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 BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites | 
Inside Out - North East and Cumbria: Monday February 13, 2006
