I used to “live” in Millbay Docks, fishing with my Dad, and my pals, Phil Byrne, “Bunny! Warren, Keith Steward, Dave Swan, “Spud” Tate, Dave Horrill – all of us from Sutton High School, and also the very lucky Phil Thompson, from Widey Tech School. Also I recall a man called Mervyn.
The fishing from here was superb, so good of course is that it’s now banned, good old nanny state Britain. In the winter vast shoals of Thick Lipped Grey Mullet would fill the entire dock, from West Wharf to Cork Pier was solid mullet, not big, about 1LB or so, ….you could almost walk on the fish, thousands upon thousands, often November to March.
Bait would be small ragworm, and some would catch then 6 at a time on a six hook paternoster rig, just presented below the surface. I never got a good reason why they were there, the colder and dryer, ..icy!! the better. Summer still saw Mullet, but fewer and bigger.
Some said it was the hot water outflow from the boats along the quayside – often grain ships or Polish trawlers.
Then it stopped, no more winter Mullet! The shoals were so vast that no number of anglers could have fished them out, not even if they fished 24/7, there must be another reason.