a trip to remember on the briar

stevew

Well-known member
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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.
 
Great write up Steve. I was lucky enough to go out on the Briar and still haven't beaten the 14 and 16 pounders I got on there.
 
Good day on the Briar

Good day on the Briar

Had many a good day out with John. I am very good friends with the guy who started wrecking on the Tyne with John, the only skipper who was interested. Ask around, you may be suprised which name comes up.
 
remember it well steve there wasnt a cod or ling under 10lb i beleive the biggest cod went 25 lb and ling 28lb you are right about me not getting into fish until you gave me a heavy pirk was using a scarborough reel and all the lads had heavy multiplier reels and were getting to the bottom quicker,did have a cod and a ling both over 20lb at the same time made my day,was a red hot day and every one ran out of drinks,most of the lads still fishing in tynemouth club,still have your photo of your ex 20lb shore caught cod if you want it . davy.
 
i'd love a copy Dave. yea I also remember being very thirsty on the way back in. I can honestly say it was the perfect day, great weather, great fishing and great company.
 
there was myself, Sean Blake and another lad all into fish at the same time, when they got close to the surface we each had three fish on all over 10lb, as they got closer they all tangled up, what a mess, we got them on board and where trying to sort the mess out, John came along with a sharp knike and cut the lot off "come on lads never mind about the tangle get fishing" which we did.
 
yes a good day was had by all, a once in a life experience.

seeing me on the photo shows how long ago it was,

Mr Charlton, the other bloke was me, fancy you forgetting that !!!!!

bob
 
am I the only one in the photo who hasn't aged. It's funny how I appear to be the only one having a very bad hair day apart from Alan's beard. I think I sold my catch to Geof Reay because I wanted to meet the lads in the pub and didn't know where to start filleting 200lb+ of cod. He was more than happy to take them off my hands for what was for me a small fortune at the time.
 
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