tuna wars

[seajay]

tuna wars starts on disc 6th of november
to think we used to get them off our coast (maybe they are still there)

i would love to fish on our coast for them that would be something would'nt it
getting pulled round in my boat for a couple of hours weh hey
save loads on fuel .

[northeast1]

"getting pulled round in my boat for a couple of hours weh hey"....bring your misses on the boat sometime then

We do still catch them in our waters, the boats fishing south of the Irish mainland catch a few in the nets every year. It is thought they chase the herring and mackerel shoals up the warm western streams.

I also have some cracking pics of them hanging up at the dock in Whitby many years ago.

[seajay]

a skipper from whitby told me he thinks that they are there.

could i have a copy of the pics in whitby please

[northeast1]

Sorry i cant they are in a book i bought on the history of the north east and yorkshire coast.

[jason]

Thats right the british record blue fin tuna or "tunny" was caught off Whitby in 1933 and weighed a massive 851lbs.

[davem2005]

I have a photo of the rod that caught the record off whitby somewhere, I think its on and old phone but not a bad picture.

The rod is now owned by Sam Harris, who seems to have disapeared off forums, but he does occasionally hold talks for angling clubs and it was at one of these I met him and got the photo's of the rod and reel. I will contact him and see if he minds if I post the pics on here. (assuming I have not lost they in my xmashard drive crash)

If you ever get an opportunity to go to one of his talks grab it because it is a good night out...and free from what I remember.

The rod/ reel line/trace and hook setup are the originals used to land the record tunny...and what an awesome et of gear it is.

The rod is about 7'6" and constructed similar to a split can fly rod but the segments are laid over a steel core. The wood is a material called "lance wood" and each segment is only held in place by the whippings on the rings, no glue is used. This allows the segments to slide against one another when the rod is under load. In terms of weight I carried thing thing back to Sams car after the talk and would not like to think I had to hold it to battle a fish for any length of time.

The reel is a hardy multiplier the likes and size of which I had never seen. the diameter was far in excess of a pint glass. The line was an Irish hemp ( I think) which looked very similar to modern braid. The wire trcae and hook were exactly what you would expect...very heavy and about 20 feet long, the unusual thing was that the join between the line and the trace was a whipped section of leather.

This was supposed to act as a shock absorber between the trace and the line as allegedly it would strech from its original few inches long to several feet. To be perfectly honest it looked like a serious weak link to me.

Will Tunny ever return?...In theory they would if the herring returned to there glory days in terms of numbers, as these are what the tunny were chasing. But the pressure on both the tunny and the herring make it very unlikely IMHO. They do catch them off the west coast ofscotand and Ireland...maybe oneday one will turn up at Blyth like the swordfish did...and it will put up a hell of a fight on a set of daylights.

Cheers
Dave.

PS I dont have discovery ..anyone got a DVD recorder

[mick dunn]

Dave i,ve got the full sky package.Using the sat dish enables me to watch all of the discovery programmes and they are spot on.
Unfortunatly we only have a dvd player or i would have recorded them for you.
Mick

[KeithB]

North East History : Echo Memories

[davem2005]

Bit more reading here

Is there Tunna up North? - Anglers' Net Fishing Forums

and here

LARGE HERRING SHOALS APPEAR EARLY OFF WHITBY ACCOMPANIED BY PILOT WHALES - Anglers' Net Fishing Forums

Cant find any pictures though.

I like the bit where Mitchell-Henry is complaining when his record is beaten by 1lb about the length of the rope it was slung up for weighing on...picky or what.

Cheers
dave

[jason]

funny thing this



blyth beach /tuna - World Sea Fishing Forums