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in the mid 80's a group of us from Tynemouth club booked a day on the briar and what a trip it turned out to be. Most of the lads in the photo are still fishing but I'm sure Mr Charlton will recognize the big hairy bloke at the front.
We met on the quayside and were approached by a stranger who asked if there was a space for the day and John agreed to let him join us making it unlucky 13 on board. I vividly remember the first couple of wrecks being very poor producing only the odd fish however John eventually positioned us over a wreck and said "I think this will be the one. Oh how right he was.
Within seconds of hitting the bottom we were all into fish (except for one of us Mr Haley) and there followed the most incredible 10 minutes I have ever experienced. the surface of the water on both sides of the boat was littered with big cod. I remember watching John running round with two gaffs lifting fish after fish over the side. My first drop produced 3 good fish and as I looked over the side I saw cod breaking free and slowly sinking back into the depth. The second drop was just as hectic but again one of us failed to connect. by now he was starting to get a bit frantic as cod were appearing in greater size and quantity so I gave the unfortunate one a bigger pirk which seemed to do the trick as on the next drift he hit his first fish of the day.
There then followed a couple of hours of the most fantastic fishing I have ever experienced with the cod getting bigger and bigger. 12lb and 14lb fish were becoming common and during the two hours my three biggest were 18lb, 20lb and 22lb. I also recall some of the lads hooking 3 big fish on a single drop and the sight of one in particular actually on his knees still brings a chuckle today. We never got round to weighing the total catch but John estimated it as possibly his biggest haul at that time. I'm sure that over time some of the memories have become a bit blurred however some will stick forever and I often wonder what happened to the lucky 13th member of the party. He surely couldn't have picked a better day to chance his luck with a bunch of strangers.
in the mid 80's a group of us from Tynemouth club booked a day on the briar and what a trip it turned out to be. Most of the lads in the photo are still fishing but I'm sure Mr Charlton will recognize the big hairy bloke at the front.
We met on the quayside and were approached by a stranger who asked if there was a space for the day and John agreed to let him join us making it unlucky 13 on board. I vividly remember the first couple of wrecks being very poor producing only the odd fish however John eventually positioned us over a wreck and said "I think this will be the one. Oh how right he was.
Within seconds of hitting the bottom we were all into fish (except for one of us Mr Haley) and there followed the most incredible 10 minutes I have ever experienced. the surface of the water on both sides of the boat was littered with big cod. I remember watching John running round with two gaffs lifting fish after fish over the side. My first drop produced 3 good fish and as I looked over the side I saw cod breaking free and slowly sinking back into the depth. The second drop was just as hectic but again one of us failed to connect. by now he was starting to get a bit frantic as cod were appearing in greater size and quantity so I gave the unfortunate one a bigger pirk which seemed to do the trick as on the next drift he hit his first fish of the day.
There then followed a couple of hours of the most fantastic fishing I have ever experienced with the cod getting bigger and bigger. 12lb and 14lb fish were becoming common and during the two hours my three biggest were 18lb, 20lb and 22lb. I also recall some of the lads hooking 3 big fish on a single drop and the sight of one in particular actually on his knees still brings a chuckle today. We never got round to weighing the total catch but John estimated it as possibly his biggest haul at that time. I'm sure that over time some of the memories have become a bit blurred however some will stick forever and I often wonder what happened to the lucky 13th member of the party. He surely couldn't have picked a better day to chance his luck with a bunch of strangers.
brilliant read
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