local sea anglers

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little plum
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by little plum »

Hello Dunaskinblue, The Archie you mention, I think his name was Archie McAllister a self employed plumber? . I think round about that time there were 3 employees from Paisley Crane hire based in New Street that were members of the Stevenston club, Bert Lambie, Hugh McJimpsey (sp) and Theodopilus Scaramangus (sp).
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by Dunaskinblue »

Hello Little Plum,
Thank you. It was indeed Archie McAllister. Archie was a friend of the parents of my friend and at that time neighbour, Brian Burns (a native of Saltcoats). I don't remember Paisley Crane Hire, but the names Hugh McGimpsey and Theo Scaramangus ring a bell or three, although I'm certain I didn't know either of them.

Did Theo ever run his own business in the old ICI Nylon Plant?
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little plum
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Re: local sea anglers

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Dunaskinblue wrote:Did Theo ever run his own business in the old ICI Nylon Plant?
Not to my knowledge Dunaskin, he used to live next door to Whites Church. His house once was a T.V. rental/repair shop but for the life of me I cant recall the name of the shop. A name from the Stevenston club that I might have omitted in my earlier posts was Dr Ralph Shuttleworth, he would have been around at that time.
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Colmac
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by Colmac »

'a fellow called Bennett, originally from Stevenston'
I don't have any interest in fishing, but I reckon that would be Matt Bennett. Matt was a butcher to trade, and I do recall that when I was an apprentice, he would nip into the angling club in Ardrossan on occasions when we were out and about.

On the same topic, Little Plum, do you recall a Willie Davis, a regular angler who normally fished Saltcoats harbour or the prom between Stevenston and Saltcoats? Probably best known for his trademark woolly hat, he passed away last year, but you may have met him over the years.
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little plum
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by little plum »

Thanks Colmac, it is Matt that I was thinking about and he was a butcher to trade. He also worked as a labourer for McCrindle at the sea water ingress project at Hunterston, that would have been in the late 70's. Where exactly was the Ardrossan club premises that you and Matt visited, I think it might have been touched on in the past, but my memory is like a bag o' marbles noo.
Your description of Willie Davis lights a candle in my memory, and I'm sure we would have crossed paths. Your mention of Saltcoats Prom reminded me of the Saltcoats clubs annual Christmas hamper competition held at this venue each year.
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by down south »

Thought I would add here some photos I've come across of local sea anglers and sea angling contests. And the first one here, dating from June 1974, shows I believe a couple of the Saltcoats sea anglers mentioned earlier,Bill Currie and Dick Donnell, who it seems along with a third Saltcoats club member had made the Scottish team no less:
White Horse angling team 1974.jpg
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by little plum »

That's a great find Susan, brings back so many memories. Dick Donnell was also the captain of Ardeer rec army cadets.
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Re: local sea anglers

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This second picture shows the principal prizewinners with Provost Harry Barnett at an event organised by Saltcoats Sea Angling Association in June of 1973, which incorporated the South-west Scotland open boat and West of Scotland boat angling championships.
Sea angling winners June 73.jpg


The events attracted 370 anglers who made use of 25 boats organised by the Saltcoats Boat Owners' Association, and fished over a weekend in fine weather and calm seas. One of the features was a " find " of spurdogs, in which over 400lb were landed in a three-hour spell.The best specimen fish based on local records was a 5lb 14oz ling caught by G Campbell of Ardrossan.

Results: Saturday: Senior, W Howat, Ardrossan SAC (66lb 3oz ); lady, Susan Blair, Ardrossan SAC( 12lb 11oz ); junior, Roy Howat, Ardrossan SAC ( 28lb 6oz ); heaviest fish, D Watt, Ardrossan SAC( conger, 26lb 2oz ); Nom. specimen, A.Allan, Coatbridge ( cod, 17lb 15oz ).

Sunday, Senior, W Lindsay, Larkhall ( 63lb 12oz ); lady, C McIver, Saltcoats SAA ( 61lb 13oz ); junior, Chris Currie, Saltcoats SAA ( 33lb 2oz ); heaviest fish, J Campbell, Johnstone SAC ( conger, 29lb );nom.specimen, C Currie, Saltcoats SAA ( pollack,, 15oz ).

