John Luff and John Woodford on Fishing

Lisa: What happened with the fish when it came to shore? How was it sold?

John W: Well if they had certain customers and if they had a glut, Mrs Holbrook, I remember her, she came on a carrier bike with some fish and she’d call on people’s houses asking if they wanted to buy any fish.

John L: Summertime was alright because there were loads of holidaymakers here ‘cos there was a lot of gentry in the village, well we’ll call them gentry, and they used to buy a lot in the summer ‘cos they were here all the time.

John W: I think they used to sell herring, 12 for a shilling, and one thrown in extra or something like that, but that’s what they used … I know an old boy told me that before … this is before the War in the 1920s and ‘30s, if they had a good catch, say they got a lot of herring or whatever, if they had too much they couldn’t sell in the village, they would either row and sail to Portsmouth to get rid of it. And then when they came back, they’d have to set the pots again, so it was quite a day, but that’s what they used to do.

John L: Used to sell them by the long hundred, 110 to100.

John W: Yes, having to row and part sail to Portsmouth from Bembridge, must have taken them a while.

John L: Yes, also they used to salt it down for bait for the following year because lobsters like salt bait, you know, oily fish, so they used to use this rock salt and salt them down in barrels and use it for next years bait for prawns and for lobsters, not for crab. Fresh fish for crab.

John W: And of course when sprats came along, a lot of the Bembridge fishermen used to go across to Sandown Bay which is where the sprats were to get some sprats, but you don’t get sprats now do you?

John L: Don’t know.

John W: I think they must have died out.

John L: Talking about Sandown, Sandown was mostly longshoremen, but they all had a net or two, but they used to rely on deck chairs and letting boats out in the summer. And Shanklin. Freddy Oils was the longshoreman at Shanklin, wasn’t he?

John W: Yes, Langford. He used to work for Mr Morman.

John L: There was no fishing in Seaview at all.

John W: I don’t really know, I don’t know much about Seaview.

John L: I don’t know of anybody who fished in Seaview. Not many in St Helen’s really. It was mainly because of Bembridge Ledge was a good breeding ground and hiding for shellfish.