Renew early!

Renewals for 30th September membership expiry are now being taken by our membership secretary in order to spread the workload at our busy renewal season.

Fees are again frozen until 2009 and members can renew by downloading a form here, using the renewal form in the imminent Pikelines, or on-line via PayPal

If you are planning to enter the Mick Brown Competition by recruiting a new member please find details here - the competition closes on 8th September.

Don't forget. Piking 2008 will be upon us sooner than you think. See you all at Stoneleigh on Saturday September 27th!

North-West Teach in Region 31 South Lancashire

Region 31 South Lancashire will be holding a teach-in for new and inexperienced pikers again this year. The venue will be Carmill Dam (thanks to St. Helens AA) and the date will be Sunday 21st September 10:00-14:00

Regional Organiser Jon Neafcy, who is a qualified Angling Coach, said:

"Last year Region 31 ran an angling coaching session aimed at showing youngsters and newcomers to the sport some of the basic methods to catch and pike welfare. This year we aim to built on this and make the event more interactive. Last years event was very well attended and everyone enjoyed it. We hope that we can repeat this success this year"

Any PAC members who would be so kind as to offer their assistance or wish to donate tackle items to help with this event please contact Regional Organiser Jon Neafcy directly at roregion31@blueyonder.co.uk

PAC launches pike fly forum

PAC members who enjoy the challenge of fly fishing for pike have a new web forum.

The Pike Anglers Club has added a fly fishing section to its forum where newcomers can ask the experts for advice and seasoned fliers can swop patterns and tackle tips.

If you're a member and you haven' visited for a while, why not log in and take a look by following the link at www.pacgb.com.

Pikelines features Eric on rivers

Rods pointing skywards and a float you can steer across the current... Welcome to Eric Edwards's ground-breaking approach to fishing rivers using a planer you can knock up from the odds and ends most pikers have rattling around in their rucksacks and tackle boxes.
All is revealed in Pikelines, the quarterly magazine of the Pike Anglers Club. Members will be receiving the autumn issue in just over a week's time.
As well as Eric's off-beat take on running water, it includes up to date details of this year's PAC Convention, application forms for club events on waters including Menteith and Rutland, plus all the usual news and views including the inside story of how a campaign to safeguard the Norfolk Broads, kick started by the PAC, led to a ministerial pledge to protect some of Britain's most historic pike fisheries.

Lodes safe for now, says Gordon Brown

Cambridgeshire's Fen lodes are safe for the time being, says Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office.

The Pike Anglers Club joined parish councils in a campaign to safeguard historic waterways, after an EA report said levels could be lowered and bank maintenance stopped.

Nearly 1,000 people signed an online petition, while the PAC helped generate considerable coverage in local media.

Gordon Brown's office has now issued the following response:

"The consultation document gave everyone the chance to comment on the options for maintenance of the Lodes.

"The option preferred by the Environment Agency and most of those who responded to the consultation, is to maintain the Lodes at their present level and undertake repairs as and when required."

Click here to read it in full.

EA plans future for Great Ouse

Environment Agency scientists are drawing up plans to deal with the impacts of climate change on Fenland's main artery.

Problems posed by changing weather patterns and siltation were unveiled in a new discussion paper, during open days at Denver Sluice.

Pike anglers in the Fens wonder whether restoring Denver Sluice will mean an end to the harsh flows and fluctuating levels scientists believe have led to poor spawning years for pike and prey fish being swept out to sea by heavy flows in the Relief Channel.

Click here for a newspaper report by Chris Bishop.

PAC hits back over "barbarous" claim

Predator anglers have hit back at claims their tackle is "barbarous" after a newspaper columnist said being caught causes pike to "bleed to death".

It came after veteran Norfolk angling columnist Roy Webster claimed a 36lbs Broads pike had died as a result of mis-handling.

"And once again the barbarous snap tackle that can often carry three separate sets of barbed treble hooks have been identified as one of the main reasons why pike are wounded in the gills and bleed to death as a result," he wrote in the Eastern Daily Press.

Tonight Phil Wakeford, president of the 2800-strong Pike Anglers Club, dismissed the allegations as "ill-informed nonsense".

He said: "Pike anglers have been using the so called snap tackle - which is a rig made up up from two hooks, not three - since its invention more than 100 years ago.

