Old Press Cutting

[Skaterboy]

I found an old press cutting yesterday when I was looking for some old photos. It shows the record cod caught off Whitby in 1992
from the boat Sea Trek. When I went boat fishing I fished on Sea Trek a few times and the skipper always found us a few fish. When boats started fitting Decca Navigator, an early GPS system, there were some huge catches from the newly accessible wrecks off Whitby measured in thousands of pounds of 20 and 30lb cod. The best boats were booked up months and sometimes years in advance by clubs from all over the north of England and as an individual it was difficult to book a trip .I missed the bumper catches but had some good catches in later years. I caught my best fish in 1992 but by then the boats were having to travel a lot further to find good fish. On the day I caught it the skipper told us he had found some bigger fish the previous day a long way out and asked the anglers if they were prepared to risk the long journey to find them. Everybody agreed and the 10 hour trip turned into a 4 hour steam to the mark, 2 hours fishing and 4 hours back to port. Luckily he found the fish straight away and the risk payed off with good fish for everyone. Whitby still has a few charter boats which still catch fish but nothing like those days.

 

[Trampster]

Great report from 'the good ol' days' Skater!

 

[Wolf]

Great write up

 

[Coxy]

Oh for those Halcion days fishing with pirks and cod feathers over mid channel (& not so far) wrecks . Catching 2 x 20lb plus cod at a time with ling & pollock thrown in. Congers up to 90lb and cod on cuttle guts when anchored up. Fished on "Nikaria" out of Newhaven skippered by the late Chris Martin.

 

[The Third Earl]

I fished with Stu Johnson on Sea treck many times, before and after Noel Cook caught the biggest, the one in Skaterboys post ,he would set off and head straight out to the “Big Wall “ leaving us sat on deck for what seemed like ages, when we arrived it was always hectic, Cod and more cod, up to 15 or 20 lbs plus regularly coming over the gunnels . It was hard work, we used 2 lb plus Whitby Rippers , with a home made 6 inch muppet on a 6/0 hook above, never more than one muppet as if you hit three fish it would be arm breaking work bringing them up.The muppet was made from the orangey pink nylon tape used to mark holes in the road, a Penn 4/0 or 6/0 reel, 50 lb class rods and a form of line called “Eltex” which was actually what car seat belts were made from, we bought it on bulk spools from a place in Bradford.
After a day out on Sea Treck you ached all over, your arms were shaking , back aching and thighs and legs bruised where you had braced yourself against the gunnels. We used a big wheeled cart on the pontoon to get the catch back to the car sometimes two journeys with the cart full of fish both times.
Stu Johnson , who was an ex ambulance man, would race around the deck, gaff fish, then using the gaff he would remove the hooks, using the gaff like a “T” bar, leaving the fish flapping on the deck for you to deal with whilst he went onto the next angler to boat his fish, he never stopped.
Stu Johnson and Kevin Bewick another charter skipper, who used to run an old converted trawler called “Golden Bells” had a sort of long standing competition between themselves, who could buy their wives the most Jewelry , they would meet up in the “Little Angel “in Whitby and compare their purchases, which were displayed on their wives who were always decked out in their finest bling.

One time we could not get on Sea Treck, but instead booked on Golden Bells with Kevin, we arrived on the day, but the other anglers had given backword, Kevin was a true gent and took the two of us out for the whole day just charging individual prices, he never went out as far as Sea Treck because Golden Bells was a chugger and it would have taken him a week to get out as far as Stu Johnson, instead he knew the inshore marks well and although the fish we caught were mostly in the 6 to 12 lb bracket we still had a catch between the two of us which you would never see these days.

Many years ago,fond memories, we will probably , nay almost certainly never see their like again.

I still have the 50 lb class gear. These days I use, as most do ,much lighter tackle to target smaller fish , usually up to small doubles and occasionally hetting a bigger Ling.

The thought of a day pumping 2 lbs plus of lead for 6 hours, sometimes bringing up double shots of double figure Cod plus the pirk against a hard running tide , then having to drive 95 miles home with enough fish to fillet to fill a supermarket makes me wonder how we ever did it .

