Thomas is a 13 years old fisherman that managed to reel in a 75kg Bluefin Tuna in Mallorca, Spain. We reached out to him when we heard his story from the captain and we decided to write a story about his fight. Below is the interview:
1- Give us a bit background about yourself and your passion to fishing?
My name is Thomas Shelley and I am 13 years old, from North Yorkshire in the UK. I have always been passionate about fishing and spend many hours fishing off the back of our boat which we keep in Mallorca.
2- How often do you go fishing and where?
At home in North Yorkshire, I often fish in local lakes and rivers both course fishing and fly fishing. I regularly catch Pike, Trout, Roach, Dace, Carp and Perch.
I have been lucky to fish on the River Tweed and caught my first 8 lb Salmon when I was 7.
I fished off Kenya from Hemmingways and caught Dorado, Sailfish and Yellowfin Tuna.
3- Please tell us about your fishing trip?
I have watched nearly every episode of Wicked Tuna and was excited to find Toni had too! I was excited to discover Bluefin Tuna could be caught off the coast of Mallorca. I found Toni on the fishfishme.com website and managed to persuade my Dad to book a day fishing.
We set out at 7.00am on the 8th August on Squitx One, with my 17 year old brother William and Dad. We anchored in deep water off Formentor and Toni immediately had us catching Mackerel to use as bait. Toni and crewmate Peter set out three rods for catching Tuna, whilst we continued fishing for smaller fish to use as bait.
After 6 hours it was time to head back to shore, and we were a little disappointed that we had not hooked a Tuna, having seen them moving below us on the fishfinder.
Suddenly Toni shouted and a Tuna had taken the bait.
All the other rods were reeled in and Toni insisted that my Dad took the rod with the Tuna on. I was a bit disappointed at first, but then when I saw how hard my Dad was having to work I realized it might have pulled me into the water.
After half an hour my Dad handed over the rod to my brother William who fought for ten minutes and then handed the rod to me. It was exhilarating and very surprising just how strong the fish was. Having watched so much Tuna fishing on television it was amazing how strong they were in real life. I handed the rod back to my Dad and after nearly an hour we managed to land it on the boat for a quick photograph and release.
Toni was delighted at our success. A 75kg Bluefin Tuna, an exciting fishing experience that I will always remember.
4- Would you recommend others to go fishing with captain Toni?
Toni was a great Captain who shared my passion for fishing, and I think he had also watched all the episodes of Wicked Tuna! He certainly knew what he was doing, and got us a great fish.
5- How did you find the captain and how did you make the booking?
I found Toni through fishfishme.com. A great Captain who is passionate about his fishing and gave us a great day that I will remember forever.
We are happy that we helped Thomas to find and book his fishing trip and we will be happy help you with that as well. Contact Ellora from our team at [email protected] and she will help you with your next dream fishing trip.
