Essex PAC Teach In

Now, when I spoke to the Angling Development Board (ADB) last year concerning the issue of how to get kids involved in pike fishing and interested in Essex PAC, I never for one second imagined I would be attempting to organise an event of this scale. The original idea was to get into schools around Essex and give a presentation on pike fishing. Whether that would be me on my day off or perhaps a retired PAC member who would give up a morning or three. I had spoke to Mark Brand (runs Essex chapter of the Lure Angling Society) and he had told me of many pitfalls involving taking kids fishing. With all the red tape involved, it seemed impossible to get a handful of kids together and pass on any expertise. So, I’d already decided that the way forward would be to get a presentation on pike fishing into as many classrooms in the county. I’d asked for volunteers in the region at a meeting one night and was greeted with just a lone, singular voice offering help and to be honest I thought this too was proving a bit of a non-starter. I felt a bit perplexed,I don’t like doing things unless they are done right, for starters. I wouldn’t be entertaining an idea unless it was an idea worth it’s salt, quite frankly and any efforts so far were looking lame.

So here we were, an RO feeling a bit miffed, halfway through a season. I’d already smashed my personal targets with regards to getting guest speakers along. We’d been entertained by Eddie Turner, Mick Brown and given Al Rawlings his first talk at a PAC meeting and flown over a true Euro legend in DietmarIsaiasch and we’d only just turned into the New Year. With John Watson still to turn up to Essex PAC and having held a couple of fairly successful fishmeets already, with a third still to come, I found my attention wavering back to the issue of presentation in schools. Always looking to give the carping fraternity a run for their money in Essex, I saw the talks in schools thing as a way of an introduction into piking. It was around this time, that I received a phone call out of the blue from Nick, my local rep from the ADB. I’d always liked Nick, he was a real do-er, in fact one of the ADB’s shining stars (or so he always told me!) though it’s no secret we probably clash.

Anyhow, this phone call went something like….”Sean, I’ve just got off the phone to Sport England and they’ve offered funding for eighty kids to go fishing. How would you like to take them all pike fishing? “

Well, knock me down with a feather, is this guy for real?...“I’d love to do that Nick” …I blurbed back at him, not really giving any thought at all about when?, how?, if it could be possible! Then he continued rabbiting on,“yeah, we need to provide two 3hr sessions, over two days, so the same 80 kids come back the day later and do it all again”…..my mind raced. Christ on a bike, how the hell are we going to do that I wondered.“Listen, Sean, the other phone is going, have a think buddy, speak soon”….HAVE A BLOODY THINK? We are into February 2012 now, we have no venue, or tackle, or baits or anyone to teach the kids! I’ll give him “have a think”! I needed coffee, quickly. And so it all started…..

Fri Dec 31^st 2011 was a bad day. I’d just been made redundant for the first time in 20yrs. As you can imagine, New Yrs Eve didn’t exactly set the pulses racing, when normally I’d have been celebrating. I think I trudged upstairs with the wife at 11pm, just wanting to shut my eyes on the whole damn day. As luck would have it (and I do seem to walk headfirst into luck quite often) I was back in employment a week later and would you believe it, I was given a day off in the week too. As all you pike anglers are aware, that’s akin to winning the lottery!

Fast forward a month and a half and that phone call from Nick that left me sitting in my computer room, coffee in hand, I began thinking how we could crack an event like this. Firstly, the end of the season was nigh. Nick would need time to get 80 kids, we had just under two months left to complete our task. Knowing I’d need anglers desperately, I realised I’d struggle if pikers were trying their damndest to extract a lump right at the end of the season, so I had to come back a couple of weeks. So it HAD to be March 4/5^th. And it had to be a weekend. I phoned Nick back and the wheels started turning as he cleared his diary. 3 and a half weeks away. His task was to get 80 kids along both days. Then I sat down and realised my tasks…we needed anglers to teach them, in the region of 40 per day !We needed prizes, well of course we needed prizes! We needed bait, so we needed a sponsor or three. But first, on my day off, Nick and I had to travel around and find a venue that was pretty stuffed with pike, have enough parking, ideally have catering on-site and if I’m dreaming, a pub and a hotel nearby!

Well, after spending most of the day racing around talking to various venues, we sat down and realised we had overlooked one venue in particular and it was right on our doorsteps. Within hours it was sorted.