"While there are still plenty of pike around today, standards of fish-handling and anglers' care for their welfare has come a long way, particularly over the last 30 years.

"We'd be interested to hear exactly who suggests pike are routinely wounded in the gills and bleed to death, as the reality both in Norfolk and elsewhere is very different .

"We note this mystery expert did not go on record, and was not quoted in the piece. And no-one in the pike angling community was given the opportunity to comment on these ludicrous claims. As ever, we ask where's the proof..?"

The PAC, which has campaigned to preserve the pike and pike fishing for the last three decades, recommends anglers use tackle suitable for landing the species as quickly as possible, effective bite indication and prompt striking.

"Pike, like all fish, feed with their mouths and this is where anglers' hooks generally end up if they are fishing with their quarry's welfare in mind," Phil Wakeford said.

"We do ask anglers to think carefully before pike fishing during the summer. While pike are vulnerable to poor handling at any time of the year, we know problems can occur when they are played on inadequate tackle when oxygen levels are low."

He added anglers seeking more information on rigs, pike care and summer fishing could consult the PAC website - click here.

The website includes specific information about fishing for pike during the warmer months - click here.

Barrie Rickards' tribute to Eric Hodson

Oh dear! Another good man gone, and not a better one anywhere in angling. In all my years of angling and all the time I knew Eric, I cannot remember meeting a more helpful and friendly man. Being with him at meetings, which was often, and fishing with him was a real pleasure, always. On one of my first angling trips with Eric I was complaining about the lack of decent rod rests for specimen fishing; a few weeks later I received a superb set from him that were made form tank aerials, which I still use to this day.

Eric was never, I think, renowned as a big fish man himself, though he did well enough at times as I shall tell you. However, he was quickly involved in the burgeoning specimen hunting movements of the late 1950’s and was a member of the Northern Specimen Group based in Sheffield. Along with Ray Webb, Ron Clay, Don Savage, Dick Clegg (later of match-fishing fame!) and others. Eric saw the potential of combining all the specimen groups under one banner to get the big fish movements exchanging information, but also, to increase their political clout too. So the National Association of Specimen Groups
(NASG) was formed and for years was very successful. Dick Walker has often been attributed in the media with the founding of the movement, but this is quite wrong. Dick inspired the concept of specimen hunting, but it was Eric who was responsible for the conception and setting up of the NASG. In his later years Eric resented this put- down and the media were loathed to correct the error. The answer by the NASG and it’s successors was to honour Eric properly which pleased him greatly.

Again, Eric was instrumental in the founding of the Pike Society of which Fred Buller was the first President, and me, the second. The paperwork was done by Eric. This leads me naturally to the only downside to Eric; he was not an efficient man at times! I discussed this with him often, and there were very good reasons why handling the considerable correspondence for the Society (and for NASG) was difficult for him. For a start he was fully employed as an engineer, with his own company at times. All his angling work was not only in his ‘spare’ time, but at his own expense entirely. I never knew him to claim a single penny in expenses for angling and he must have spent thousands of pounds on behalf of angling. The problem was that in those days, before email, letters from officials tended to be typed, so they piled up, and potential members were lost. In consequence, the Pike Society, rarely with much more than 100 members faded away.

Then Eric, recognising all this, asked Hugh Reynolds and I to take over, which we did, fully realising what we’d be letting ourselves in for! We changed it to PAC of course, and by sheer hard work all went well. Eric was ecstatic at the result; it was what he wanted. He had the grasp of what was needed, the dream, the idea, and then he needed workhorses to move it on a bit. It was the same when he was running NASG; in the end it became a little too much for him and younger people took over. I didn’t think he was pleased to step aside at the time, but he was later pleased to see how his ‘baby’ had grown, and I do remember his last visit to the Specialist Anglers’ Alliance meeting where he seemed staggered at the achievements.

Eric had an amazing recall of specimen hunting activities from the earliest days and talked often of writing up all this in a book with anecdotes. Martin Gay and I tried hard to encourage him, even providing him with a chapter plan at one stage, but eventually it became clear that it would never happen. A great loss I think. I have a huge pack of correspondence from him, all beautifully written, (and he said he couldn’t write!) and had he written a book in the style of the letters it would have been a lovely read. However, of course, all this passing of information was done verbally because he was always excellent at communicating with anglers, and with helping them too.