Overall champions: Senior, W Howat, Ardrossan ( 78lb 8oz ); lady, C McIver, Saltcoats( 71lb 3oz ); junior, C Currie, Saltcoats ( 46lb 3oz ); overall heaviest fish, J Campbell, Johnstone; overall specimen, G Campbell, Ardrossan;team event, W Lindsay and A Queen, Larkhall ( 118lb 6oz );club champions trophy, A Queen, Larkhall.( 49lb 3oz ).

West of Scotland Championships: 1, W Lindsay, Larkhall ( 63lb 12oz ); 2, C McIver, Saltcoats ( 61lb 13oz ); 3, A Queen, Larkhall ( 49lb 3oz ).



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Re: local sea anglers

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This next picture shows local winners at a line-casting competition held at Saltcoats in August of 1971, once again sponsored by White Horse, and which attracted a wide entry. The main winners in the mens' contests were non-locals; Eric Moore of Morecambe was leading amateur and winner of the White Horse Trophy with an average cast of 124.70 metres, while the Open event winner was world and British champion, professional Peter Anderson whose longest cast was just over 190 yards.

But the ladies' and junior winners were all from Saltcoats sea angling association . Betty Donnell came first with a distance of 71.03 , and runners-up were Esther Gaston and Betty Gibson; while the junior winner was Liam Griffen and runner-up Campbell Currie.
Casting contest winners 1971.jpg


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Re: local sea anglers

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The last of the sea angling pictures now , and again it's one of the local lady anglers taking centre stage.
Angling winners 1971.jpg
She is Mrs Susan Blair, of St Andrew's Road Ardrossan, who won first prize ( a week's shark fishing in Gibraltar ) in the Ardrossan Sea Angling Festival which was held at the end of February 1971. Her winning fish was an 11lb 8oz cod, caught from the Battery Point near the Inches, and was in fact her only bite of the day.

The other prize winners pictured were non-locals, but the junior event winner was ( once again ) Liam Griffin of Stevenston. He was fishing at Cloch Point Lighthouse; the 632 anglers who took part in the event used ten fishing areas from Ayr to Greenock, and landed a total of over 150lbs of fish in the day. The event was a charity one, organised by Ardrossan and District Round Table, and at the prizegiving ceremony in Castlecraigs £ 150 was donated to their funds and a further £30 to the RNLI, represented by Brigadier JWH Gow.

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Re: local sea anglers

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I've just come across one more sea angling picture, and here it is: it shows James Moriarty of Saltcoats with his prize catch of a 30lb conger eel, around 1972.
James Moriarty.jpg
PS We now have another picture of local sea anglers which I'd totally overlooked, of the winners in the angling contest held as part of Ardrossan Civic Week 1972: see here.

Susan
Last edited by down south on Sat Dec 13, 2014 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: local sea anglers

Post by brvhrtjimmy »

all those photo's of local sea anglers brings back lots of memories, i was a member of the saltcoats sea angling club for many years,and fished the white horse every year,there was usually a dance the night before the competition,i remember one i attended was in the what was then known as the castlewirock in windmill st,they traveled from all over britain for the competition and of course there were always some cheats cos there was a lot of money at stake but there were to my knowledge nearly always found out,one year i was told a car was searched at the registration point,and was found to have a big bucket full of salt water and two very big flatties,and the answer oh there for bait just wasnt swallowed and they were duly barred,for that year and every other year,its the old story introduce money into competition and there will alway be ones who wont play by the rules,thats true in every sport i would imagine,as for the xmas hamper at the prom,it was always well attended and was great to fish in, one year the prom was out as it was to rough so it was moved to the shell banking and Campbell curry landed a 20lb cod,and his picture was in the hearald,and the woman blair and all her family were keen anglers,she was one of my customers when i worked at the coal,her man was a plumber and they always had folk from England staying for the white horse,she herself was the daughter of the smalls (rabbie burns pub),some of the names mentioned are still around and still fish regularly Campbell Currie and bud mc clymont to mention two .

James Barr (Brvhrtjimmy)
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