By now the ball was certainly rolling and I decided to try our luck with prizes for the event, as donations from forums as our first point of call. The famous Pikers Pit saw the first thread come up and I wasn’t expecting too much to be honest. Well you don’t do you? But the response took me by surprise, I gotta say. I got thinking back to the PAC Convention and remembered Alan Dudhill from Pikemaster supplying all those kids with fantastic goody bags at the end of the teach-in at Kettering. Well he has to be worth a phone call eh, just in case he had some gear left over. Alan was fantastic, offering to get hold of 80 pairs of forceps sent to me (it turned out his supplier couldn’t cope with demand and I got 50 twin treble rigs, 20 coastlock snaps, 8 pairs headlamps and 45 forceps..awesome!)now we had an event sponsor alright! Still the donations came in from the forums, not least the PikersPit. I’d got invited to a day on Chew and received a great pm from“Dart Stew L;aws”offering to meet me on the bank with some prizes for the kids. That was nice of him. There were others. Many others sending me stuff to hand out. Nick at the last minute got Nash “onboard” and brought some great prizes along.Kev O’Keefe spent many hours making up 50 traces the day before the event. I had offers of cash sent to me, a knock on the door the Thursday before, saw a guy from my region turn up to apologise for not bringing any free tackle for the kids but would I take twenty quid off him? The mother-in-law was constantly at the Post Office picking up parcels!

With all this going on, I needed anglers quickly. Nick said the budget was gonna be real tight if we had to buy bait, pay for the venue, get hold of tackle etc. Don’t worry, I told him, I’ll sort it. What was I saying? Around this time I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew. I got on the blower and on the Pikers Pit again. One of the first to throw his hat in the ring was Dave Horton. Well that can’t be bad, the great man himself! Then I went through my little phone book (as an RO you end up with all sorts of mobile numbers) and before long we had Eddie Turner and Nick Peat, Steve Rowley and John Goble, the list was becoming like a who-who of pikers! John Currie, Norfolk RO offered to come down with some boys, a fantastic gesture and a big welcome I can tell you. Wow. Bill Palmer and his lad threw their hat in the ring along with many others inc lure aficionados Tony Myhilland Mark Brand and Ron Lagdon and Ray Pemberton. Then I pulled in half a dozen or so local PAC lads. And not one angler even questioned the fact that they had to use their own tackle, how lucky were we! Oh and Steve Davidson travelled all the way from the North-East, Ade Kisbey joined in the fun, it really was going to be exciting just seeing all these guys around the same water teaching kids! Still more names pledged a session or two, including HanningfieldFly-fisher’s very own Nigel Angus offering free demos. I managed to drive up to Baits Direct and persuade them to sponsor us with bait, now I really was riding my luck! We also had the full backing of the PAC committee right behind us, willing us on with a visit from Tim Kelly and John Synnuk. As I told Graham Slater (PAC Gen Sec), I intended printing off his best wishes and hanging it in my study!

And so the day came.

The first 3hr session on the Sat morning took us all by surprise. We had about 65 kids booked into the whole weekend, but that first session saw nearly 40 kids queueing up, crikey we had our work cut out as we marched half and half around both sides of the two lakes, trying to place them all with anglers. Then the wait.It was in the first half-hour that the first fish came out to a lad taught by (would you believe it?) Bill Palmer !

As the day wore on it emerged that Steve Rowley was in a hot swim indeed, but fish were being caught all over the lakes and many a young lad were seeing what it was like to catch a pike. Even though the biggest fish were scraper doubles, they are still impressive out of the water with all those teeth on view. Everyone was having so much fun, the sun shone intermittingly and the smiles on boy’s faces were matched with the hesitation with seeing pike on the mat!

Saturday drew to a close, the poor lad with the job of photographer looked shattered having been chasing around the lakes all day as fish met the arms of anglers.

