THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

The only other home waters tuna species with a similarly small dorsal inter-space is the long fin tuna
or albacore. A fish with a very long pectoral fin stretching way back to below the mid point of the
second dorsal fin above it. In blue fin tuna the pectoral fin is short, reaching only about half way along
the first dorsal fin.
Scientists also use gill raker count comparisons as a further means of verifying speciation. But for
anglers this won't be necessary, with size, colour and positioning of the dorsal fins being sufficient, on
top of which, the likelihood of catching one (or any tuna species) accidentally is low in the absolute
extreme.
A tunny, or blue fin tuna as they are now preferentially called, tipping the scales at 851 pounds caught
in 1933 holds the British record for the species, making it the largest fish officially caught on rod and
line in the United Kingdom. But it isn't the largest individual fish ever caught in the UK, and nor is it
the largest fish or even the largest species of fish caught around the British Isles.
The heaviest blue fin in home waters is an Irish fish caught by Adrian Molloy in 2001 off Donegal
weighing in at 968 pounds, while the largest fish, again Irish, is a six gilled shark listed at 1,058 pounds
taken out of Carrigaholt on the Shannon estuary.
The actual largest British fish, which is another big tunny caught off the Yorkshire coast in 1949,
marginally beat the 851 pound Mitchell-Henry record but was rejected, arguably because of petty
politics and the 'old boys' network.
Bearing in mind that tunny fishing in those days out from Scarborough and Whitby was a rich man's
pursuit done in the main by influential people who not only liked to catch impressive fish, but as
importantly, liked to be seen to catch them, with all the prestige that goes with it.
So when Lincolnshire farmer John Hedley-Lewis comes along and beats the lot of them at their own
game by a mere whisker, it isn't hard to imagine that feathers were going to be ruffled, which they most
certainly were.
Complaints were made that the rope around that fish’s
tail used to hook it on to the scale was wet, therefore
artificially adding enough to the weight to pip the record.
Sour grapes – most definitely. But sufficient reason it
seems back then to those connected enough to cast doubt
and put this 'outsider' well and truly in his place, all of
which is a great shame.
Even if it had truly been marginally smaller than the
Mitchell-Henry record when the weight of the rope was
subtracted, it was still a magnificent fish. The second
biggest British tunny ever in fact. And now it's a fish not
only potentially cheated of record status, some would
say without good reason, but largely forgotten too as a
result.
John Hedley Lewis, 852 pound Tunny
That piece of information came to light during a
conversation with the late Bill Pashby at his home in
Scarborough back in 2010. Bill was the last surviving
person with any first hand experience of this particular
incident and countless others between the 1930's and
1950's, the likes of which are unlikely ever to be
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