I remember one time, I owned a Caravan on a site in Filey, myself and a mate went up to Whitby for a day on Sea Treck, we bagged up , and took the catch back to the caravan site to stay over and travel home the day after, we gutted and filletted the fish on the site, and ended up with a big audience, most of the happy caravanners had never seen a Cod fresh from the sea, and almost certainly had never seen so many of them in one place.



Dave

 

[Trampster]

I fished with Stu Johnson on Sea treck many times, before and after Noel Cook caught the biggest, the one in Skaterboys post ,he would set off and head straight out to the “Big Wall “ leaving us sat on deck for what seemed like ages, when we arrived it was always hectic, Cod and more cod, up to 15 or 20 lbs plus regularly coming over the gunnels . It was hard work, we used 2 lb plus Whitby Rippers , with a home made 6 inch muppet on a 6/0 hook above, never more than one muppet as if you hit three fish it would be arm breaking work bringing them up.The muppet was made from the orangey pink nylon tape used to mark holes in the road, a Penn 4/0 or 6/0 reel, 50 lb class rods and a form of line called “Eltex” which was actually what car seat belts were made from, we bought it on bulk spools from a place in Bradford.
After a day out on Sea Treck you ached all over, your arms were shaking , back aching and thighs and legs bruised where you had braced yourself against the gunnels. We used a big wheeled cart on the pontoon to get the catch back to the car sometimes two journeys with the cart full of fish both times.
Stu Johnson , who was an ex ambulance man, would race around the deck, gaff fish, then using the gaff he would remove the hooks, using the gaff like a “T” bar, leaving the fish flapping on the deck for you to deal with whilst he went onto the next angler to boat his fish, he never stopped.
Stu Johnson and Kevin Bewick another charter skipper, who used to run an old converted trawler called “Golden Bells” had a sort of long standing competition between themselves, who could buy their wives the most Jewelry , they would meet up in the “Little Angel “in Whitby and compare their purchases, which were displayed on their wives who were always decked out in their finest bling.

One time we could not get on Sea Treck, but instead booked on Golden Bells with Kevin, we arrived on the day, but the other anglers had given backword, Kevin was a true gent and took the two of us out for the whole day just charging individual prices, he never went out as far as Sea Treck because Golden Bells was a chugger and it would have taken him a week to get out as far as Stu Johnson, instead he knew the inshore marks well and although the fish we caught were mostly in the 6 to 12 lb bracket we still had a catch between the two of us which you would never see these days.

Many years ago,fond memories, we will probably , nay almost certainly never see their like again.

I still have the 50 lb class gear. These days I use, as most do ,much lighter tackle to target smaller fish , usually up to small doubles and occasionally hetting a bigger Ling.

The thought of a day pumping 2 lbs plus of lead for 6 hours, sometimes bringing up double shots of double figure Cod plus the pirk against a hard running tide , then having to drive 95 miles home with enough fish to fillet to fill a supermarket makes me wonder how we ever did it .

I remember one time, I owned a Caravan on a site in Filey, myself and a mate went up to Whitby for a day on Sea Treck, we bagged up , and took the catch back to the caravan site to stay over and travel home the day after, we gutted and filletted the fish on the site, and ended up with a big audience, most of the happy caravanners had never seen a Cod fresh from the sea, and almost certainly had never seen so many of them in one place.



Dave

Great write up Dave!

