We looked around for a while and ended up getting a Brinkliner 28, there are a few around and they are a variation on the Starfish hull, just stretched 2ft more. We brought her back, made some alterations and named her Galloper. The choice of name should seem obvious now as this is the name of the offshore bank around which Dad had made his name years before and the place that still captures my imagination today. The Brinkliner has higher decks and more room than the Starfish, she was a little lacking in shelter as well as speed though. Fortunately, we had her at a time when fishing was very good inshore. In the winter we averaged around 100 cod a trip and come the spring we could catch plenty of roker within 10-15 miles from home. I still wanted to head offshore though. The wrecks may have seen better days but there were still other fish to be caught. In the winter we had some cracking fishing for cod on the offshore banks. Most boats didn’t head off here as there were plenty inshore, but the stamp of fish was far better offshore.
The boat was not really fast enough but the fishing was good and having a slow boat made me appreciate it more as I got faster boats later on. One of the most memorable days that winter, and of my career as a skipper so far, was on a glassy calm sunny day just before Christmas. We headed off 30 odd miles with just 3 on board. Myself, Uncle Paul (Maris) and Tom who was one of my work mates at the time. We left early and caught the tide out. Even with the tide that boat would only make 9knts or so at best. Best part of four hours later we arrived at our chosen mark. We fished 2 rods each and had 40 odd cod. All but one were double figures and the biggest fell to Tom at just over 18lbs. This had been Tom’s first time sea fishing and Paul told him not to bother as he wouldn’t see a better days up-tide fishing for cod.
A few months later we were to head back offshore to try and catch the tail end of the cod as they left us for the summer. We had a few more people on board this time and our sights were lower as there were now very few codling inshore. Again, time off here was limited by the boats speed, or lack of, so we anchored our first mark. Stacey was into a decent fish shortly after we stopped. It put a good scrap up before surfacing. It turned out to be a spur-dog and a good one at that. It pulled the scales around to 21.3lbs and is still the biggest I’ve had on the boat. It was the first one I had seen alive and as we hadn’t expected it, we didn’t have any suitable end tackle to deal with their sharp teeth. We were bitten of by several more throughout the day but had 14 to the boat and a dozen cod mixed in with whiting, pouting and rays. These trips were good considering we could only fish for 4-5 hours due to steaming time.
For some years now we had been trying to catch plaice off of Essex. Dad had caught a few accidently while wreck fishing but we wanted to target them. The previous year Stacey and I had succeeded when we headed off on our own one day. Now I had my own boat I was keen to prove it wasn’t just a fluke and try to catch some more. A long time ago plaice were caught inshore and they still are in nets, even now, but we were having to head 40 miles out in order to find them. That summer we put a few trips in with some good anglers on board including Mick Toomer and Uncle Paul Maris and Uncle Steve. We had a few plaice for our efforts although most were small. True to form Stacey had the biggest at 3lb something. Once again our time fishing was limited by the boats speed.
After trips like these it’s understandable that I was keen to get back offshore and had a serious case of ‘dieselitis’ which I haven’t quite recovered from yet. The Brinkliner was a nice little boat and boats are always a compromise but this wasn’t the right compromise. Needless to say, I made plans to get a different boat. Dad really wasn’t keen on this idea after the time and money we had invested in this one. He may also have worried it would mean I couldn’t afford to move out for a while longer, but he needn’t have worried as Stacey would make sure that wasn’t the case.