UNUSUAL CATCH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 121, 23 April 1936, Page 3

UNUSUAL CATCH.

TUNA LANDED WITH A JAG

RARE NEW PLYMOUTH VISITOR,

NEW PLYMOUTH, April 21

Rivalling in size the great fighting tunny that provides exhilarating sport for American deep sea anglers, a tuna was caught at i\e\v Plymouth yesterday. The fish was more than six feet from nose to tail and was heavily and soiidly built. Even when dressed it turned the scale at more than toilin.

The tuna is found abundantly in tropical and warm temperate seas, but is a complete stranger to New Plymouth. I 1 ishermen with years of experience on this coast cannot recall having seen a similar fish, though they state that in the summer months a small bonito, a fish of the same’ species with a maximum weight of about nine pounds, was taken on a spinner off White Clift's. The tuna was seen cruising slowly about between the Newton King and Aloturoa wharves and its immense size and strange appearance created great interest. As it swam in towards shallow' water a fisherman had a snap shot at it with a jag attached to a line. The barb held, and the tuna was quickly dragged into the breakers, where it was helpless. It was not without difficulty, however, that the huge fish was dragged clear of the water. Mr H. J. McCain, a vell-knovm New' Plymouth fisherman, took charge of the catch, and identified it as a tuna. He expressed surprise at the mammoth fish being found in such cold waters and stated that in his long' experience as a fisherman at New Plymouth he had not seen a similar specimen. The tuna (Thynnus vulgaris) is closely allied to the Mediterranean tunny. Like its smaller ally, the mackerel, it is an active predacious creature, its chief food being flying fish.