Sunday arrived with a promise of a stinking forecast, we were expecting rain by the bucketload all day. A few fresh faces pepped the angler line-up and we saw dark skies and precipitation often in the air that morning. Now, the fish seemed definetlymore reluctant to snaffle a bait of any kind. This was going to be a tough day and so it proved. We soldiered on never the less, the morning session was actually very well attended again and the pm session too. It seemed there were too many kids who wanted to throw lures though, we needed more lure anglers all of a sudden! I’d got a couple of lads to change rigs and away we went. Luckliy the catch returns were slowing down, as by mid-day we were nearly out of bait. Then with an two hours or so left, it absolutely hammered, leaving the organisers holding on to our gazebos for dear life. Everything and everyone got a royal soaking and we evacuated the kids to the café for prize-giving a little earlier than planned. Top rod was a teenager called Luke with the biggest catch of the weekend and he was presented with a lure rod and reel, which was quite apt, seeing as he continued to lure through the driving rain as though his life depended on catching pike!

We’d had a few dads thank us the day before, we’d given the anglers hot baguettes both days and we felt as though we’d looked after everyone. And indeed, we felt we cracked it. I mean, yes, we’d actually taken 65 kids pike fishing, for two days! They’d been taught pike welfare, handling, bite indication, how to work a lure, how to rig a lively, how to present a deadbait, what gear to use, Nick Peat had let on how to stay in stealth mode at a water, Ray Pemberton had a bloody hand while showing a couple of kids how not to unhook. We’d had a blast.

I totally recommend it, I’ve had a couple of cracking emails back from dads, saying how passionate the coaches were about their angling and how their kids were gonna get kitted out with the right gear for next season. Little did he know that those coaches are probably some of the most determined, finest pike anglers in the country ! A collection of pikers all fishing together for a cause and of the likes that will probably never be seen again in pike fishing memory with a rod in their hand, side by side.

So, get involved with your local Pike Anglers Club, it can be great fun, It’s been emotional, Essex and out.

Sean Ellis, Essex PAC RO

Essex Region PACGB RA 102

www.the102club.blogspot.com

PAC General Secretary's Address - Alan Dudhill

                                                     PAC Web May 2012

 

Firstly, many thanks to all those who attended the AMM to give thanks to the outgoing committee and welcome in the new. Before I start to outline our many aspirations for the future of the club I’d like to extend my thanks and congratulations to Graham and the out-going committee for their dedication and individual contributions to the club during what has been very difficult and somewhat trying times. They have worked tirelessly behind the scenes and on many occasions, gone far beyond the call of duty in the interests of the club. You can rest assured that 12PAC will build on this progress and the club very much remains in safe hands.

12PAC is already in full swing

We have an advantage over previous committees in that some members are staying on for another term,

which has given us some continuity. Graham also ensured that we were involved in committee issues in

plenty of time prior to the handover, so we have not been thrown into our roles unprepared and are aware

of all the major issues affecting our sport at present and will be following all these issues up in due course.

12PAC is already in full swing and we’re going to make an impact.

We have an awesome team with a good mix of knowledge, experience and business acumen. All of which is essential if we are to progress the clubto where we think we should be. Most importantly, we are all motivated by our immense passion for theclub and will be working hard to preserve our sport in it’s entirety.

I’ll only be covering the basics here but I hope this gives all members an insight into 12PAC and what we’ll

be striving to achieve. We have a very capable team. Each member has been hand-picked for their

individual roles based on their relevant skills, knowledge & experience.

 Most importantly, we are honoured to serve our members and will work tirelessly for the club.

Challenging times lay ahead

Our sport is under constant threat. Before I cover our plans for the coming term and our way of doing

things, it’s important for us to look at some of the present threats to pike and our sport:

Other angling groups – Other angling disciplines often undermine us by restricting our sport, for example

where they implement a livebait ban. To them this may seem trivial but as far as I’m concerned a livebaitis

as natural a bait to us as a worm or maggot is to the matchman. This is the thin end of the wedge. Any restriction or ban sends out the wrong message and only acts to support those who would ban our sport altogether.

It’s worth bearing in mind here, that all angling disciplines often benefit from the hard work of our

members and for this reason, they should support us in what we do, not obstruct us.

Government Quangos - We are often left bewildered by the naive attitudes & responses of Government

Agencies and are faced with having to challenge these on a regular basis.Chris Bishop was instrumental in

uncovering the hidden agendas of Natural England, whose policies influence many other organisationsand

therefore effect us on a national scale. We are often in conflict with other agencies including the

Environment Agency, Broads Authority, and British Waterways, to name but a few.