One of my most cherished times with Eric was tench fishing some lakes up near Selby. He kindly got me a permit to fish a water producing plenty of 5lb-plus fish, quite something then. Eric had it down to a fine art, crouched behind a low green mesh screen he caught big tench right under his rod tip. Terry Coulson used to come up from the smoke too, so we had a good time and good fish. Certainly the tench catches he made were as good as anyone was getting anywhere, even in Ireland. I forget the biggest, but it was over 7 pounds.

He was a pioneer in other areas too. I recall he was one of the first Brit’s to go barbel fishing in S. Europe, for example, and in general had his eye open for new and unlikely venues. All his ‘political’ work for angling sometimes prevented him doing what he really liked best of all, namely sitting at the water fishing, having a good yarn with a fellow angler. I think that is how I shall remember him best of all; a good friend, excellent company and a man of some vision in many matters to do with angling.

Barrie Rickards, July 2008.

Farewell to PAC founder Eric Hodson

PAC founding father Eric Hodson's funeral will be held at 1.30pm on Monday, July 21, at Brimington Crematorium, Chesterfield, Derbys.

A gathering to celebrate Eric's life will be held afterwards at the Lockoford Inn, Lockford Lane, Tapton, Chesterfield, S41 0TQ.

Eric's friend Ron Clay has written an obituary on FISHINGmagic - click here to read it.

EXCLUSIVE: New life for 70s hotspot

Thirty or more years ago, it was one of the country's top pike waters, delivering large numbers of fish to over 20lbs.

Once frequented by the likes of Neville Fickling, Barrie Rickards and Bill Chillingworth, pike packed on weight as coarse fish populations colonised the Great Ouse Relief Channel and predator anglers flocked to fish it.

In more recent years, the 'channel - which runs from Denver Sluice to King's Lynn - has fallen from favour with pikers, while scientists believe harsh winter run-offs and fluctuating water levels around spawning time haven't done predators or their prey fish any favours.

For nearly a decade, water from the Ouse system has been run off through the Relief Channel because the sluices at Denver, from where the river once flowed into the tidal Ouse, have been silted up.

Now officials are set to reveal that work is going ahead to restore the sluices. The EA's plans for the Relief Channel are set to be revaled to anglers at a workshop at Denver later this week.

Thurne pike deaths not prymnesium

EA scientists have ruled out the dreaded prymnesium as the cause of recent pike deaths on Norfolk's River Thurne.

Tests were carried out at Hickling, Horsey and Martham after a number of fish to 17lbs were found dead.

But EA spokesman Steve Lane said prymnesium cell readings were well below the danger levels when the algae can explode into a massive bloom to produce a lethal toxin when it dies off.

“We have the results of the latest water tests back from the laboratory and the prymnesium cell count in the River Thurne was 1,400 per ml and only between 200 and 300 per ml in Hickling Broad.

"These numbers are well below the threshold accepted as danger levels but we would urge all anglers to keep their eyes peeled for any more distressed, dying or dead fish and ring our emergency line 0800 80 70 60 immediately if they spot any trouble."

Pike fishing mourns a founding father

One of the PAC's founding fathers has passed away after a long illness, at the age of 84.

Eric Hodson helped launch the National Association of Specimen Groups, which went on to become the modern-day Specialist Anglers Alliance.

He also founded the Pike Society, which later became the Pike Anglers Club.

We're sure all PAC members will join anglers from many branches of the sport tonight in mourning his loss. Our thoughts are with his family and many, many friends.

A fuller obituary and details of Eric's funeral will follow.

EA probes pike deaths on Thurne

Environment Agency scientists are investigating pike deaths on Norfolk's River Thurne.

It comes just days after Floods Minister Phil Woolas pledged £100m to maintain sea defences protecting the river and its broads from coastal flooding for another 50 years.

Click here for more.

Minister's pledge to protect the Broads

Strong hints that some of Britain's finest pike fisheries could be saved for future generations came today, as Floods Minister Phil Woolas visited Norfolk.
Anger erupted in March when proposals to allow the Upper Thurne and its broads to be flooded by the North Sea became public.