 

[John Mitchell]

The seas have been plundered

 

[X525]

I fished with Stu Johnson on Sea treck many times, before and after Noel Cook caught the biggest, the one in Skaterboys post ,he would set off and head straight out to the “Big Wall “ leaving us sat on deck for what seemed like ages, when we arrived it was always hectic, Cod and more cod, up to 15 or 20 lbs plus regularly coming over the gunnels . It was hard work, we used 2 lb plus Whitby Rippers , with a home made 6 inch muppet on a 6/0 hook above, never more than one muppet as if you hit three fish it would be arm breaking work bringing them up.The muppet was made from the orangey pink nylon tape used to mark holes in the road, a Penn 4/0 or 6/0 reel, 50 lb class rods and a form of line called “Eltex” which was actually what car seat belts were made from, we bought it on bulk spools from a place in Bradford.
After a day out on Sea Treck you ached all over, your arms were shaking , back aching and thighs and legs bruised where you had braced yourself against the gunnels. We used a big wheeled cart on the pontoon to get the catch back to the car sometimes two journeys with the cart full of fish both times.
Stu Johnson , who was an ex ambulance man, would race around the deck, gaff fish, then using the gaff he would remove the hooks, using the gaff like a “T” bar, leaving the fish flapping on the deck for you to deal with whilst he went onto the next angler to boat his fish, he never stopped.
Stu Johnson and Kevin Bewick another charter skipper, who used to run an old converted trawler called “Golden Bells” had a sort of long standing competition between themselves, who could buy their wives the most Jewelry , they would meet up in the “Little Angel “in Whitby and compare their purchases, which were displayed on their wives who were always decked out in their finest bling.

One time we could not get on Sea Treck, but instead booked on Golden Bells with Kevin, we arrived on the day, but the other anglers had given backword, Kevin was a true gent and took the two of us out for the whole day just charging individual prices, he never went out as far as Sea Treck because Golden Bells was a chugger and it would have taken him a week to get out as far as Stu Johnson, instead he knew the inshore marks well and although the fish we caught were mostly in the 6 to 12 lb bracket we still had a catch between the two of us which you would never see these days.

Many years ago,fond memories, we will probably , nay almost certainly never see their like again.

I still have the 50 lb class gear. These days I use, as most do ,much lighter tackle to target smaller fish , usually up to small doubles and occasionally hetting a bigger Ling.

The thought of a day pumping 2 lbs plus of lead for 6 hours, sometimes bringing up double shots of double figure Cod plus the pirk against a hard running tide , then having to drive 95 miles home with enough fish to fillet to fill a supermarket makes me wonder how we ever did it .

I remember one time, I owned a Caravan on a site in Filey, myself and a mate went up to Whitby for a day on Sea Treck, we bagged up , and took the catch back to the caravan site to stay over and travel home the day after, we gutted and filletted the fish on the site, and ended up with a big audience, most of the happy caravanners had never seen a Cod fresh from the sea, and almost certainly had never seen so many of them in one place.



Dave

when i first moved up here from Portsmouth, whitby was a weekly( weather permitting) trip, with either kev or stuart the first 2 calls lol
Kev Buick bought sea trek off stuart, if i remember correctly, and she was renamed Heartbeat
cracking hull, based on a type of offshore powerboat design if i recall

then stuart got the bullet ( sea trek TNG ) ( which rich ward is now running as Shy Torque)

had many many days with each , and latterly rich ward, and the early days would see box after box filled to overflowing

did a couple of foc trips early on, on a %% share ( cant remember the boat) when the boats all had their own psl ( pressure stock licences )
can remember setting off at 3 in the morning for a 4 hr steam, 6 hrs solid pirking and a 4 hrs run in, all boxes filled to the brim, and the area of remaining deck space covered in cod, half way up to the gunnels

got a good days fishing out of it( fkin hard work mind) and a decent drink at the end of the day

wont see days like that again in my lifetime

 

[Topwater]

Nothing lasts forever when over exploited. It's the same story the world over. Human greed kills everything. We are a disgrace to our planet!

 

[Skaterboy]

did a couple of foc trips early on, on a %% share ( cant remember the boat) when the boats all had their own psl ( pressure stock licences )

I remember some of the huge catches taken in the early days on that semi commercial basis. The Boys and Dark Island are two of the boats that come to mind.

