Fishing

[Louis the fly]

When I worked in the North Sea we tied up to the rigs using anchors and stern lines. One end of the ropes was made fast to the lower legs of the rig with the other end hung off the top rails. The crane driver lowered down the ropes to us on the supply ship. These ropes were as thick as a man's legs and were a struggle to get the turns on the bits but once made fast everyone could relax for a while. When there was a break in the cargo work I got my fishing line out, this was a Norwegian hand line for use in deep water. About 6 inches of copper pipe was filed to make it shiny, the line passed through with a triple hook then cripped in a vice. The pipe filled with split pins or ball bearings for weight then the other end crimped. The rest of the guys on deck had their lines out jigging them up and down and soon we were bringing up huge cod. When the cook decided how many he wanted the rest were packed in ice and sold to the local fish and chip shop in Lerwick. Our run ashore money. In later years fishing was banned because divers were getting snagged by lost hooks.

We had another chance to make a lot of money when garbage skips came down from the rig filled with copper wire. There must have been a big rewiring job going on, once all the insulation had been stripped off we had a good haul of copper. A scrap metal dealer came down to the ship when we were alongside and bought the lot.

[Johnny Kieran]

I was fishing with a handline while at anchor in a river in Borneo once, the cook had given me a piece of scrap meat for bait.
It was dark, and all of a sudden it all went off. I had the line tied to the rail, and there was an almighty thrashing in the water. I pulled it up as far as I could to see what was on the line, and was shocked to see the tail of a huge snake wrap itself around the rail. Then it's head came up and it looked at me, then took a lunge at me. The other blokes all shouted to let it go, but I was nowhere near it by then. Eventually, someone chopped it with a big knife and killed it. I was 17 at the time, and learned to be careful what I fished for.
Later in life, fishing in the river plate often produced some huge catfish, with razor sharp teeth, which made it a bit iffy getting the hook out to chuck them back in.

[Keith Tindell]

I used to love fishing, but strangely do not like to eat fish, but the above posts reminded me when at sea in the tropics, how many of us used to hang light clusters over the side to attract the flying fish ?,in the morning walk round the deck picking them up, and the cook would take them in to the galley, and most enjoyed them as a meal. I just stuck to the bacon sarnie.

[Johnny Kieran]

Yes Keith, I remember doing that, well, picking them up in the morning. Often, out on deck at night, we would hear them hitting the deck, and on the odd occasion, would get whacked by one.

[John F Collier]

I used to love fishing, but strangely do not like to eat fish, but the above posts reminded me when at sea in the tropics, how many of us used to hang light clusters over the side to attract the flying fish ?,in the morning walk round the deck picking them up, and the cook would take them in to the galley, and most enjoyed them as a meal. I just stuck to the bacon sarnie.

I would go miles on my bike as a kid Keith fishing in the river Lea and ponds around North London, when I went to sea grab any opportunities to fish, Curacao was a great place for that, with crystal clear waters you could look over the side and see some lovely fish swimming around the ship, always had some time for fishing in NZ, mainly for Kowhai, I gave my catch to
the Wharfies they said it was their version of Salmon, worst place I remember was at Brisbane's abattoir, we were berthed there for a couple of days, so gave it a go, there was only catfish
and when the water was disturbed it released a stomach churning stench, I soon forgot about fishing, went back aboard had a shower. Cheers Jon Collier.

[Doc Vernon]

I used to love fishing, but strangely do not like to eat fish, but the above posts reminded me when at sea in the tropics, how many of us used to hang light clusters over the side to attract the flying fish ?,in the morning walk round the deck picking them up, and the cook would take them in to the galley, and most enjoyed them as a meal. I just stuck to the bacon sarnie.

Funny that Keith, as i too was similar loved Fishing, but did not take too good to eating it!
These days however i have changed a lot and do enjoy a nice piece of Fish!

When i first started Fishing way back in my Younger days, used to catch a lot of small rubbish, but was Fun all the same, mainly it was what we called small Toby! So the name stuck with me for a long time , known as little Toby! LOL

[J Gowers]

The first rig I worked on was the Bideford Dolphin this was North Sea in 1986, we could fish off rigs in those days. I was on night shift 18:00 to 06:00 and the toolpusher caught a big cod and we had some of it for breakfast it had only been out of the water a few hours before it was on the plate nicest bit of fish I every tasted. In later years I worked on a drillship a few miles off the West coast of Bornea and we used to get loads of local fishermen close to the rig and they were catching tuna using lines from small boats. Every few days we took the FRC out 'for a maintenance test' and we always took a few jerrycans filled with diesel which we swapped with the fishermen for fresh tuna, fresh tuna nothing like the stuff out of cans.

[James Curry]

The crew caught a rather large shark while anchored of Jeddah, good eating. I used to fish at anchor caught some good sized Kingklip down around South Africa waiting to go into Durban to discharge. Caught loads of Mackeral while yachting down around Anglesey just trailing feathered lures. Used to be good fishing out in Liverpool bay , Whiting ,Pollock Dab and Plaice. Still occasionally fish along the Promanade at New Brighton get a bite now and then.

[Doc Vernon]

Kingclip! Now that was a good Fish and as said although those days i never ate much at all, when my dear Mother used to Fry Kingclip with the Egg Batter Oh boy! Tummy!! Another good one is Shad caught in the Waters of Natal, Durbs!!!
Cheers

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Caught sharks whenever we broke down on the British Builder which was often, but funny enough we never ate any. On Tankers, being low in the water when loaded; had plenty of flying fish on the decks in the morning, but again they were never utilized in the Galley, wouldn't mind some now as we can't get really fresh fish here.
Des