Large Conservation Organisations – these are often linked to NE and are pressuring our sport on a

massive scale. We have long since been considered the guardians of the countryside & wildlife but in

recent times we are being pushed aside to watch from the side-lines as the very countryside we’ve

protected is being inappropriately re-developed. Often this decimation of our existing wildlife and

environment is hidden behind an inappropriate SSSI and carried out without appropriate consultation or

regard for local knowledge.

Other serious threats include; Eastern European fish theft, Prymnesium, Killer Shrimp, Cormorants, Otters,

Pollution, Systematic pike removal, senseless pike culls, etc, etc.

The list goes on and on but the common denominator is that our main opposition comes from large

organisations who, either cause these problems or continually fail to address them. These are usually well

organised, well funded and have massive member support. It’s also worth noting that many of these

organisations are the very same organisations who we entrust to preserve our environment and our sport.

Indeed, in some cases, angling funds their anti-angling policies. This in it’s self is a disgrace. It’s

sometimes difficult to be positive about these organisations but we should be mindful that they also do

some good.

12PAC is here to make a stand and get the PAC seen and heard

As a committee and club we have to stand our ground, while we’ve still got some ground left.

To do this we have to make our presence felt. Though we have proved over the years that we can make significant progress at local level, the only way to make real long-term progress is to address the policies of these organisations and that can only be done at the highest level.

If we are to challenge these organisations and have our voice heard, we have to be taken seriously. To

achieve this we have to be equally well organised and portray a professional image and shop-front. Our

shop front being the magazine, web presence and of course the Convention. All of which we intend to

bring bang up to date with professionally re-designed web site & forum and face-lift for the mag.  All with the backing of dedicated teams to ensure that these are also kept up to date and continually improved.

Dilip has already set the standard here with the introduction of Team Pikelines and our dynamic Online Team will be announced shortly. We will not be stopping there. Where we find the need to

set-up additional teams to support the work of the club, we will do it. We have many skills within our membership and to date, this has been a relatively un-tapped resource. The Committee is the driving force and will continue to steer the club in the right direction but we cannot do this without member support. We will be encouraging members to become more involved within their regions but also welcome anyone with specific skills to come forwardand support our committee work.

We’ve got to work in partnership with others

We strongly believe that the only way forward is for the PAC, as a whole to engage with other

organisations. All too often we have to bear the brunt of a decision, policy or rule introduced by another

organisation or club. After the event we rant & rave and appropriately have our say, but the horse has

already bolted. It therefore makes perfect sense that we try to become involved in these decisions. In some

cases we may even be able to eliminate a threat at inception. At the very least, we will be more aware of

potential problems and have an opportunity to have our say from the start. For this reason, we have to

accept that we need to work ‘with’ these organisations but only where appropriate. In some cases, where

there is a serious conflict of interest, we will not engage fully but even a restricted level of engagement

could serve as a source of vital information for the club. 12PAC will be therefore be placing a strong

emphasis on working with other organisations and groups as appropriate. Rest assured that we will not

however, compromise on our beliefs and will fight strongly to preserve our sport in its entirety. We will also

be fully prepared to take the hard-line approach when necessary.

We have allies and need to support those who share a common interest

Angling is by far the biggest participating sport in the UK but we are fragmented between numerous

different clubs and organisations. Considering that it only takes 10,000 signatures to have a matter raised

in Parliament, imagine what clout we would have if we could ever work together. The Angling Trust is the

latest in a long line of organisations designed to bring us all together to unite against our threats. Though I

have reservations about their worth to us as a single specimen group, we need to accept that we are a

minority group amongst anglers and we wont get everything our own way. Like it or not, they are the best

chance we have had for some time to get our voices heard and we will endeavour to work with them

wherever we can.

Scotland’s PAAS & LAIA are prime examples of like-minded groups and indeed many of their members are also highly regarded members of the PAC. These will appropriately receive our full support.

Modernisation is the key to increased membership

One of the most serious issues facing the club at the moment is membership numbers.