 

[X525]

I remember some of the huge catches taken in the early days on that semi commercial basis. The Boys and Dark Island are two of the boats that come to mind.

they were just before my time up here, but not by long, seem to remember alan? ( rich wards old fella?? ) ran some, but memory may be playing tricks on me ??

cant remember the guys name, but we used to do the same trips, BUT, always the opposite way to the actual whitby boats that did em and ran further north torwards hartlepool from
staithes, an old wooden plodder, shallow draught, well rounded hull shape
rolled like a fkin ball soon as there was any movement, horrendous days out there on that, and staithes is 100% tidal access dependant
if it were proper lumpy, and tides dictated you couldnt get back in, it was either sit it our n roll round till you collapsed, or run for whitby n try n catch a set of swells that wouldnt stick you bow on into the pier ends or turn you sideways to the swell lol
near on shat meself on several occasions lol
stamp of fish was not as big, but quantity wise, was absolutley un believable

 

[Topwater]

My family in Shetland fear for their local stocks, particularly around Muckle Flugga, as do I. The fact is that from these depths there are very poor chances of effective C&R. Once the bigger fish are gone they take time to replenish, much longer than the current rate of killing allows. The writing is very much on the wall

 

[Dutchman]

The seas have been plundered

I have said this on a previous site, yes they have been, but we as anglers also have an impact.

 

[This Way Up]

Hi,

Came across this thread recently which brought back many memories, this is just my era. I have joined this forum to add my two penneth.

On the subject of boats fishing fairly newly discovered offshore wrecks, a few are mentioned above - below is a list of the ones I remember.

Dark Island (Alan Boocock)
Sea Trek (Stuart Johnson)
The Boys (Dennis Winspear)
Val Dee (Stuart Hale)
Cyanita (George Tabor)
Summer Wine (Alan Ward)
Gina St Belle (Paul Foster)
and my own boat This Way Up (Mike Freeman)

To the best of my knowledge some of the above ran "Fish for the Boat" trips as well as taking angling parties in particular The Boys and Summer Wine. I used to bump into them from time to time 40 miles off. Summer Wines regular "fish for the boat" day was Monday.

Dark Island as well as taking angling trips also used to fish commercially with gill nets on wrecks such as The Battleship where he netted huge hauls of monster Cod.

I understand Dark Island holds the record for the biggest catch of Cod (angling) in a single trip, 3.5 tons to 8 rods. The story goes Alan was out with an angling party and found a wreck absolutely stuffed with monster Cod. He press ganged a few mates and returned to the wreck as soon as he could, there used to be a photo of the catch in one of the fishing tackle shops in Whitby many years ago.

Last time I spoke to Stuart Johnson (Sea Trek) about the state of the Cod fishing he said if he was still taking angling parties he would be targeting other species such as Halibut. Incidentally Sea Trek is now called Sea Trek once more and has been extensively refurbished, its 2 big Cummins engines in perfect working order and I understand there is also a spare engine. Fortunes spent and she is now lying in Whitby marina for sale at a snip.

Various things have been suggested regarding the severe decline of Cod stocks off Whitby. Perhaps not only over fishing is to blame. Climate change is suggested (the Cod have moved up North?) and Scallop dredging. It has been said the Scallop dredges destroy the weed that the Herring need to spawn on which affects the food chain. It also has to be said the minimum landing size for Cod is ridiculous, I read recently Cod do not mature until they are about 24" in length so millions are killed long before they have chance to reproduce. The same article made clear it was known in the year 1895 that landing very small Codling was unsustainable. I have seen a weigh in at a match on the beach and at least one of the contestants having weighed their catch just chucked them back into the sea dead, they were of legal minimum size but he said they are too much trouble considering the size of fillets he would end up with.

The last time I skippered a party boat a video was made and last time I looked it was still on youtube - search Wildcard Platinum 1

I do have a few photos I could upload on here if I can figure out how to.

All for now.

Mike

 

[Skaterboy]

Welcome to the forum Mike. I remember all the boats on your list. I fished on Sea Trek with Stuart when he was just starting out as a skipper. When it became harder to get booked with him I fished a lot with George on Cyanita which was a bit less frantic but we always went home with plenty of fish. Hope you can get your photos uploaded.

