Many fisherman tales include stories of the large fish that got away. However, Daniel Bennett, 26 years old, from Whitby, North Yorkshire landed the fish of a lifetime. Daniel and his friends are keen anglers and regularly travel to Scotland and its islands for fishing trips. Daniel was on such a fishing trip to the Isle of Skye with his friends when he hooked his huge catch. It took him about 2 hours to land a massive skate that had taken the bait of half a mackerel.
Having landed it he did not have a scale large enough to weigh the monster sized fish.
However, he estimated it to weigh at least 150 pounds. As the skate is a protected fish species in British waters it had to be released and could not be taken elsewhere to be weighed. Instead Daniel and his friends measured the fish and photographed it before returning it to the sea. The fish's measurements, of 88.25 inches long by 66.75 inches wide, were sent to the Shark Trust who used these to estimate the weight of the skate as 208 pounds.
The details of the catch along with the photographs may be sent by Daniel to the British Record Fish Committee for verification. According to the Daily Mail, Nick Simmonds, the secretary of the British Record Fish Committee informed them, "There is not a larger fish recorded as being caught on our current record list." "Once we receive pictures from Dan we will pass them on to our scientist who will check the images and hopefully confirm the unofficial record." "It can't be confirmed as a record as it was not weighed at the scene." The British Record Fish Committee maintains record lists of fish caught by rod and line in British waters.
These lists cover freshwater fish as well as saltwater fish. Records of saltwater fish are divided between those caught on boats and shore caught fish such as Daniel's. While Daniel Bennett's' catch may not make it into the official lists of the British Record Fish Committee it could be put on the Notable Fish List. The British Record Fish Committee created this list to cover situations in which an otherwise record breaking fish could not be weighed.
The most current lists of the British Record Fish Committee published March 2014, list the largest skate caught from the shore as weighing 169 pounds 6 ounces caught on Loch Roag, Isle of Lewis by G. MacKenzie in 1994. The record for boat caught skate exceeds Daniel's fish as it weighed 227 pounds. It was caught in 1986 by R Banks, off Tobermory, Inner Hebrides. The Notable Fish List has a boat caught skate estimated to weigh 229 pounds and measuring 92 inches by 70.5 inches caught by Roy Anderson off Rackwick Orkney.