Members are by far our greatest asset, we can achieve nothing without their support. Though we still have

a healthy following, membership has decreased significantly over the last few years. Clearly the present

financial climate has a bearing here. This is an area, which leaves us vulnerable and we have already

started to address this issue. Our improved national profile and shop front is very much aimed at this, as is

our intention to engage with all anglers & angling groups. We quite frankly have no choice but to become

more attractive & receptive to new-comers. Some may argue that the more members we have the more

angling pressure and competition for pike. I disagree, these anglers will fish for pike anyway so lets get

them onboard and have them doing it properly and contributing to preserving our sport.

Businesses have to deal with the same economic climate to survive and we are no different. For this

reason, although we are a club, we have to be more business-like in our approach.Modernisation, Publicity

& Marketing is the key to this, and again the mag & web site will play a major role here. There are also

many other mediums available to us today; Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, News Feeds, Interactive Apps and

Forums and we will be using these to our full advantage and increasing our presence on a national basis.

We would encourage all members to embrace these technologies and get fully involved where you can in

promoting the club and what we do. This particularly applies to forums but when interacting on forums I’d

ask that you do this in a responsible manner. Those who seek to undermine angling often use abstracts

from these forums to support their anti-angling agendas. The Committee will also be fully engaging with

other forums. However, as committee members, what we say is often taken as official PAC policy and this

has caused particular problems in the past, so our engagement will rarely be direct interaction but more a

case of publishing statements and promotional articles and keeping these forums and fellow anglers fully

up to date via news feeds, etc. Also, neither of us have an unlimited amount of time so what we do have,

will be concentrated on routine matters and major issues. If pikers want to know more about the club or

want to directly interact with the committee, they can do this via our web site & forum.

Though we as a committee will be openly encouraging interaction with all anglers, groups and forums, we

are fully aware of the risks of us doing the same. Where there is a serious conflict of interest, we will not

engage on any level. The principles, reputation and ethos of the club will always take priority and we will

not compromise on any of these.

We are already developing realistic ways to make the PAC more attractive to our members and are

confident that we will increase PAC membership in the short-term. There are many other issues to address

here, not least the reputation of the club amongst fellow pikers and the many misconceptions about us and

what we do. Often in the past, individuals have damaged our reputation, brought us into disrepute and

rightfully left us open to accusations of elitism. This undermines the hard work of the vast majority of

members who are unselfishly committed to the club. No single member is above the club, that includes the

committee and all decisions will be based purely on the ‘interests of the club and its members’

.

Our members are second to none

Membership may be lower than we would like but on a more positive note; though limited in numbers, we

are still a force to be reckoned with and highly regarded throughout the sport and industry. This is all down

to you, our members. We get results because no other club shares our level of passion and this is an

absolute credit to all our members, old and new. What I will say here is that I would rather have a club of

2000 dedicated members than 5000 numpties. One of the best ways to build membership is for existing

members to introduce a fellow piker to the club. There are many responsible pikers out there who are not

members and should be and there is no better way to recruit quality members than by recommendation.

We are one of the most successful angling clubs in the UK and have made significant progress regarding

pike angling & conservation. Sometimes we need to cast our minds back 35 years to fully appreciate what

we have achieved. It’s impressive!

We take membership so seriously that the Membership Secretary’s duties will now be a shared role and I

hope that Brian and John will be flat out busy for the next 3 years.

We all need to be pro-active

We have to be more pro-active in our approach to succeed. The PAC relies on a network of

Representatives, LO’s & RO’s to establish and maintain Regional Associations. This is our direct link with

members, other organisations and indeed the public in general. This is our front-line and an essential part

of promoting the club and recruiting new members. Sadly, we are under-represented in some areas and

this is something we need to rectify if we are to increase our profile & support on a national basis. As can

be seen recently in Scotland and Norfolk, we can make real progress if we have a pro-active approach and

the right individuals onboard. These individuals are rare creatures and will appropriately be given our full

backing and support.

For regions to be of significant use to the club they must be active. Some regions are very pro-active and

this is an absolute credit to those who run them. To progress the club further, this has to be extended to all

regions and indeed LO’s & RO’s, all of whom I’ll be contacting directly within the next few days. As a proactive Committee we will be leading from the front and by example.

We are not here to play at it - our plans extend way beyond our 3-year term. We intend to use this term to

set the standard for the next 35 years of the PAC. On behalf of the entire committee, thank you all in advance for your support.

Alan Dudhill

 

Interview With New PAC President, and Pikelines Editor, Dilip Sarkar MBE.