 

[Trampster]

Hi,

Came across this thread recently which brought back many memories, this is just my era. I have joined this forum to add my two penneth.

On the subject of boats fishing fairly newly discovered offshore wrecks, a few are mentioned above - below is a list of the ones I remember.

Dark Island (Alan Boocock)
Sea Trek (Stuart Johnson)
The Boys (Dennis Winspear)
Val Dee (Stuart Hale)
Cyanita (George Tabor)
Summer Wine (Alan Ward)
Gina St Belle (Paul Foster)
and my own boat This Way Up (Mike Freeman)

To the best of my knowledge some of the above ran "Fish for the Boat" trips as well as taking angling parties in particular The Boys and Summer Wine. I used to bump into them from time to time 40 miles off. Summer Wines regular "fish for the boat" day was Monday.

Dark Island as well as taking angling trips also used to fish commercially with gill nets on wrecks such as The Battleship where he netted huge hauls of monster Cod.

I understand Dark Island holds the record for the biggest catch of Cod (angling) in a single trip, 3.5 tons to 8 rods. The story goes Alan was out with an angling party and found a wreck absolutely stuffed with monster Cod. He press ganged a few mates and returned to the wreck as soon as he could, there used to be a photo of the catch in one of the fishing tackle shops in Whitby many years ago.

Last time I spoke to Stuart Johnson (Sea Trek) about the state of the Cod fishing he said if he was still taking angling parties he would be targeting other species such as Halibut. Incidentally Sea Trek is now called Sea Trek once more and has been extensively refurbished, its 2 big Cummins engines in perfect working order and I understand there is also a spare engine. Fortunes spent and she is now lying in Whitby marina for sale at a snip.

Various things have been suggested regarding the severe decline of Cod stocks off Whitby. Perhaps not only over fishing is to blame. Climate change is suggested (the Cod have moved up North?) and Scallop dredging. It has been said the Scallop dredges destroy the weed that the Herring need to spawn on which affects the food chain. It also has to be said the minimum landing size for Cod is ridiculous, I read recently Cod do not mature until they are about 24" in length so millions are killed long before they have chance to reproduce. The same article made clear it was known in the year 1895 that landing very small Codling was unsustainable. I have seen a weigh in at a match on the beach and at least one of the contestants having weighed their catch just chucked them back into the sea dead, they were of legal minimum size but he said they are too much trouble considering the size of fillets he would end up with.

The last time I skippered a party boat a video was made and last time I looked it was still on youtube - search Wildcard Platinum 1

I do have a few photos I could upload on here if I can figure out how to.

All for now.

Mike

Welcome to the Madhouse Mike!

An interesting post..

 

[fishing hobbit]

Welcome aboard matey

 

[The Third Earl]

Welcome to the forum Mike. I remember all the boats on your list. I fished on Sea Trek with Stuart when he was just starting out as a skipper. When it became harder to get booked with him I fished a lot with George on Cyanita which was a bit less frantic but we always went home with plenty of fish. Hope you can get your photos uploaded.

I am sure Stu Johnson had another boat before Sea Trek , in fact I am sure we went out with him on it but I am beggared if I can remember its name , can anybody help ? I remember whrn Sea Trek first appeared at Whitby , the envy of every other skipper I think .

Talking about Alan Ward, one time we were out with his lad Richard on Summer Wine and the rudder fell of the boat, we had to be towed in by another charter boat.

There were a couple of skippers that ran out of Whitby that I considered to be complete twats , example is on two seperate occasions we saw the weather forecast had been dire a few days before the trips,and still was . I called up the skippers the night before who said conditions were fine and the would be going out . As they had our deposits if we failed to turn up he would be keeping the deposits .
So, stuck between losing a lot of cash or turning up we ( the full charter ) drove the 110 miles there. To be told conditions werent good but they would take us out.
The rub being if there was too much sea going by the time we got past the pier ends they would charge us the full days fee.

I lost it with them both and they backed down, and returned the deposits. They were never booked again.

