Skipper keeps it 'reel' for new Trawlermen series
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A WELL-known Banffshire fisherman is set to feature in the latest series of BBC2's Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch.
John Clark, who on dry land is a weel kent face as the chairman of Buckie Classic Car Show, will take to the small screen next week when the spotlight falls on the work of his twin rig trawler Reliance III and her crew.
John, who lives in Ladysbridge and has been a fisherman for the last 35 years since leaving school at 15, fishes out of Peterhead, Scrabster and Mallaig, selling his catches since 1989 through United Fish Selling Ltd in Buckie.
His road to featuring on the programme runs back to pre-pandemic days, he revealed.
"Featuring on the programme was spoken about before the pandemic but once Covid hit it all got knocked on the head," he said.
"Last year the film company, Frank Films, approached me again and asked if they could do some filming on the boat.
"I was up for it but I asked them to do the filming in winter, to get the camera guys on board the boat when it's Force 8 or 9 gales not flat calm so people can see what fishing is really like and why it can be so dangerous.
"We went out in the second week of January with two guys from Frank Films, a cameraman and a drone operator. They had so much equipment we had to leave two of the crew at home to make room for it all!
"I've got to take my hat off to them, though. The weather was horrendous – it was Force 10 at one point – but they were great, they held themselves really well.
"The footage they got was amazing, especially with the drones. They had three drones, and during the trip lost one and crashed another. However, the drone guy wasn't bothered because he got some cracking footage which hopefully be in the episode."
While unable to give too much away regarding the filming for the episode until it is aired, John noted there was plenty of excitement ahead for the viewers, including bad weather and a last minute change of plans.
He commented: "It was certainly a different experience and I'm glad I did it.
"It was a bit of an education for the film guys, too. I don't think they realised we ate stuff like steak when we're out. It was funny, one night they asked what was for supper and I said 'Mince, tatties and mealy pudding' and they thought that it was a fancy foreign dish!"
Unlike many fishermen, John does not come from a fishing family, his parents both working for the NHS at the former facility at Ladysbride, near where he lives.
"I always wanted to be a fishermen, from when I was very young," he added.
"I just got my head down and worked hard at it.
"I suppose I must be OK at it as I've been it 35 years!"
To find out how John gets on in his battle with bad weather on the hunt for whiting tune in on Tuesday, October 11 at 8pm on BBC 2. The episode is also due to feature the Banff-registered boat Endeavour V, skippered by David Lovie, as it fishes for squid in the North Atlantic. The Endeavour V fishes out of Kinlochbervie.
Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch aims to tell the story of fishermen on a scale not seen before, a national scale. With access across the British deep-sea fishing fleet from Shetland to Cornwall – from £300 million pelagic mackerel boats and state-of-the-art squid hunters to supercrabbers and beam trawlers – satellite data simultaneously tracks the voyages of each boat on their grounds around Britain.
From the North Sea to North Atlantic, the Irish Sea to the English Channel, these are some of richest fishing grounds in the world and competition for the catch is intense.
However, each skipper and crew face different challenges. Each has a different financial target their back, each hunting different prey, each on different grounds. In their way are fierce storms; mechanical breakdown; crew exhaustion; seasickness; rival boats; injury; fluctuating market prices. This is high drama on the high seas around Britain.