 Dilip diving with pike at Stoney Cove in 2003, whilst training

for an expedition to dive the scuttled German WW1 fleet at Scapa Flow.

Pike Pool: Welcome to The Pool from all Pool-Siders, Dilip. Have you looked in on The Pool? If so, to give you a little tester to start with, tell us what you think of the Pool, and what your favourite article and why?!

DS: Thanks Pool-siders, and for giving me an opportunity to introduce myself. Online publishing offers really exciting and potentially unlimited opportunities - especially as it can be achieved from any home computer. This means that so much more material, of all kinds, will be published in future – which, speaking as an author and publisher who came up the slow and hard way, is a very great thing. I’m all for The Pike Pool, therefore, and a big fan of online publishing generally – so much easier and cheaper! So firstly I’d commend all involved with The Pool for setting up this initiative and especially for providing new writers with a platform - because I’ll always remember how hard that was back in the day.



Back in the day: a seventeen year old Dilip Sarkar

with a Severn double in 1978, a year after joining

the new PAC and when Worcestershire RO.

 The articles I found particularly interesting were your interview with new PAC Events Manager Pete Foster – a fine angler and committed PAC man – and those by our mutual friend Steve Bown. I’ve a great deal of time for Steve – another fine angler and committed PAC member, who has worked tirelessly for the Club for many years; I was absolutely delighted when he bagged his first two double-figure zander from my stretch, especially considering their size, and what can anybody say about that terrific brace, including an 18.04, on 14 March 2012 from elsewhere on the Severn. Steve’s pieces perfectly capture both his passion and the moment – which is what it’s all about.

The Pike Pool: Many Pool Siders are PAC members and the three of us who put The Pool together absolutely love the Club, so tell us a bit about your good-self and association with PAC.

 

DS: Growing up on the banks of the rivers Severn and Teme here in Worcester, my friends, with whom I still fish today, got into fishing in a big way at an early age. The pike always hugely excited and inspired us. At a time when every pike caught was killed, we were appalled by this and began returning them. This didn’t go down at all well, putting us thirteen year olds in direct conflict with the local match and game anglers. In those days of the early 1970s there were no other pike anglers in this area, so we were really out on a limb.

Dilip’s first twenty: 3 January 1980, 23.04

from a Cotswold trout water.

 When the PAC started in 1977, therefore, it was fantastic for us, because for the first time we were in the orbit of other pikers, on our wavelength, and had access to information via the Club magazine. Remember that back then piking wasn’t much covered in the angling press, there was no internet and there weren’t many books available either. We largely made our own rods, floats, indicators, buzzers and landing-net frames – how things change! In 1978 I succeeded Des Taylor as Worcestershire RO, but as a student without transport and with so few members it was an impossible task, really. I also had a monumental fall-out with one of my young friends over this, because although a PAC member, and still is, he disagreed with us having an active Regional Association, believing this to be detrimental to our own fishing. I strongly disagreed and still do. We have never changed our positions on this issue, in fact. My view, however, is that people will always go piking – but I would prefer them to do so competent in handling pike.

Piking revisited:
12 March 2011 – River Severn, 25.01

 Anyway, by 1980 I’d had enough so passed over to someone else, and the Region folded soon afterwards. By 1985, for a variety of reasons, I had stopped serious piking, although I revisited it in the early nineties for a while, and at which time I re-joined PAC. Due to work and life commitments, though, I was then forced in to carping for convenience sake. Between 1999 – 2005, I was a very serious technical deep shipwreck diver, so didn’t fish seriously again until 2005, getting involved with PAC once more in 2009. So, here I am again!

The Pike Pool: Have you got any plans or priorities for the PAC moving forward, if so please share them with us.

DS: We have many plans! PAC is moving forward – big time. Our new Committee – 12PAC – is inspired with energy, enthusiasm and vision. 12PAC will be engaging widely with members and increasing PAC’s use of the media – including the internet. This package includes Team Pikelines, to produce both a printed and interactive online version of Pikelines, the latter as an additional member benefit, and Team Internet – to completely oversee a professionally led upgrade of PAC’s entire online presence. This will include a whole new website, forum, dedicated operatives for such things as Blogging, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and video production; Mark Skinner is currently researching a PAC App – so the future is arriving at last! We will be getting PAC’s new ethos and message out there – loud and clear. In short PAC is joining the digital revolution, and as the strapline says on the forthcoming Pikelines, this really is a ‘New Dawn’ – and the blue touch paper about to be lit!

