TIME MACHINE

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

JANUARY 2009

■ Fat flounders were showing in Poole Harbour, with Jason Rothwell catching a 4lb 5oz 12dr fish at Hamworthy, while junior angler Jordan Judge took a couple of two-pounders.

■ Yorkshire match angler Ray Maddison was 10 minutes into a pegged event on Marine Drive, Scarborough, when he caught a 19lb cod. ■ The Humber produced an 18lb 7oz cod from the Bull Anchorage for Brian Bee, of Grimsby. It was one of the biggest fish from the estuary for many years.

■ Rough ground off Brighton, East Sussex, produced a superb 31lb 5oz cod for Eastbourne boat angler Sean Tester when he fished aboard Aquavitesse, skippered by Noel West, out of Brighton Marina. The fish fell to a whole squid on a Pennell rig.

■ The future of the Sea Angling Conservation Network looked bleak with the retirement of Leon Roskilly. It seemed nobody was prepared to take on the job.

1999

■ Fishing near his home in Portland, Dorset, Pete Hegg set a new shore record for a ballan wrasse. He caught a stunning 9lb 1oz fish to beat the existing record of 8lb 13oz 2dr, set by Simon Gavey while fishing on Jersey. Pete still holds the shore record.

■ An engineer from Gosport, in Hampshire, boated a 21lb cod while fishing just south of the Needles to the west of the Isle of Wight. John Sumner caught it on a whole squid while fishing from Roger Bayzand’s Sundance II, out of Lymington. ■ Adrian Gittings, of Bath’s Gannet SAC, caught a 7lb 14oz tub gurnard while fishing for whiting off Portland, Dorset. He was fishing on Paul Whittall’s Offshore Rebel, out of Weymouth.

■ Des Fairbairn, of Herne Hill, in London, made the trip to Dover for a day’s bass fishing and was rewarded with a 15lb 4oz fish taken on a squid and lug cocktail. Des was fishing off the South Foreland aboard Discovery, skippered by Steve Waters, out of Dover.

1989

■ Lugworms were in short supply in East Anglia as tackle shops struggled to get enough to cater for their customers. It coincided with a boost in beach fishing as hordes of whiting and cod were caught by anglers on the region’s beaches.

■ An angler fishing in a species contest landed a Scottish record spurdog. John Bean, of Dunfermline, beat the old record of 17lb 12dr with a giant of 18lb 14oz. He was boat fishing out of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.

■ A 5lb 8oz 4dr marbled electric ray caught by Martin Shales, from Jersey, while fishing at Bonne Nuit pier, was being claimed as a British record, which was open at 1lb. The fish fell to a pollack bait. Martin was the third member of his family to hold a British record – his father Colin set an undulate ray record in 1978 with a fish of 15lb 8oz and his wife Lilian once the held the rock cook wrasse record.

■ David Rowe was appointed development officer of the National Federation of Sea Anglers. Bob Page would become president and honorary treasurer. ■ Colin Penny, of Dorchester,

Dorset, caught pollack of 18lb and

17lb 8oz during a trip on Peace and

Plenty, skippered by Chris Tett out of Weymouth.

Colin, who is now the skipper of the charter boat

Flamer, had caught a 19lb 4oz pollack a few weeks earlier to set a Weymouth Angling Society record.

1979

■ The existence of bluefin tuna around our coast was confirmed when a commercial boat operating 25 miles off Falmouth, Cornwall, boated a 777-pounder. The fish was eaten by employees of the WD & HO Wills factory in Bristol. Its head was donated to the University of Bristol’s zoology department.

■ The East Coast had enjoyed a bumper winter after gales from November onwards produced superb fishing. Many boats caught so many cod that they had to return to port early, having run out of bait. One Great Yarmouth boat had 53 cod to 18lb 8oz, with no fish under 5lb.

■ Charter boats out of Bradwell reported an amazing season with an aggregate of more than 2,000 bass, 2,500 rays and 2,500 smoothhounds. Bob Cox, John Rawle and Kevin Benham saw more than 50 bass topping 10lb, to a best of 14lb 12oz. The best hound weighed in at 20lb 12oz and was a British record, while the best thornback went 18lb 8oz.

■ Geoffrey Bucknall, from Kent, and owner his own boat, was attempting to form an association of private fishing boat owners. “We are a different breed. We’re neither cruising nor charter people. We ought to get together and help each other,” he said.