A fisherman from Devon set a new angling record after catching eight different types of tuna on a 100,000-mile journey around the world.

The Royal Tuna Slam was one of angling’s last outstanding achievements, and the pursuit of it took Zyg Gregorek from his home near Holsworthy to Pakistan, Mauritius, Florida, the Galápagos Islands, Ascension Island and Massachusetts.

Mr Gregorek, 44, took nearly a decade to catch all eight species – the longtail, dogtooth, skipjack, blackfin, yellowfin, bigeye, northern bluefin and southern bluefin.

He completed the slam on April 5, after catching an 187lb (85 kg) southern bluefin off the coast of Tasmania, but it has taken until now for the International Game Fish Association to ratify his record.

Officials in the United States have confirmed that he is the first man to catch all eight species since records began in the 1950s, and have inducted him into their Hall of Fame.

Mr Gregorek said that he had started on the slam purely by chance.

“In the early days I was mostly fishing for marlin but caught the tuna as I was doing so. Then I realised I was getting close to this record and I went for it. No one has caught all eight before.”

Mr Gregorek caught his first tuna, a longtail, while fishing off Pakistan in 1997. “One of my university buddies had invited me to Karachi. The boat was very primitive and we only had two rods. I was going for marlin but caught a longtail, which they said was rather rare. It did taste very nice.”

In 1999 he caught a 30lb skipjack tuna and a 121lb dogtooth off the Black River coast of Mauritius. On May 15 the following year he caught a 10lb blackfin during the European Game Championships in Islamorada, Florida.

His next, a 40lb bigeye, did not come until February 2005. While fishing for swordfish off the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific he caught a sniff of the tuna. “That was a tough one. It was a small boat and I’m a big man. I slept on that thing for a week.”

In February 2006, while fishing off the Ascension Island, 1,000 miles (1,600km) off the coast of Africa, he caught an 80lb yellowfin. The same year he netted a 50lb northern bluefin in Green Harbour, Massachusetts.

The slam was completed with the southern bluefin. “To be honest I’ve had more than my fair share of luck. Some of them I caught when I wasn’t even trying. It’s cost a fortune, but fishing is my passion.”

Phil Lockley, of Fishing News magazine, described Mr Gregorek’s Royal Tuna Slam as remarkable.

“It is the first time I have ever heard of anyone catching all eight species of tuna. He will have had to travel a long way and be very patient,” Mr Lockley said. “It is all the more remarkable given the fact he is a leisure angler, not a commercial fisherman.”

The International Game Fish Association confirmed the Royal Slam in a letter to Mr Gregorek.

Rebecca Reynolds, of the association, wrote: “This is to inform you that your outstanding catches have been awarded the first Tuna Royal Slam club with the IGFA.”

Mr Gregorek, who runs an angling holiday centre at his home in Halwill, Devon, is already the only person to have caught on a rod and line three species of shark weighing more than 1,000lb.

He is currently planning to add a fourth to the list.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth