Annan angler lands catch of the day

AN ANNAN angler wrangled a 300 pound tuna during a shark fishing competition in Cornwall. The contest took place from September 12 to 17 and was run by the Falmouth Sea Angling Federation. Alastair Smith, 78, attended the event alongside three of his Cumbrian friends to fish together. On the first day, the group managed to snag 21 blue sharks, with the heaviest weighing in at 85 lbs. On the second day of fishing, they only caught six sharks in total, but snagged the largest shark in the competition at 146 lbs. And on the final day, the foursome ended the competition with 36 sharks caught in total, 13 of them being snared by Alastair. [caption id="attachment_45177" align="aligncenter" width="362"]

CATCH OF THE DAY. . . Wow! Alastair landed a 300 lb Tuna on his first bite of the day[/caption] But the magic truly begun during the tuna fishing, held in perfect weather. Alastair recounted the events that led to the fishy encounter: “Our tuna fishing began immediately with my rod getting a bite! “The tuna ran for about 400 yards and a team effort eventually brought the fish to the side of the boat in about an hour. “Survey data was collected and it was estimated to weigh around 300lbs before it was tagged and safely released back into the water. “To our surprise, our boat was the overall winner of the competition and we received many medals. “It was hard work but I had a lot of fun and it was a fantastic experience all round.”