They emerged in a leaked report from Government conservation quango Natural England, which said sea defences protecting Horsey Mere, Hickling Broad, the Martham broads and Heigham Sound should be abandoned.

Whole villages would be lost under the plan, while thousands of acres of farmland would be turned into salt marsh.

But as he toured the area today, Mr Woolas said the so-called Option Four, which officials said would send out the right message to the public about the affects of climate change, was "as likely as Oldham Athletic winning the European Cup".
Mr Woolas said Natural England had been asked to provide different "scenarios" outlining different responses to rising sea levels.

He told BBC radio Norfolk: " I have asked the Environment Agency to provide reports on what can be done for a 50 to 100 year period because it is no-one's intention to allow this area to flood.

"Of course we value this beautiful area. This is people's livelihoods as well. This is where they have lived with their families for many, many generations and the government's duty is to protect it and that is what we are going to do."

Two-thousand people have signed an online petition on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 10 Downing Street website. Thousands have also signed petitions launched by parish councils in some of the villages threatened by the proposals.

North-East Norfolk Coastal Parishes Group, said Mr Woolas's announcement was "extraordinarily good news". The group is now calling for clarification over whether sea defences will be maintained for longer than the 50 years the Environment Agency believes it can sustain them.

The Upper Thurne is protected by a narrow strip of sand and shingle beaches between Eccles and Winterton. Mr Woolas said £100m would be committed over the next 50 years to help maintain them.

Three record pike, each over 40lbs, were landed from the Thurne system, inspiring generations of pike anglers to visit Norfolk.

Pike fishing remains an important revenue earner for the county, along with bird watching and other forms of water-based tourism.

To sign the PAC's online petition, click here.

For more on today's visit click here.

Summer membership offer still on!

This year’s summer membership offer commenced on 12th May and runs to 30th September 2008. It is open to new and late renewing members and means you will enjoy membership until 30th September 2009 and receive 6 of our excellent Pikelines magazines during this time.

During the last two years the PAC have been involved in a number of issues across the UK at national and regional level. Summarised as follows:

• When fishery students boasted about taking part in a pike cull on the River Darrent, we exposed them in the media and arranged a meeting with their college, the Environment Agency and the local angling club. Following PAC involvement the Pike will be saved and relocated to a nearby lake.
  Behind the scenes, we are now actively investigating the extent of pike culling on waters up and down the country.
  
  
• The Environment Agency allowed just under 100 culls to take place last year, so we've got our work cut out.
  
  
• We continue to monitor Pike killing on the Warwickshire Avon following the ill informed comments made by two well known match anglers.
  
  
• We have engaged with Festival organisers in Northern Ireland over poor practices employed in Pike matches.
  
  
• When Cambridgeshire's historic lodes were threatened by proposals to lower water levels, we joined parish councillors and other groups campaigning to save them.
  
  
• Our local regions in the North East have successfully negotiated access to RSPB waters at Fairburn Ings.
  
  
• In partnership with angling club officials in the Fens, we have highlighted the problem of fish being removed in numbers for the table and a new Crime-stoppers style hotline has been set up by the Environment Agency to help it target enforcement patrols.
  
  
• As we write, we are preparing a submission to MPs prior to a parliamentary debate on proposals to abandon coastal defences and allow the Upper Thurne and its broads - some of our most historic pike fisheries - to be flooded by the sea.
  We are also investigating the removal of pike from a Wessex river for the catering trade.

All of this takes time and money. But when you look at some of the victories the club has scored on behalf of pike anglers, it's worth every penny.

Please continue to support the work of the PAC. Because we'll be there when your fishing's under threat.

The PAC has won a lot of battles but there are always a lot more to fight.

Your fishing might be next - join and help us protect it.

Click here to join on line NOW!

PAC Events for 2008/09

The PAC has lined up a number of fishing events for it's members during the forthcoming autumn and winter, with more to be finalised.

The list of events confirmed so far can be found on the events page as usual.

Don't forget Piking 2008 which is being held on Saturday September 27th at
Stoneleigh Park, Coventry.

Piking 2008 is open to all,with special ticket deals for PAC members and members of PAAS, LAS and any SAA affiliated groups (upon production of their respective membership card).

