TIME MACHINE

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

Looking back through our archives.

OCTOBER 2008

■ Brighton Diver, skippered by Paul Dyer, out of Brighton Marina, East Sussex, produced a 13lb bass for Paul Smith and a 60lb-plus conger eel for Simon Dubrovic.

■ Three 20lb-plus smoothhounds were hooked at once by Ian

Hambury, Bill Green and

Tony Patel. They caught fish of

21lb, 22lb and 24lb respectively on hermit crab baits while on John Rawle’s charter boat Daphne Carol, out of Bradwell, Essex.

■ Kent anglers were angry over RSPB plans to close vehicle and boat access to the sole hot spot at Dengemarsh beach.

■ Two superb fish were caught from Plymouth, Devon, waters – a 27lb 14oz ling and a 62lb 8oz conger eel. Rodger Stephens, of Bridgwater, bagged the ling, one of three over 20lb he caught on Crusader, skippered by Richard Matthews. The eel, boated by Philip Saunders, also of Bridgwater, was attacked by a shark as it was retrieved.

A squid bait fished downtide from Valkyrie, skippered by Glen Cairns, out of Langstone Harbour, Hants, produced a 30lb blonde ray for Alan Pocock, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

1998

■ Leeds angler Harry Gallifant was elated after catching a 90lb 4oz conger, while fishing southeast of Plymouth,

Devon. He was aboard the charter boat

Tamesis, skippered by

Roy Strevens.

A 1lb 10oz 8dr grey gurnard was set to become one of the most valuable fish at £283 an ounce – thanks to a £7,500 cash prize for anyone catching a British record on a Normark rod. It was caught by Peter El-Balawi, of Newquay, Cornwall, while spinning a dead sandeel from the local headland. Peter’s grey gurnard is still the British shore record.

■ Kevin Willis caught a personal best bass of 14lb 4oz while boat fishing off Beachy Head, East Sussex. The angler, from Esher, Surrey, was aboard a friend’s boat when he caught the fish on a mackerel bait.

■ A wreck 35 miles out of Southwold, Suffolk, produced 113 cod for a party of nine anglers fishing with pirks aboard the charter boat Mistress, skippered by Nigel Hayter. Best fish was an 18-pounder for Cyril Mamby, of Bury St Edmunds.

1988

■ Big caster Neil Mackellow put out the second best cast of his career at a UKSF tournament at Norwich, when he reached an astonishing 279yds 2ft. Local caster Paul Kerry finished second with 276yds 7in, the best he had achieved. At the same event, Gary Setchell broke the UKSF fixed-spool record with a distance of 263yds. A rare big brill of 11lb 6oz fell to a sandeel bait offered by Steve Froud, of Alton, Hants, while fishing south of the Isle of Wight aboard MFV Leander, out of Langstone Harbour. ■ Paul Northmore made his mark as skipper of Brixham’s Sea Angler charter boat when Somerset angler Jean Paul Muller caught a 91lb conger eel, the second biggest of the year. Arthur Brown set a new Channel Islands record with a 16lb 7oz 8dr bass. The angler from St Helier, Jersey, was fishing from a rock mark with a mackerel strip bait. It took him 20 minutes to land.

1978

■ Sea Angler reported a burst of activity from porbeagle sharks in the waters of the Shetland Islands. Erik Mason boated a 306lb porgie, followed the next day by a 214lb fish for Glynn Wright, before Erik lost one of 500lb after getting it to the side of the boat twice. A week later Ray Phillips took a 450-pounder, while Peter White caught one of 192lb and added another of 404lb. Later that day Erik boated a fish of 376lb.

■ Boat anglers fishing off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, were mystified when they retrieved only the heads of whiting and other fish. Deciding there must be a big shark, George Fisher, of Norwich, set up a wire trace and eventually hooked a porbeagle shark weighing between 80-90lb, which was released at the side of the boat.

■ The Scottish boat record for a tope, held since 1975 by a fish of 62lb, was beaten when Bradford angler Jim Wood caught a fish of 65lb. On the same day four other tope were caught, none less than 37lb, and the second best at 55lb.