Fisherman Lands 236lb Skate But Loses Record When He Throws It Back


An angler who landed a huge 236lb skate has lost the British record after he threw the animal back.

While that may sound like the tallest of fisherman’s tales, David Griffiths has proof of his huge catch, having snapped several photographs of himself with the skate.

The 2.3 meter-long creature broke the British record by about 8lb, but Mr. Griffiths did not want the skate to die. For that reason alone, he hauled the animal back over the side of his boat.

Only catches that are weighed on a quay or a bank are counted as official.

The skate was caught off Oban, Argyll after an epic 90-minute struggle that Mr. Griffiths described as a “classic Jaws moment”.

Mr Griffiths, a fishing book publisher by day, said four people were required to lift the skate onto the fishing vessel Laura Dawn II. He reflected on his bittersweet catch to BBC News:

“It was about halfway through the day and I had caught nothing. Then there was a click, click, click of the rod’s reel – it was a classic Jaws moment.

“The boat’s skipper Ronnie Campbell told me to put my harness on and, standing up, I secured the end of the rod into what’s called a butt pad. The skate has a suction pad and was stuck to the sea bed 500ft below. After about 30 minutes it was within 100ft of the surface but then decided to go back down – it was a real battle.”

With the skate finally lifted onto the vessel, Mr. Griffiths and his friends, including 12-year-old son William, weighed the huge animal. The result left the angler with a decision to make:

“It broke the British record, but for it be official I would have had to kill the fish and then have it weighed on dry land. I don’t agree with that, so I let the fish go after we’d taken a few photos.”

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