Lyme Bay Tunny

During the 1930s the rich and famous fished for tuna off Scarborough, now bluefin tuna have been spotted here

- MARK HIX

‘Bluefin tuna are seen on a regular basis in Lyme Bay’

Tuna have been in British waters for centuries. Back in the early 1900s, tunny as it was called back then, would feed on the vast herring fishery off the east coast of England. Tunny weighing 300kilos plus were fished for both commercially and for sport. I found a couple of great books about this including The Glory Days of the Giant Scarborough Tunny.

During the 1930s there was an annual fishing event in this North Yorkshire town where the likes of movie stars, industrialists, ladies, and military heroes would fish from small wooden boats called cables, each tied to the herring trawlers with a long rope so if one of these bluefin giants took the bait they wouldn’t take the angler and the boat out into the ocean.

These fiercely competitive anglers, dressed in tailored tweeds, would be harnessed to thick heavy split cane rods fitted with a large reel with a huge capacity of the line, topped off with 15cm herring baited hooks. The boat assistants would toss herring as ground bait into the water to attract the fish. And then it was a waiting game.