Shane Patterson 

06/12/64 -19/3/2015

Shane Patterson cared a lot about fishing. As Chairman of the Angling Trust NE Forum he ran meetings with a relaxed charm all of his own. He didn’t have a typical chairman’s manner, he just spoke to the anglers in the room as if he was chatting to them on the bank. Shane turned up at the very first Angling Trust Forum meeting that I ran back in 2012 and immediately got involved and volunteered to help. I don’t think it was even a conscious decision; it was just in his nature to try to help. Since then he had been a constant positive influence at meetings and chaired forums for both the Tees and the Wear catchments. Shane was the kind of guy who ALWAYS greeted you with a smile and wanted to talk about what you’d been catching and where you’d been fishing before there was any talk of fishing politics. He will be greatly missed. But I only knew Shane for a very short time and so I’ll leave it to his close friend and former AT NE Chair Darron Nixon to write a full tribute.. John Cheyne, Angling Trust National Regions Manager.

Shane was a really sociable, friendly character who always gave his time to show others the ropes with Pike Angling. He was meticulous in setting up his tackle and loved to cover all angles with his baits and sometimes loved to help to test other people’s swims just to make sure they weren’t missing any stray fish! Shane had been fishing for Pike for as long as any of us can remember from his single days roaming the country on long weekends to more recently in-between his days running his market stall with his Northern Predator Tackle fishing gear and Disney socks. I have no idea why Disney socks but he did assure me they were the proper licenced ones not the usual tat you can see everywhere.

Distance it seemed was no problem and only last weekend he was in Scotland fishing with Andy Eland and friends. As a result of his extensive travelling Shane’s knowledge of fisheries around the country was legendary. You only had to say a name and he could tell you what kind of fish were in it, how much for a day ticket and the name of the local farmer. He also made many friends across the country especially in the regions of Northumberland with Rob (I’m always late) Murray, Mick Bell and many others. In North Yorkshire he was long term friends with the late Sir Peter Green and his son Mark who is still a friend to the region. There were many others, too many to mention. More recently he had started doing some guiding and recounted stories of taking people out without even charging enough for his petrol money. That was Shane.

Shane loved club trips and whenever there were a few of us we were always amazed at the speed he could decant from the car and race across any rough terrain to get the prime spots then pretend that he had actually left the best spots for us. We all knew what he was like and he couldn’t help it, such was his competitive love for the sport.  That was many of the reasons why we liked him so much, being honest and up for a laugh. Shane did a lot for Pike angling and had a brilliant sense of humour. He never minded us taking the mickey so long as we had a good time, this was always significantly enhanced when accompanied by his younger brother Craig.

Shane’s contribution to pike angling, particularly in the North East should not be undervalued. He was a very accomplished all-round angler and had caught specimen fish of just about every species. At one time he used to be called “badge man” as he had a woolly suit covered in Angling times Specimen badges.

More recently taking over the chair of the Angling Trust Forums was a new challenge and he strongly wished to see people getting along for the benefit of the sport. No one ever really had a bad word to say about Shane and I was proud to call him my friend.

Shane will be sadly missed by everyone that knew him but especially by the Pikers from the North especially Teesside Darlington and Durham. I’m sure you will all join me in passing on our sincere condolences to Craig, Tia and Tara his brother and sisters his Mum Pat, Wife Angela and three Girls Kristin, Amy and Stephanie.

Rest in Peace Shane.

 Darron M Nixon

Assistant RO / AT Coach Region 89 The Pike Angers Club.