old river shots

[Scotty91]

theys storys keep you well intrestad

[seery]

i remember the corpse they found in the tanks at velvor liquids she had been in their for years , they caught the bloke who topped her in the 70s , anybody ever fish frazers or the rubber company in north sheilds jim?

[stig]

velva liquids it was a lad from shields who told me of this mark geordie stobs do you know him does he still fish, i just got to know the mark then it got fenced off ,they say it was difficult to keep your catch on there the rats used to come on and drag them away when your backs were turned.

lost a cracking fish there one day on boat moorings it was very deep in water close in and this was only second time i had fished it.

Geordie stobbs is is alive and fishing mate,saw him on ssp a couple of weeks ago.Think he fishes with the Alberta club?

[jarrowviking]

Used to get the train down from Hebburn to South Shields then walk to the Velva liquids jetty. It was always a mission fishing on there, hiding among the pipework out of sight of the security guard. We would stay all night on that jetty and get the first train back home in the morning. At that time I was only about thirteen years old, our parents let us get away with so much back in the day, how times change.

First light was always brill on the old jetty with loads of codling, even in summer.

The old coal jetty at Jarrow was a great place to, just down from where the White lead pub stood (Dougies Tavern) if the fishing was poor as kids we'd perve through the ships windows tied along the quay. The foreign sailors would always bring back the girls from the pubs at the top of the bank, think I seen my first naked lady there, lol!

Great place to fish for codling to, shame it's just a burnt out shell of a jetty now.

We'd also sneak onto the old ferry landing at Hebburn during the night just where Church bank is now and that would also be a great place to catch to, the river up there was far deeper than it is now as ships were still launched from Swans over the water in Wallsend at the time.

The jetty that's in front of the Sea Cadet building at Hebburn was fantastic to until they fenced it off, access to a deep river channel, I'd watch in amazement as Ken Cowie and Peter Clark would pull 6lb'ers in and we'd have to settle for little ones.

Yes those were the days when we couldn't afford wellies never mind waders and would plodge out on the mud banks with placcy bags tied round our shoes looking for peeler crabs under old bits of metal and carpet.

What a great thread, cheers Topfly, I'll see if I can find any old pictures of these places on the net and post them up if I do.

[jarrowviking]

The old coal staithes at Hebburn just down from Dougies tavern

Once a hive of activity, ships loading, ladies of the night and lots of codling. Coal loading finished in the mid 1980's and the jetty is now derelict and dangerous.

Once busy



Derelict now with no access available



Seen loads of cod caught at the jetty where TS Kelly sea cadets are now, shame it's fenced off now.

Me in May 1973 when the jetty was first built. Binoculars, blazer and patches on my knees, very funny. The very place I caught my first fish and the area is known as Church bank now.



The old ferry landing at Hebburn, once a cod hotspot to. Church bank again.



Unfortunately I coiuldn't find a pic of Velva liquids jetty when it was in use, be great if anyone has one for us to see.

[lingking]

great pics fro the "jewel of jarra"

[Topfly]

Good stuff J.V. Fished neck and neck one year with mr Cowie,and they gave us a trophy each, it was a draw. still see Peter now and again. thanks for sharing your pics.

[TerryC]

Good thread

I started back in the early 1960's on the north side of the river. You could fish a lot more places then.

LLyods Jetty
The Government jetty. (were the life boat moors now)
The fish quay proper - just watch out for the boats
Frasers ships chandlers - rebuilt as Rubber Company

I still remember (and it still makes my stomach churn) I was fishing with my dad, I would be about 11 at Frasers. The fishing gear was rather chunky in those days. I had a solid glass 8 ft rod with a Penn Surfmaster 150 (birthday prezzie) with 30lb line on going to a "shark catching size" three way swivel with lighter line to the hook and weight.

Well there used to be a cable strung between two bouys and I actually managed to cast over the cable and got the weight wrapped round it. So I did the normal thing, wound the line tight and walked backwards (I could see the weight). With the sound of a rifle crack the traces snapped the the swivel came back at mach 1 and hit me in the left nut. I went down like a sack of tatties. Gawd that really hurt I can tell you and I didn't help that everyone was falling about laughing including my dad as he had offered to snap it off for me.

To this day I always break off snags with my back to the water