't need a pike cull. That's the message from PAC founder, former club president, pike expert and author Dr Barrie Rickards.

In his column on the FISHINGmagic website, he has this message for the cull-em brigade: "Nobody likes these upsurges of small pike but the way to get around it is counterintuitive to many anglers; either you must leave things as they are but do not remove any pike, or you put in a few big pike."

To read the whole column - which tackles a couple of other pike-related topics - click here.

Fish theft warning posters in 11 languages

If you click this link, you can download and print off posters in 11 different languages which carry the following warning from the Environment Agency about fish theft:

FISHING?

Anyone aged 12 years or over who fishes for salmon,
trout, freshwater fish or eels in England or Wales must
have a valid Environment Agency Rod Fishing Licence.

• Rod Licences are available from every Post Office in
England & Wales. Failure to produce a valid licence could
result in prosecution and a fine of up to £2500.

• A Rod Licence does not give you permission to fish,
therefore you also need the permission from the owner of
the water before you start fishing.

• A rod licence does not give you the right to take fish from
any water. This will depend on local byelaws and you must
have permission from the owner of the water where you are
fishing. Anybody caught taking fish without permission is
liable to be prosecuted under the Theft Act.
Fishing Close Seasons (months when fishing is NOT
permitted)

• Fishing close seasons exist on all rivers and streams in the
UK. The times of these close seasons vary locally and you
are advised to contact your local Environment Agency
office for more details. For canals and stillwaters – this
includes all lakes and ponds - you must contact the owner
to check if there is a close season on their waters.

Please call the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506
for more details if you are unsure of the close seasons
on any

New NFA guidance on fish theft

The National Federation of Anglers (NFA) today issued guidance to anglers and those who run fisheries about fish theft.

It includes a helpful form you can use to log the kind of information which may be of use to the Environment Agency and other authorities in mounting a prosecution.

You can read and print of the form by clicking here.

PAC recruits at Carp Show

The PAC will have a membership and merchandise stall at this weekend's Carp Show at Sandown.

Anyone going along will be able to join the club, buy clothing or have a chat about pike fishing.

Come and say hello if you're down there.

And don't worry - we won't tell anyone you went to a carp show.

Otter devastation on Suffolk gravel pits

FISHINGmagic.com today published a bailiff's first-hand account of the damage otters are doing his fishery, along with some graphic pictures.

Click here to read it.

Plenty of trout to Chew on

Pike in Chew Valley Reservoir won't be going hungry this winter.

Management at the Somerset trout fishery reckon they've stocked it with 85,000 browns and rainbows this year. So far only 35,000 have been caught.

Flood warnings for the Severn and Wye

Flood warnings have been issued for the rivers Severn and Wye after heavy downpours are predicted.

Click here to see full weather warning story.

Broads pikers warned after vandals strike

Anglers fishing the River Thurne around Martham in Norfolk are being warned after wheel nuts were loosened on a trailer with potentially deadly consequences.

A wheel came off the trailer after it had been left at Cess Road, Martham, for the day.

Luckily in bounced into someone's garden off the Martham - Acle road. Had it come adrift on the A47, it's no exaggeration to say someone could have been killed.

"Imagine if that had come off at 60mph and gone through someone's windscreen," a PAC spokesman said.

"Or a boat and trailer had broken loose in front of a lorry or a bus-load of school children."

The incident is not the first to have happened in the area. Anglers cars had nails pushed into their tyres last week. A camper van has also been damaged in a separate attack.

Tonight the PAC advised all members to secure vehicles and trailers, and leave them at attended boatyards and slipways until the culprit or culprits are caught.

"We are working with pike anglers in Norfolk tonight to ensure that they are - before someone is seriously injured or worse," a spokesman said.

Raffle tickets and membership forms on way

Tickets for the PAC's Winter Mega raffle are now in the post, with membership forms you can use to enter our special promotion where everyone who recruits a new member gets entered in the draw to win a brand new boat.#

There are more than 100 prizes in the raffle. They include everything to a guided catfish holiday, rods, lures and other sundries.