 We have some terrific people on the new Committee – you’ll be hearing much more of them all in future – but I’d particularly like to welcome aboard my partner in crime, General Secretary Alan Dudhill – a massively enthusiastic individual, Pike Angler of the Year 2011, and a passionate former RO; former PAC General Secretary and current President and Editor of the Lure Anglers’ Society, Chris Liebbrandt – who joins us as Advertising Manager and will be of so much help in many ways; Pete Foster taking over as Events Manager; Angling Times correspondent and angling author Dominic Garnett dealing with press and news, and PAC stalwarts Brian Birdsall and John Keeley jointly taking over as Membership Secretary. John Synnuck remains Chair, Colin Goodge Convention Manager, Mark Skinner Products Manager, Giles Hill Treasuer, and Mike Skipper continues to have an input into Team Internet – more of which another time. Alan and I are all for pulling down ivory towers – wherever they persist – and 12PAC will be, you can be assured – a CAN DO set-up!

 Externally we will be building bridges and working in partnership with numerous organisations and agencies to ensure that PAC has a loud voice regarding issues affecting angling. For example we are already supporting the Angling Trust in various ways, especially the ‘Building Bridges’ Project aimed at helping to resolve the poaching and fish theft issue, and I have recently become a Patron and board member of the Predation Action Group. Alan is already planning meetings for us with various PAC members, notably in Scotland and Norfolk, so we’ll be out there. We all need to be working together, presenting the right image – and making progress.

 Colin Goodge does a terrific job of organising the annual Convention, and we’ll certainly be looking at how he can be supported – don’t miss this year’s Convention, by the way, a top line up of speakers and traders marking PAC’s thirty-fifth anniversary (22 September 2012, The Pavillions of Harrogate)!

Angling generally needs to encourage young people, and from what I see PAC is on the ball with this. Eric Edwards has really picked up the gauntlet here, and, having qualified himself as an angling coach is driving things forward. So, this area of operations has to be a priority – because without younger people involved, we have no future – and that isn’t an exaggeration. Eric will be PAC’s Angling Development Officer – it needs one. Hopefully PAC’s new online strategy – which won’t happen overnight, because it takes time to get things right – will also appeal to young people.

Dilip considers a big Severn pike to be 25+, and last season was lucky enough to catch two over that mark, 26.08 and 27.02 (the latter pictured here). With 53 doubles from the Severn that season, including three twenties, the ratio of 17.66 doubles per twenty emphasises how few and far between the bigger pike are on Britain’s longest river

The Pike Pool: Pikelines is a great magazine we all look forward to landing on our door mats every three months. Steve Ormrod was a legend in his time as Editor. Have you any plans and hopes for Pikelines yourselves guys?

DS: I’ll say! We have just increased the magazine by four pages, and intend to go ‘live’ with an interactive version ASAP – as an added bonus to members. Rest assured, though, the printed version of Pikelines will remain available – at least until the world becomes totally consumed by the digital revolution and printed paper disappears from common use. As I said earlier, we now have Team Pikelines to produce the magazine. Alan and I are very keen indeed to use members’ professional experience wherever and whenever possible. On that basis Steve remains aboard as Production and Design Manager, which was actually his intended role; Dominic Garnett will be handling news; Roger Howes proof-reading; Tom Balaam is our roving PAC photographer; Chris Liebbrandt will drive forward advertising; my son, James, will continue co-ordinating Young Pikers (which he was doing before I got involved, I hasten to add), and last but not least, I am now Editor. Obviously Team Pikelines will, in due course, be working very closely with the internet team – definitely the way forward.

     A huge victory of 2012 was successfully campaigning to see Major Booth’s record Wye pike returned to Hereford Museum. Here Dr John Tate, RO for Halesowen, and Dilip shake hands at the Museum - on a day they frequently never thought would come. The fish remains displayed there until June 2012, when it goes to a taxidermist for complete restoration. In 2013 the pike will provide an impressive centre-piece to a unique exhibition concerning the history of angling in the Wye Valley – providing an unprecedented opportunity to promote pike conservation and the PAC in that game dominated area.

