FISHY TAIL

This most unusual fish adorns the stairwell at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club  . . . a full nine feet long from tip to tail and was landed by a Club member while on a day’s fishing expedition.
Not in the waters of the Solent, mind you, but in more tropical climes off the coast of Mexico.
The Club member caught it while on a day’s fishing trip with American friends off the Pacific port of Acapulco some years ago.
He told the editor of  the Yacht Club’s sailing magazine, the Yachter, it had been a fruitless day with not a bite between them and turning back to shore there was a sudden jolt on his rod. Some way ahead they could see the fish leaping in the air.  It took about 45 minutes to haul it in, and although initially the idea was to return the 100lb fish to the sea, the boat skipper offered to have it mounted and sent to the UK.

That was some years ago, but it was only relatively recently that the Club offered to display it as an unusual, yet striking attraction on the wall of the main stairway at the Ocean Village Clubhouse.