You are automcatically entered for the draw for the boat every time someone you introduced joins the club.

To make sure you don't miss out, there's a special box on the leaflets to add your name and PAC number to, so we know whose name goes in the hat.

Do your bit to support the club this winter and you could walk away with a great prize. Watch out for the postman...

Glossop meeting change tonight

While the Glossop meeting is going ahead tonight - Tuesday, December 5 - at Hadfield Conservative Club, Luremania can't make it.

An alternative speaker has been arranged.

Gary Knowles in Stoke on Trent, Tuesday night

Staffs Predator Angling Group are hosting Gary Knowles for a slide show at 8pm tonight (Tuesday, Dec 5...) at the Pioneer Club, Chetwynd Street, Smallthorne, Stoke on Trent. Buffet and raffle, non-members welcolme.

For directions click here.

PAC forums hit new milestone

We're just about to break through the 10,000 posts barrier, stats from our hosts say tonight.

Chairman Colin drops in to Wakefield

PAC chairman Colin Goodge is travelling to Wakefield to do a talk on Tuesday, December 12.

It starts at 8pm at Henry Boon's in Westgate, Wakefield. All welcome.

Scots launch Fish For Jordan appeal

Pikers in Scotland are raising cash to send a terminally-ill boy and his family on holiday.

The PAC's North Lanarkshire region has stepped in to help send Jordan Hall, who has cancer at the age of just five, to Disneyland,Florida.

They're holding a fish-in on Kilchurn Bay, Loch Awe, on Sunday, December 17.

It's a tenner to take part, there'll be a raffle on the day and all monies raised will go to the Jordan Hall Fund.

Meeting time is 7.30am at the car park area, on the castle side of the loch. Fishing 8am - 3.30pm.

Anyone who can't make it can send any donations payable to Sandy Mackie, 2 Raeburn Walk, Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, ML4 1LH, cheques payable to RA93 North Lanarkshire.

Rolling membership now in force

For decades, the PAC has had a membership year which ran from October to October.

Rolling membership, which was one of the initiatives put in place by the current committee has now kicked in.

That means if you're joining the club for the first time, your membership runs for a year from the date you join - not until next October.

Membership secretary John Cahill said: "Given the volume of new applications received during September to November they have an expiry in line with the clubs traditional date of 30 September.


With effect from December new members get 12 months from the date they join - commencing the first of the month in which they join- and will recieve four issues of Pikelines.

Renewals will still run October 1, 2006; to September 30, 2007. A member will still get four issues of Pikelines within that period.

Don't forget every member can enter the draw to win a purpose-built pike fishing boat every time the introduce someone to the PAC.

For more details on this exciting promotion click here.

Who was that masked man..?

Pike anglers on the Broads have taken to wearing masks to disguise their identities, reports Keith Elliott - angling correspondent of the Independent.

More here.

PAC forums going from strength to strength

More than 350 anglers now belong to the PAC members' forums, which got more than 130,000 hits in November, webmaster Dave Lumb told the committee today.

Fens club set for "crisis meeting"

One of the biggest clubs in the Fens is in turmoil, members learned today.

Ely Beet Club, which controls around three miles of the Great Ouse downstream of the city, as well as former record zander water Roswell Pits, is holding what is being described as a crisis meeting on Friday, December 15.

In a letter to members, secretary Elaine Pullar writes: "Your fishing section committee is made up of three volunteers and could possibly collapse due to Paul Verdon stepping down.

"We need you to come along and listen to what is being proposed by the fishing committee and the management committee. This will be your opportunity to be aware of what is being proposed.

"If the fishing committee does not get support on the evening then the management committee will have to make decisions based upon a financial impact which could affect the amount of waters being made available."

Uncertainty has surrounded the future of Roswell since it was sold to a property developer by the charity which owned it earlier this year.

Speculation is rife that parts of the pits could be transformed into a marina and the new owner has not so far commented on whether fishing has future on the water, which has produced record zander and pike nudging 30lbs in the past.