  The Pike Pool: All work and no play leads to a very dull pike angler; I am sure you will agree. Tell us firstly what you would like to catch next winter and secondly outside of fishing what you would love to do?

DS: Well that’s a difficult one at the moment, because PAC is taking up so much of my time, and I also have to write for a living, so there there may not be much time for personal fishing for a while. That said, I think that the cornerstone we are now laying is so crucial to PAC moving forward that the investment of time and personal sacrifice is entirely justified – there’s a bigger picture, sometimes, than fish in the back of your own net.

 Last season Dilip fished for the Severn zander from

the bank, until the piking began in earnest – this 12.03

was one of three doubles caught on the afternoon

of 13 September 2011.

That said, last season I concentrated almost exclusively on my local River Severn, fishing for zander until November, and mainly pike thereafter. I fortunately did well with both species, although James trounced me with a very big zander, so I’d still like one of those! One of the reasons I put so much time in locally was because James was doing a predator survey for his fishery management course, requiring us to weigh, measure and photograph every single pike and zander caught. The data collated has been amazing (and will be published in a future issue of Pikelines), we have learned so much about the predator population. I was proposing a campaign on a different river, but the more I think about it a greater contribution would be to repeat this process, which with data collated over two seasons would be even more useful – indeed, after the recent flood, which was significant, we may even be in for one or two surprises; I am very interested to see how much the pike population in particular changes annually. So, I reckon that’s my mind made up! In addition, I’ll also be getting out and about around the Regions, talking, and personally supporting both our local RAs: Worcestershire and Teme Valley.

Outside angling and writing, Dilip,

now aged 50 and who describes

himself as ‘a bit of a silly old fool’,

is playing cricket again for Malvern

Cricket Club, after many years away

from the game.

 Outside of fishing, I still have books to write and am currently working on a very detailed and critical biography of the wartime legless flying ace Douglas Bader – whose story was featured in the 1954 best-seller Reach for the Sky and film of the same name. I was reading for my PhD, researching the Spitfire as the icon of Britain’s popular memory of World War Two, but that’s on hold whilst we lay PAC’s new cornerstone. I was fifty last August and had a bit of a crisis: I decided to start playing club cricket again! So, together with James and my seventeen year-old stepson, George, we’ve been training in the indoor nets since last October – and now await our first game of the season, should it ever stop raining, for Malvern Cricket Club! Basically I suppose I’m one of those inspired people who do everything 200% or not at all – and my late father, a Magistrate, Quaker and tireless charity worker – always brought me up with a strong sense of wanting to make a positive contribution and difference.

The Pike Pool: One last question: you’ve got to choose both a female and male boat partner for a day on Chew Valley Reservoir this coming October. Holly Willoughby or Fern Cotton? / Mick Brown or Neville Fickling / or others…. Please tell!

DS: Well, for the female I could only choose my wife, the angling artist Karen Sarkar! A passionate wildlife enthusiast, Karen became absolutely fascinated by pike after catching a jack a few years ago. It was at that point my life changed, because with Karen and my son, James, being so inspired it was inevitable that as a family our lives would revolve around fishing – as mine did years ago. Karen has become a competent pike angler and has slowly increased her PB to 16.15 (that’s the way to do it!). When she gets a twenty-pounder we’ll have a party, because she really deserves one – not many slightly built females I know are prepared to go out in all weathers, at all times and day and night, season in, season out!

 For a male boat partner, well, I can cheat a bit here. Nev and I communicate by email on a very regular basis, which is always illuminating; Mick Brown was here for lunch, with Chris Liebbrandt, recently, collecting his angling portrait from Karen - we sat and chatted for hours and only then do you realise how little, by comparison, you know! So, for a male boat partner it would have to be my son, James, who I have taken fishing since he was three years old. It really is his absolute passion, to the extent that he is now studying fishery management. James and I are very close, and life hasn’t always been easy for the two of us, but we emerged through those rough times intact and still smiling…

The Pike Pool: Many thanks Dilip for your time to answer our questions. The Pool wish yourself and your fellow committee members all the very best over the next three years and hope you all get out and catch some nice fish along the way too.