TIME MACHINE
Looking back through 40 years of Britain’s biggest and best sea angling magazine…
Looking back through our archives.
2008
■ A superb 24lb 4oz turbot fell to Dean Saunders of Ferndown, Dorset, while fishing a mackerel bait from Chris Tett’s Peace and Plenty out of Weymouth, Dorset.
■ John Edridge of
Crowhurst, Surrey, caught a 188lb common skate on a whole mackerel while fishing from Ronnie Campbell’s Laura Dawn out of Oban, Argyl.
■ Frank Shaw, skipper of Carrick Lee out of Newhaven, East Sussex, reported some big cod, including five weighing more than 20lb. The best was 28lb 8oz for Craig Shortland from Edgware, who caught the fish on a white shad.
1998
■ A superb
19lb thornback ray was caught in the
Thames
Estuary by David
Wootton of
Colchester,
Essex. He was fishing a cocktail of lugworms and squid while aboard Dave Weaving’s Jenna-D out of West Mersea. The following day, on the same boat, Alan Rippingale of Colchester caught a 17lb 8oz thornback on a lug and squid cocktail.
Wayne Lewis landed what was believed to be the Isle of Wight’s first double-figure small-eyed ray from the island’s Solent shoreline. The ray weighed 15lb 5oz and took a sandeel on a Pennell rig during a Western Wight AC shore match. ■ Ches Golebioski, an electrical engineer from Watford, Herts, landed a 6lb 14oz plaice while aboard Paul Whittall’s Offshore Rebel out of Weymouth, Dorset. There was a 6lb 4oz plaice, too, for Stewart Huggins of Wantage, Oxfordshire, who fished from Colin Penny’s Flamer, also out of the port of Weymouth. ■ While fishing on Ronnie Campbell’s Iona-Jayne out of Oban, Argyll, Kenny Scott of Stenhousemuir caught common skate of 10lb and 180lb.
1988
■ Cod were off the menu for anglers fishing the English Channel and western waters following a ban imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The ruling applied to all British-owned fishing boat, irrespective of length. As a result, charter skippers and anglers were, predictably, unhappy. ■ Michael Woolcock’s first bass proved a real whopper – a 14lb 7oz 2dr fish. The angler from Truro, Cornwall, caught it on lugworms while fishing a beach near Perranporth. That’s not all – his debut bass was followed by another of 9lb 6oz 4dr. ■ A run of big coalfish from the English Channel wrecks off Plymouth, Devon, continued with a 27lb 2oz fish for Barrie Hoare of Newport, South Wales. He caught it on an artificial eel while fishing from Crafty K, skippered by Barry Hoskins.
1978
■ The Skerries Bank off Dartmouth was producing good plaice fishing, with a group from Mountain Ash Destroyers AC taking fish to 5lb on Saltwind of Dart, skippered by Lloyd Saunders. The skipper also caught a 2lb 10oz 8dr dab, which was close to the 2lb 12oz 4dr British boat record caught in 1975.
■ Peter Ash of Bideford, Devon, caught a 15lb 6oz 8dr bass from the beach at Westward Ho, while Alan Ozanne bagged a 13lb 4oz 1dr fish from St Sampsons harbour mouth in Guernsey. The same island produced an 11lb 13oz bass for Brian Dobson, who also caught a 26lb 4oz turbot.
■ Norwich angler Tony Gittins was on the trail of big stingrays from the shore at St Osyth, Essex. First he landed a 37lb 8oz stinger, and four days later he caught fish of 45lb and 47lb before losing a much larger ray. ■ The Wyvern Division of the National Federation of Sea Anglers was reviving its popular boat festival, which had been mothballed due to rising charter fishing costs, as a small-boat event at Salcombe in Devon.