Tuna
tales  | | Tuna
capital and home of the big catch - Scarborough |
Inside Out
looks at whether big game fishing is making a return in Scarborough. Back
in the 1930s Scarborough was best known as a spa town and resort, Yorkshire's
answer to St.Tropez. But under the water - something big was stirring. A
mysterious fish had been spotted by local fisherman fish about 10 miles out to
sea. They had never seen anything like it before - a huge fish, bigger than
any shark, ramming into the Herring shoals and stealing them from their nets. It
weighed more than a Mini, and accelerated faster than a Ferrari. The Giant
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna had turned up off the east coast for a North Sea feeding
frenzy. Back then they called it a Tunny. The Tunny Club Scarborough
became home to the Tunny Club of Great Britain. Millionaires hatched plots
to catch the giant fish on a rod and line, and they employed local fishermen to
do the grafting. Inside Out meets Bill Pashby was just 10-years-old when
he went to sea. He recalls that the fish caught were colossal in size and
the race was always on to hook a record breaker. One man who made it his
mission to catch a big Tunny was Lorenzo Mitchell Henry, a pioneering aristocrat
and a professional big game hunter. Mitchell-Henry designed a special rod
and reel for the job. To see if it snapped, he hooked it up to the front
his Bentley while his butler reversed the car - it worked so well that he set
sail. And Inside Out has unearthed the only film ever made of East Coast
Tunny fishing. In the film the intrepid angler hooks a giant fish and struggles
to control it such is its power. Three hours later the fight was over and
the defeated fish was brought ashore, weighing in at 851lbs - that's about 4,000
cans worth. What a whopper! It was the biggest fish ever caught
in British waters and Mr Mitchell-Henry was delighted. News of the catch
led to boom times - as long as you weren't a Tunny. The rich and the famous
descended on Scarborough for a piece of the action. But Tunny fishing wasn't
only a Boy's Own adventure. In the Summer of 1947 Dr Bidi Evans, a woman,
came to the Yorkshire Coast in her father's yacht for the Tunny season. She
caught a Tunny weighing in at 714lbs - this fish and Bidi still hold the British
Womens' Record. Tuna wars Back in Scarborough all was not well
in the Gentleman's Club - the world of Yorkshire big game fishing was about to
turn nasty. Another giant fish was caught by a Lincolnshire gentleman farmer
called John Hedley Lewis in 1949. It weighed in at 852lbs, one pound more
than Mr Mitchell-Henry's fish. Mitchell-Henry was furious that his record
had been broken - and by a local farmer - so he complained about the rope. He
said that it was too big, too wet - and it weighed too much! But Lorenzo
Mitchell Henry wasn't going to give up without a fight - and Inside Out has tracked
down a witness. Back at the Hedley-Lewis Lincolnshire family estate Vincent
inherited his father's unshakeable belief that his father caught the biggest fish
ever. He didn't take kindly to an aristocratic angler arguing over the weight
of a piece of wet rope so the debate rages on. Decline of the Tuna trade By
the mid 50's the North Sea Herring fleet had hoovered the sea - and with no herring
to eat, the Tunny moved on. Scarborough's Tunny Club proudly posed for
its last group photo. But this North Sea drama isn't played out yet - 40
years after the last giant Tunny was caught off the Yorkshire Coast the giant
fish is back in British waters. Inside Out goes in search of the Tuna and
its feeding grounds in the North Sea with Adrian Molloy, a professional tuna angler. Most
of the fish Adrian catches are tagged and released - and a satellite tracks them
as they tour the oceans for food. Inside Out and Adrian reckon that these
monsters are heading back to Yorkshire waters. Links relating to this story:The
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听听Inside
Out - North East and Cumbria: Monday February 13, 2006
