Page 71 - Tuna Fishing in St. Ann's Bay

ISSUE : Issue 56

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/1/1

years ago. I beached him in 42 mins. at the chalk cliffs (N. end • few rocks) and after heavy bleeding on gaffing he weighed 577 lbs. Sept. 3rd. After a period of high tides & consequently dir? ty water (for trolling) also such a plenty of bait in the in? ner Bay that the Tuna were acting craziiy and would not look at our bait • the bait thinned out and at 1.15 stan? dard time having sighted small Tuna just W. of Tuna Brook we came on large ones and hooked what looked like the smallest one, on mackerel, he fought very well after being stmck hard and we had to cut the hook out of the usual joint of the jaw in 1 hr. 4 mins. he weighed 606 lbs., the next morning. At 4.05 standard time • hooked a large one, from same school, but this time we made a hasty pass from being dropped off of "Sea Pioeon II" and presented the bait "as if swimming with the Tuna" too much: so that the line was a bit slack after the strike and : I couldn't get a hard strike on him. He made a grand first mn • taking about 300 yds. off my reel went in to shore, broke and then made the line cut the water so fast that it threw spray 3 ft. up from the line in a large crescent • a great sight • ygry fast. I played him hard for 20 mins. and had the worst of him beaten when he got closer & closer and ended up right under the Tuna boat • I felt a couple of "chugs" as of the line slipping off turns round him and then up it came • unhooked. 1950 Written up in 1951 Saw very few Tuna on surface during whole year, but at West end of Dynamite Alley in the bay past the red point saw an enormous fellow 5-6 ft. between tail and fin. Saw him in same spot two or three days. Sept. 2nd. With Mackerel bait hooked a smaller, unseen, Tuna which was ahead of 5 large ones which were swim-| ming fins-out. 1 hr. 40 mins. of the most lovely and spec? tacular fight Percy or I had ever seen. (Percy said Cdr. Ross's first fish was the only other such he had seen.) This one did a 100 ft. tail-walk • his tail thrashing thun? derously along the surface. He made 100-200 yd. mns and made 5 ft. jumps at the end. At one point at the end of one of his longest mns he made for "Sea Pioeon" fast? er than she could get undenway and almost fouled her. He was a very fine colour and beautifully proportioned 420 lbs. Sept. 4th. Labour Day. Last day of my leave. A dull day; saw the big one in his bay and nothing else all morning. At a couple minutes to one gave up and signalled "Sea Pioeon." Percy rowing towards "Sea Pioeon" i un- '"'''- ?- '- Ho<*gson with the world's record tuna, taken September 4,1950. hooked the rod, stood up facing ahead, back to my bait ''' '""' weighed 977 pounds and was 9 feet 9 Inches in length. Also pictured rod loosely held in left hand-when it occurred to me *'?'"? '' ''' • '?w?''' ''''' MacRitchie, who also rowed when J. K. L. Ross made how stupid if a fish stmck • so i took the rod into the the world's first rod-landed tuna catch in 1911. crook of my left arm at the elbow. Percy was rowing very slowly with quite a long line out, bait deep, when a fish struck so hard that he hurt my arm, spun me round and I brought up sitting in place • somehow astride the rod. Managed to get the harness hook on the rod. A wicked, deep-down fight ensued. No sight of the fish for 1 hr. Circling and circling, always to the left, jerking. On one run he tailed the wa? ter, turned on us and passed under us • it was while Percy was standing up, while changing from center to bow seat and the whizzing Ncrth Sydney Mall '//gfS With Over 23 Shops and Services' . Schwartz Peoples Store Electric Avenue Guys & Gals Pipes & Things Jean Gallery Carlton Cards Workout Fashions Panhandler 794-3567 794-4900 794-8274 794-4409 794-8305 794-8244 794-715 794-4997 794-9010 Super Touch Ts Island Fashion Nova Scotia Liquor Commission Co-operators Insurance Shoppers Drug Mart Cape Breton Video Kids' Korner 794-8330 794-4997 794-4917 794-4788 794-7211 794-7783 794-8822 Sherry's Treats & Beverages Strings Agnew Alteens Zeilers Sears Sobeys Maher Sports & Stuff Subs Plus 794-4240 794-3429 794-3513 794-7206 794-3610 794-8088 794-3963 794-2073 794-3005 116 King St., North Sydney, N. S. B2A3R7 Phone: (902)794-4703 or 794-4704 71

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