TIME MACHINE

Looking back through 40 years of Britain’s biggest and best sea angling magazine…

2009

■ Parkstone boat angler Jim Pike beat the British record for a sole with a

6lb 1oz fish, but did not claim the record. His fish, caught while fishing from his own boat in Poole Harbour, was 1lb 6dr bigger than the record.

■ A mix of lug and a chunk of fresh herring on a Pennell rig tempted a 12lb 7oz cod for Robert Simmonds, of Holesley, Suffolk, when he fished The Narrows at Orford Island.

■ The European Commission called for cuts in the amount of cod being caught by commercial fishers, pointing out that the species was close to extinction.

■ A 10lb 12oz bass and a 6lb 12oz gurnard were caught in the same boat session by Rick Lorrains, of Southampton. The bass took a whole scad, while the gurnard fell to a white Sidewinder lure.

■ Tony James, from Barry, had a great day afloat aboard his own boat when he caught a 20lb cod, 40lb conger eel and various rays. He was fishing in Sully Bay.

■ An angler fishing for mullet with bread flake at Poole quayside in Dorset landed a superb 4lb 8oz 4dr ballan wrasse. The fish, caught by Tony Ward, of Boscome & Soutbourne SFC, was an unusual catch from the quay.

1999

■ Dinghy angler Darren Copping reinforced the big bass reputation of Suffolk with a 15lb 4oz fish at Orford Ness. The civil engineer, from Ipswich, was aboard his own boat when the fish took a squid on a size 4/0 hook.

■ Matthew Green, of Barnum, West Sussex, weighed a massive bass on four sets of scales that registered the fish between 18lb 8oz and 18lb 12oz, only 4oz

1989

short of what was the record. He caught it on a mackerel head on a size 4/0 hook at Ford, four miles upstream in the River Arun.

■ Joyce Yallop, who set the mako shark record with a 500lb fish, died at the age of 89. Joyce, from Norwich, caught the incredible fish in 1971 off Devon while fishing near the Eddystone Lighthouse.

■ The big shore cod season kicked off in style with a superb 20lb 8oz fish at Jackson’s Bay, near Scarborough, taken by Dave Bielby, a local joiner. The Haven Rocks at Tynemouth produced a 17lb 2oz fish for Mark Hammerberg, while a 19lb 4oz cod fell to John Self while fishing at Pagham, in West Sussex.

■ Large bass were featuring in the Thames

Estuary. A 17lb

6oz fish was caught on a lugworm bait by

John Arber, of

Benfleet, Essex, who was fishing off Southend.

There was also a 16lb 1oz 8dr fish taken out of West Mersea, Essex, by Southend angler Roy McCurrie.

■ The north-east coast produced a 42lb ling for Colin Blyth, from Hamilton, Scotland, who was fishing on Famous, skippered by Dave Naylor, about 15 miles out of Hartlepool.

■ Massive conger eels were in the news too. Tony Welch, of Brixham, Devon, boated a 92lb 2oz giant while on the local charter boat Sea Spray, skippered by Vic Evans, when fishing five miles off Dartmouth. There was a 91lb 8oz eel for Lawrence Wilkinson, of Brixham, while fishing on Tight Lines, skippered by Jim Murdoch.

■ A 15lb 12oz bass and 17lb cod fell to Derrick Hall, of East Molesey, Surrey, during a charter trip on John Rawle’s Vicky

Emma, out of Bradwell, Essex.

■ England’s shore team won a close Home International in Pembrokeshire to avenge defeat in the previous year in Yorkshire. The team of Alan Yates, Jim Dobie, Alec Harvey, Chris Clark and Dave Andrews trailed Scotland after a poor first day, but had a change of fortunes the following day when they switched to float-fishing for garfish. Wales finished second. Individual winner was Jimmy Jones, of Wales, with Scotland’s Ross Kirkwood second and Alan Yates in third.

■ Danny Paul, of Trinity, Jersey, caught a 16lb 8oz turbot while fishing aboard the local charter boat, Good Fishing, skippered by John Thompson.

1979

■ Ray Gifford won the fish of the month contest with a British record 14lb 2oz 12dr thick-lipped mullet, caught at Leys Lagoon beach, Aberthaw. Only a month earlier he caught an 8lb 5oz mullet. It was his third British record mullet and he still holds the shore record with that giant.

■ Bradwell skipper John Rawle caught a 12lb 4oz bass, 42lb tope and four cod around 10lb in one session. His catch also included five double-figure bass.

■ Mustad, the world’s biggest hook maker, moved into Britain. The Norwegian company had opened a packing and distribution plant at Peterlee, County Durham.

■ Cardiff specimen angler Billy Furnish found another big conger. Earlier in the year he caught a 75-pounder, but his most recent eel weighed 91lb, while fishing six miles out of Plymouth, aboard John Baron’s Zummerzet Maid.

■ Members of the Sportfishing Club of the British Isles were drawing up ambitious plans for 1980. They would be fishing in the Hawaiian Billfish Tournament and for striped marlin off Mexico, while nearer to home they planned to fish for tuna off the Canary Islands.