Chico

Pikelines 129 will be getting to most members this week and contains the membership renewal form plus my little plea for those due to renew to do so promptly.It will be very much appreciated if you can as at the moment I am a one man band with memberships. If you are one of the members who are not due straight away please retain the form and send it in promptly for when you are due or renew.You can also renew early, your membership will be for a year from your existing expiry date so you will not lose anything. For anyone wishing to join, we operate a rolling membership scheme so you can join at any time and receive a full years membership and 4 Pikelines magazines. see here for joining application http://www.pacgb.co.uk/join.html Looking forward to the deluge.

I think you are referring to "handling" rather than "picking up". The best way to learn is to actually gain experience by actually piking with a competent piker, it is so much easier to actually be shown and if you do have any problems it is a simple matter for the experienced piker to take over. Pike are despite there appearance rather fragile and suffer badly if mishandled. Check these links from the PAC forum http://www.pacgb.co.uk/tips/landing.html

Monday April 7th and Neville Fickling brings his slideshow to the Mighty 48. Nev, pike expert, pike-panel frontman, shopkeeper, holder of pike and zander records, author, train buff and so much more, if anyone can answer your questions it will be Nev.A great show put on by fella who has been at the forefront of top piking for what seems to be forever and has put so much back into piking. The last of our speakers for this season so lets go out with a bang. Tickets available for next months mega raffle. Further details http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com

Phil Wakeford President of the PAC brings his informative and very humourous talk to the flatlands. Chasing the big 'ol girls countrywide Phil has had over 170 twenties and 8 thirties from very varied waters and to differing methods- he tells of many of those captures and the odd characters and funny moments along the way. Pike Angler of the year 2004, President of the PAC and now a Lincoln PAC speaker...does life get any better? Come along for a treat of a talk, you will be entertained. Check http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com for all the details.

Just stumbled onto David Miller's site again and for all the fans of his work,he has a new book out, I found it more than reasonably priced too and even better if you order before Feb 20th you get a free mini print of your choice. I hadn't realised he had a book coming out so thought maybe others didn't either http://www.davidmillerart.co.uk/index.htm

We have something a little unusual for us, a night with no pike! John Synnuck & Spike Gould travel up from the Thames Gateway region to give us their tales from around the globe chasing exotics such as Mahseer, Tarpon and big Catfish. You will be very impressed and you'll know where to convince the wife where you both need to go on holiday next time. Hope to see all the regulars plus some new faces too. All salient details at http://lincolnpac.blogspot.com

Sod the fireworks,dump the kids.... Graham Slater is at Lincoln PAC on Nov. 5th. Graham gives a fantastic talk on how he approaches all aspects of piking and just what pike mean to him. Graham fishes everything from the drains to the lakes and anything in between from bank and boat so covers just about every aspect of piking, something for everyone. Come and enjoy, ask questions, pick up the odd tip or two and get him to buy you a drink Details at http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com

Monday Oct 1st sees Jason at the mighty 48. Jason presents his superb talk for us from 20:00 at the usual venue. Big fish from all over the place plus his amazing captures from the last few seasons featured in "Mega Pike the return"-stunning fish however you look at it. A great talk in a more intimate venue than Stoneleigh,your chance to listen,learn and ask your questions. Check the blog http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com I'm sure Jason may have a book or two available on the night

ouch. Wherever you saw him Eric puts on one of the best talks on the circuit, hugely entertaining and something to make everyone really think about their piking, what more could you want? Come along and have a great night.

Monday the 3rd of Sept sees Eric at Lincoln PAC. Eric presents one of the finest talks on the circuit; full of humour, big pike, the thought that goes into his fishing, big pike, methods, approach, big pike and much much more. I saw Eric last year and just had to book him for our region, come along you will be impressed by the man and his piking. Talk starts at 20:00 prompt at the Turk's Head, Newport, Lincoln. See http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com for full details and how to get there

I know a source of Caliber Wonder wire, drop me a pm if interested. It is fantastic stuff.

Well we have completion , I can print everything up now. Check out the blogspot( http://www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com ) for full details but our full season of speakers is as follows- Sept. 3rd.-Eric Edwards. Oct. 1st.-Jason Davis. Nov. 5th.-Graham Slater. Dec. 3rd.-Alex Prouse. Jan. 7th.-Nigel Savage. Feb. 4th.-Phil Wakeford. May. 3rd.-John Synnuck & Spike Gould. Apr. 7th.- Dave Horton. We have tried tried to give everyone who attends our meetings something that is directly applicable to their piking and also something that will extend their boundaries too. Looking forward to seeing both the speakers and all our regulars plus anyone from elsewhere too, come along, have a pint and be entertained.

Monday the 5th of March sees Rob Christen talking Fenland 39's, theories, fish fecundity, friends and fly-fishing. OK no fly-fishing but I was out of F's. Rob rarely talks but everytime he does it is a cracker, if you are closer to us than Somerset get to this one. Check the Lincoln blog www.lincolnpac.blogspot.com for all the details, remember some spare change for our end of season raffle.

as per usual Lumby does a great write up http://www.dlst.co.uk/Writings/walktroll.html

Steve "Rodders" Rodwell hit the metropolis that is Lincoln on Monday 8th Jan. Rodders gives a very fine and a very funny talk, plenty of big fish from both him and his friends so something for everyone.This will be his first talk this year so until the next one it will be his finest performance of 2007 We welcome just about anybody along, fresh faces always welcome. For further details on how to get there check the lincoln pac blog below. The week after hes at Somerset Levels, busy fella. http://lincolnpac.blogspot.com/