During the late 1950s, sport fishing’s best and brightest made their way to Bimini, Bahamas, to tangle with the giant bluefin tuna that migrated through the area each spring.
The Atlantic bluefin’s annual appearance in the Bahamas was once the stuff of legend. Crews employed high tuna towers and even spotter planes to locate giants in the clear waters and run down massive schools of big bluefin.
The Cat Cay Tuna Tournament, founded in 1939, saw the likes of the who’s who of fishing hall of fame members. This tournament was focused on the epic bluefin tuna fishery in what became known as Tuna Alley, a 15-mile strip of white sand and reef running south from Gun Cay.
However, with the rise of the tourist trade, the schools of giant tuna weren’t seen crossing the Bahama Bank in the massive numbers they used to and the Cat Cay Tuna Tournament eventually came to a close.
Details
- Designer:
- Printer: Bradbury Wilkinson & Co Ltd, New Malden, Surrey, England
- Process: Recess
- Paper:
- Watermark: Multiple Script CA
- Perf: 11 x 11.5 (comb)
- Plates: 1 (Orange), 1 (Bright Emerald) : 1a (Orange) 1a (Bright Emerald) [Left pane : Right pane]
- Sheet: Printed in two panes of 120, separated by a gutter. Guillotined through gutter into two single panes (R10 x 6).
- Quantity:
- Reprints:
- 3rd Printing – 19 October 1955
- 8th Printing – 14 January 1959 (Reddish Orange & Bright Emerald)
Sheet Numbers (1st & 3rd Printings)
Sheet Numbers (8th Printing)
References
- Costal Angler Magazine: A Big Fish Story From Tuna Alley, Bahamas
- Fishtrack
- Florida Sport Fishing: Cat Cay Tuna Tournament