The Skippers did not seem to grasp that many of us had been chartering and crewing for years and could assess conditions as well as they could , especially when a quick call to the coastguard or harbourmaster could confirm what we could see on the forecasts etc.

Twats the pair of them , both long retired now. They both gave the Whitby charter skippers a bad name , which was a pity because the great majority of the skippers were /are fine decent people.




Dave

 

[Skaterboy]

I am sure Stu Johnson had another boat before Sea Trek , in fact I am sure we went out with him on it but I am beggared if I can remember its name , can anybody help ? I remember whrn Sea Trek first appeared at Whitby , the envy of every other skipper I think .

It's a long time ago and my memory might be playing tricks but I think that when I first fished with Stuart he didn't own Sea Trek. I seem to remember that the original Sea Trek was owned by another skipper who also owned and skippered a boat called North Star, a boat I fished from a couple of times previously but I can't remember his name. I think Stuart bought Sea Trek from him when he became more established in Whitby. I don't know if he had any other boats before that.

 

[X525]

Hi,

Came across this thread recently which brought back many memories, this is just my era. I have joined this forum to add my two penneth.

On the subject of boats fishing fairly newly discovered offshore wrecks, a few are mentioned above - below is a list of the ones I remember.

Dark Island (Alan Boocock)
Sea Trek (Stuart Johnson)
The Boys (Dennis Winspear)
Val Dee (Stuart Hale)
Cyanita (George Tabor)
Summer Wine (Alan Ward)
Gina St Belle (Paul Foster)
and my own boat This Way Up (Mike Freeman)

To the best of my knowledge some of the above ran "Fish for the Boat" trips as well as taking angling parties in particular The Boys and Summer Wine. I used to bump into them from time to time 40 miles off. Summer Wines regular "fish for the boat" day was Monday.

Dark Island as well as taking angling trips also used to fish commercially with gill nets on wrecks such as The Battleship where he netted huge hauls of monster Cod.

I understand Dark Island holds the record for the biggest catch of Cod (angling) in a single trip, 3.5 tons to 8 rods. The story goes Alan was out with an angling party and found a wreck absolutely stuffed with monster Cod. He press ganged a few mates and returned to the wreck as soon as he could, there used to be a photo of the catch in one of the fishing tackle shops in Whitby many years ago.

Last time I spoke to Stuart Johnson (Sea Trek) about the state of the Cod fishing he said if he was still taking angling parties he would be targeting other species such as Halibut. Incidentally Sea Trek is now called Sea Trek once more and has been extensively refurbished, its 2 big Cummins engines in perfect working order and I understand there is also a spare engine. Fortunes spent and she is now lying in Whitby marina for sale at a snip.

Various things have been suggested regarding the severe decline of Cod stocks off Whitby. Perhaps not only over fishing is to blame. Climate change is suggested (the Cod have moved up North?) and Scallop dredging. It has been said the Scallop dredges destroy the weed that the Herring need to spawn on which affects the food chain. It also has to be said the minimum landing size for Cod is ridiculous, I read recently Cod do not mature until they are about 24" in length so millions are killed long before they have chance to reproduce. The same article made clear it was known in the year 1895 that landing very small Codling was unsustainable. I have seen a weigh in at a match on the beach and at least one of the contestants having weighed their catch just chucked them back into the sea dead, they were of legal minimum size but he said they are too much trouble considering the size of fillets he would end up with.

The last time I skippered a party boat a video was made and last time I looked it was still on youtube - search Wildcard Platinum 1

I do have a few photos I could upload on here if I can figure out how to.

All for now.

Mike

Mike

If you
Have any details ref sea trek contacts, please pm
Last time I saw Kev , long while ago just before he wrapped up, I stuck an offer under his nose , which he declined , after an honest chat about the boat itself and what was needed, I was not in a position at the time to lift her out n set her out for the time needed to re gel etc , and apparently she was wet throughout
Wouldn’t mind having a chat and a second look, as possibly running towards early retirement n running another boat out of Grimsby
Kris