If you aren't already a PAC member you can take advantage of our Summer Membership Offer to become eligible to fish the events and get a reduced ticket price for Piking 2008.

NACA receive River Wensum project funding

Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association (NACA) have been awarded £10,000 in funding by the Environment Agency towards a partnership project with the Agency to assess the feasibility and prepare outline designs for, sustainable river restoration projects for the reaches of the River Wensum at Lyng either upstream or downstream of the mill, and at Costessey downstream of the railway line.

The designs will be in line with the river Wensum Restoration strategy and will give recommendations for restoration projects that will benefit the ecology and fisheries in these areas and contribute to restoring the river to that typical of a Norfolk chalk stream.

The reaches to benefit will be that of Lyng the site of NACA’s first restoration project which has also recently benefited from gravel augmentation work by the Agency, and at Costessey where phase two of their ambitious restoration project is deemed to take place to restore this once renowned barbel fishery.

Chris Oakley Chairman of the Association said: ‘ we are happy to be leading the way on projects of this kind on the Wensum something the Association has been heavily involved with for over twenty years and are pleased to work closely and in partnership with the Agency and welcome their support’.

Any preliminary design work will be undertaken in early 2009.

www.norfolkanglers.com

Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association AGM – End Of An Era

Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association AGM – End Of An Era
The Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association (NACA) held their AGM on 20th May at Bawburgh village hall.

The meeting was well attended and the last to be chaired by Chris Turnbull, who after more than 20 years at the forefront of NACA, has decided to stand down from the committee. He was presented with a pair of custom built rods in appreciation of his relentless commitment towards the conservation and restoration projects that NACA have become involved in over the years.

Chris Oakley, who was voted as the new Chairman, gave an address which spoke of the exciting work which now lay ahead of the Association in partnership with the Environment Agency and Natural England to deliver the River Wensum Restoration Strategy and the continuing commitment to training and educational events which are now becoming core to the Association.
Dave Nelson was also voted as Secretary and Jamie Hall has become a new committee member.

Following on from the meeting, Richard Leishman of Natural England gave a comprehensive talk about the River Wensum Restoration Strategy, which was well received.

If anyone is interested in joining or finding out more about the Association they can contact membership secretary John O’Conner at NACA, PO Box 61, Norfolk, NR17 2AL, or via email at norfolkanglers.com The Association will be hosting their annual open day at Bawburgh Lakes Fishery on Sunday 1st June, 10am-4.30pm. The day is free and open to all.

North West Eel Fishing Overnighter - Saturday 21st June,

With many pikers hanging up their rods until the winter, Region 31 PAC GB and the Northwest branch of the National Anguilla Club (NAC) have organised an Eel fishing session on a canal venue.

The event will take place from 8pm-6am, there will be a demonstration of rigs and pointers on eel welfare.

Event organisers are Jon Neafcy (RO Region 31 PAC) and Peter Waterfield (NAC), please contact Jon (roregion31@blueyonder.co.uk) or Peter for further details.
Publish Post

Four arrests in fish theft swoop

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of illegally removing fish from Norfolk's River Wissey.

Police swooped on Sunday, May 25, on a stretch of river at Roxham Fen, between Hilgay and West Dereham.

The four men - believed to be Eastern Europeans - were questioned and are currently on police bail awaiting decisions on prosecution by the Environment Agency.

Det Sgt Chris Curtis, of Downham Market CID, said: "Persons caught committing this type of offence face not only the prospect of arrest and prosecution for offences of unlawfully taking or destroying fish, they also face the prospect of all their fishing equipment being confiscated and forfeited.

"The maximum punishment that can be awarded for these offences is three months imprisonment and or a fine."

Richard Ingham, Fisheries Enforcement Team Leader at the Environment Agency's Brampton office, said: "We are working more and more closely with the police and local angling clubs to crack down on any such crime. We take all angling offences extremely seriously and are convinced that this kind of co-operation pays dividends."

The arrests come after an Crimestoppers-style hotline was launched in the Fens to gather information on incidents and enable patrols to be targeted, after talkes between the EA, local angling clubs and the Pike Anglers Club.

The PAC understands a number of dead fish were seized, along with live tench and pike restrained on stringers, while monfilament gill nets and boats were confiscated.

Anyone with information should call 01480 483023.