SPITTAL HIRST THEN AND NOW
A former charter skipper reflects on the boat fishing out of Berwick on Tweed
A comparison of the fishing off Berwick.
Looking up the meaning of Hirst I found it defined as either a piece of barren unproductive land or a sandbank on a river. This was a surprise because Spittal Hirst is a rugged reef, well known for yielding thousands of cod to anglers since the mid-1960s.
It was around this time that I began to take an interest in sea angling and learned about this mark, located about four miles offshore from the Northumberland town of Spittal, which is part of greater Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The Hirst is actually a rocky peak rising to within six fathoms of the surface at low tide and is a piece of ground where towed commercial gear cannot operate. From the peak, a plateau of equally rocky ground of around 10 to 15 fathoms, extends north west. It is part of the hard ground within Berwick and Goswick Bays, which includes, among others, the Inner Hirst, Beanstalk, Wingate, Park Dyke and Jacks Bank.
This provides a wide selection of ground where the only fishing method is by rod and line. Some areas are very shallow, with the tangle tops being visible at low water, and often harbour the distinctive red codling.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I first heard of the fabled Hirst in the little tackle shop run by Peter and Jean Fishbourne on the harbour at Eyemouth. It was an emporium of hooks and lines, floats, rods and reels for the serious sea angler, along with handlines and mini rods popular with holidaying families.
Most sea angling in that era took place at weekends from the seine net boats and small trawlers working from the port. These would often take their anglers a few miles south east to Burnmouth Smaath (smooth), where on a good day an individual might come ashore with a mixed bag of codling and haddock. Soon they were talking of the Hirst and ground south in Goswick Bay, due to the superiority of the fishing. Sometimes there would be up to 20 boats on a Sunday, usually a combination of the larger Eyemouth boats and smaller creel boats from nearby Burnmouth.
At that time, Eyemouth SAC had been established mainly to promote the sport, still in its infancy, ashore and afloat along the Berwickshire coast. Shore sea angling festivals were the main theme of its activities, but the club had also purchased its own boat.
Called Albatross, it mainly stuck to Burnmouth and inshore marks, while some club charter boat trips were arranged on commercial vessels, mainly David Aitchison’s Ivanhoe or Stuart Anderson’s Concord, bound for Spittal Hirst.
I remember the first time I saw the peak coming up sharp and steep on the old paper sounders, with a black mass of coalfish above. It was almost impossible to get through the coalies, due to hooking a full house most drops when over the peak. Once away from the shallowest part, a codling or three started to be boated. Many would be coughing up sandeels on deck, especially during the summer when those baitfish were plentiful.
Once into a shoal, it could be a feeding frenzy. No sophisticated tackle was needed. Lots of anglers were happy with a homemade lure armed with a treble below three big cod feathers. Yet at times, lugworms, ragworms or mussel baits were more favoured. A strip of fresh mackerel could result in a ling.
MY OWN BOAT
Exciting times indeed on the sea angling scene, so much so that by 1976 I had fitted out an Islands Plastic 23ft hull as a sea angling charter boat and set up business fishing from Berwickupon-Tweed on the many hard ground marks between Burnmouth and Berwick and south into Goswick Bay, and of course Spittal Hirst.
Border Rover could fit eight anglers rather tightly. The summer of 1976 was glorious, with calm seas and plenty of punters. There were still plenty of shift workers in the North East, particularly at the coal mines, which, along with a huge summer population at the caravan sites, provided plenty of business.
Previous to Border Rover, there were no boats running charters from any of the nearby Scottish ports. Within a year there were five Berwick boats swelling the Sunday Hirst fleet to well over 20 boats on summer weekends. Border Rover was sold in 1978 when I formed a partnership in a creel fishing and charter boat operation. Gill Too, the replacement, was a Tyler Watson 31-footer giving space for 12 anglers and soon attracted plenty of weekend anglers and a steady midweek trade during the summer.
Prime fishing in Berwick Bay and Eyemouth marks was between May and September, mainly due to fairer weather. There could be plenty of fish on the ground, but getting parties afloat when weather permitted was always hit and miss. Some years, especially if there had not been a lot of heavy autumn seas, good catches occurred around Christmas and New Year and beyond, but conditions dictated a mainly summer fishery.
