Meet Jack Bellamy He’s 88 years young
This is Jack in the rack Poling tuna for the final time
An incredible feat for his age Jack has caught thousands of tuna
He was there when the fishery began I'm one of the first polers and still one
of the last ones and I'm still poling.
I go away on the trips for a week or so, catch tuna and organise the meals for the people
who come on board.
But he’s poled his last fish I said to Greg, 'C'mon this is my last poling
trip, get in the rack with me.'
He hopped in the rack and said, 'Bloody hell, I see why you're a bloody good tuna fisherman
Jack'.
We're on the rack there and the fish are just biting and Ross (the skipper) says, 'That's
enough.'
I said, 'Come on Greg, let's get another two or three before we get out of the rack.'
He said it was a good idea.
Come to the end and we hopped out of the rack and we headed 10 hours straight to Lincoln.
The MFV Tacoma has a special place in his heart
He and his twin Keith were 10 when the Haldane family began building the Tacoma
I lived in Port Fairy.
I only lived two houses away from where they were building the boat.
I'd look out my kitchen window and you could see the boat being built.
It took seven years Haldanes asked me to come away with them on
the boat to South Australia.
It was the start of a 70 year love affair for Jack
The twins helped pioneer commercial tuna poling It’s now a multi million dollar export industry
But it came at a heavy cost Keith was pulled off the boat by a big tuna
His body was never recovered
To lose a twin brother and everything, it wasn't very nice but that's a part of life
and you've got to put it behind you and just keep
on with it, you know, keep going.
Safety harnesses were introduced Jack has spent his retirement years
Back on the Tacoma Volunteers keep it running
Jack’s spent time in the engine room But is happiest in the galley with his AGA
coke-fired stove I lived 15 years on the boat before I was
married and that was my home.
It was a good home, we had an AGA stove in the galley there, run 24 hours a day on coke.
It kept the boat lovely and warm, and it was a lovely home.
The AGA is stoked to take tourists fishing Jack cooks on the women’s fishing trips
Catching tuna is not about brute strength Reflexes.
The tuna in the water, you see he's coming up.
He comes up for that lure, you've got to be on the way with him up.
Then back in the water, same thing again.
Drop the lure in the water.
I said, 'Greg, on the pole, don't put that lure in the water until you're ready".
As soon as it's in the water ... got her.
So, reflexes and working with your partner too, the same time up, get the fish, up, threw
it out, into another one.
We had our good trips, we had our rough trips too, you know.
I did my last trip, poled my last tuna, and that was it.
Reporter: Hanging up your pole?
Hung up my pole, yep.