Things went well until the late 1980s early ’90s when the fishing became less reliable; fewer fish meant fewer anglers. Industries were shutting down in the North East and customers were getting scarce. Around 1994 I decided to call it a day, and other Berwick boats did the same, leaving only one full-time charter fishing boat in the port.
PRESENT DAY
Roll on 20 or more years and my sea angling was from the shore in pursuit of bass, which were making an appearance in local waters. Then the boat angling bug started to bite again, when I became a customer on an Eyemouth boat. Eyemouth had vastly changed since the halcyon days of the 1970s. Gone were the majority of the small trawlers and seine net boats, and those that remained were mainly the larger vessels that would not be viable for sea angling.
The harbour had changed, with much of the berthing space equipped with pontoons for pleasure and recreational craft. No more swinging up and down vertical ladders to get on board. Instead, you walked down a ramp and stepped on board. Much easier. There were a number purpose-built boats offering sea angling and diving charters, where once white fish and prawns were swung ashore.
My choice was with Derek Anderson, who runs two catamarans, Oceanic and Sagittarius, bringing a new meaning to comfort and stability. As boats and harbours changed, so too had fishing techniques. No longer could you drop a piece of lead-filled chrome pipe over the side and expect to catch. For me, it was a lesson learned the hard way, with no cod on my first trip two years ago. The lure and cod feathers no longer held sway with the local fish stocks.
Meanwhile, regular Oceanic anglers were picking away with bait and lures. Sidewinders were the answer for some. So it was that I moved with the times. Two years on, a fish or two do come my way, but gone are the days of multiple hook-ups of codling. Using Sidewinders, every fish is far from easily won. The sink-and-draw technique copied from fellow anglers has brought some results. What has also been a success are whelks fished on a 3ft trace. This bottom-dwelling mollusc makes a tough and long-lasting bait and seems desirable to codling. Perhaps the reason is that today’s boated fish are seldom full of sandeels or other baitfish. More than ever the codling seem to be on a diet of small crabs and squat lobsters taken from the bottom and always over hard ground.
Something else that has changed is the seal population. There is scarcely a trip now when someone winding up a good fish doesn’t lose all or part of it to a marauding fish robber. That was something I never saw in the 20 years chartering out of Berwick, although an occasional curious seal would be seen alongside.
Since my days at sea, there has been a marked change in the electronic equipment available to seafarers. With affordable sat nav, the days of clock and compass are past. It’s all there on screen – just steer towards it once you have tapped in your destination. Colour sounders are a 100 per cent improvement on the old paper models scratching away and often needing attention with new paper.
No more radio chatter
No longer is there a fleet of angling boats on the Hirst. No more radio chatter, in fact another boat is a rarity most days. After a 9am start for anglers, by the time we reach the Hirst, most of the lobster boats have finished their day’s work and are back in harbour.
Before sat nav, creel lines were marked with a buoy and a flag. Now, due to most boats setting creels through a stern door and the convenience of sat nav for location, creel fleets are now marked with buoys alone. Set gear, such as lobster creels, of which there are many more, are a terminal tackle robber.
Dropping a lure or baited hook over the side is still an exciting business. What will take the offering? Will it be a small coalfish, a fastfighting pollack or head-jigging codling resisting the power of rod and line.
My most recent trips were on Sagittarius, out of Eyemouth, on December 21 and 22. On the first day we fished Spittal Hirst and Inner Hirst in an easterly wind with the water still murky from a River Tweed spate. The fishing produced six codling. The following day was an early start in some freezing fog for the hour’s steam to the Hirst. Skipper Ronnie blamed the previous day’s poor catch on the south-easterly wind and murky water. We’d fish the flood and start at the north-west corner of the Hirst, allowing the tide to carry us to the peak at six to seven fathoms. Soon Peter Hanson, situated just behind the wheelhouse, caught a 3lb codling, which set the pattern for the day, with codling coming aboard every few minutes. At the Hirst peak we connected with a few coalfish before moving to the Inner Hirst for the last hour or so and were rewarded with some bigger fish and in better numbers. The day produced more than 50 fish.
While sea angling may not be as easy or productive as it was 40 years ago, what I have seen over the past two years is that most anglers catch some fish, while others are well ahead of the game and no doubt have a bulging freezer to see them over the lean months. ■