Angler Gets Record Irish Shark

The British media is saying this is
the largest fish ever caught on rod and line in the waters of the British Isles.
And it was caught by a 70-year old Swiss pensioner. It took Joe Waldis 35 minutes
of almighty struggle to bring the 12’ 9” bluntnose six-gill shark to the side of
his boat off the coast of County Clare in south-west Ireland, after it took his
mackerel bait. This decisively smashes the record for the heaviest rod-caught fish
in British or Irish waters, overtaking a 968 lb. bluefin tuna caught in 2001 (also
off Ireland), and is more than double the weight of the heaviest rod-caught fish
within the UK, a porbeagle shark of 507 lbs. taken off Orkney in 1993.

Joe Waldis with his 1056 lb. (480 kg.) bluntnose six-gill shark.

From the Daily Telegraph--



It is nearly three times the weight of the heaviest fish caught in freshwater in
Britain, a sturgeon of 388lbs which was taken from the River Towy in South Wales
in 1933.



It is the angling tale to cap all angling tales, and it left Mr Waldis, 70, a visiting
Swiss fisherman who lives near Zurich, as astonished as the rest of the angling
world. But alongside the astonishment, there is also controversy, as the question
is now being widely asked: shouldn't he have put it back alive, rather than having
it killed and brought ashore to be weighed?



For these days, increasingly, "trophy" fish are returned to the water - and some
anglers think this should apply no less to the biggest trophy of them all.

The stirrings of unease can be found even in the columns of the fishermen's bible,
Angling Times, which this week gives over all of its pages two and three
to Waldis's remarkable capture, complete with a series of dramatic pictures showing
him dwarfed by his prize.



The newspaper quotes both Luke Aston, the skipper on the record-breaking trip, and
the chairman of the Shark Trust, Richard Peirce, as expressing disappointment that
Waldis did not release his capture.



"It is regrettable that such a magnificent fish had to be taken to shore to be weighed
to verify a record, but in these situations it is the angler's decision," said Aston.



Another huge six-gill shark was caught from his boat last summer - but that one
was put back.



"This shark was a mature specimen and likely to have been a female," said Peirce.



"It's wonderful news to hear of the existence of large breeding animals, but from
a conservation point of view, it was a shame the shark was not released alive."



Waldis caught the shark on an 80 lb. breaking-strain line. He would not have had
to reel in half a tonne, as the fish's weight was supported by the water, but even
so, he said, the effort involved in bringing in the fish was considerable.



"Every time I gained a metre of line, the fish took it straight back again," he
said. "It was the fight of my life."



The biggest fish caught on a rod and line anywhere in the world is believed to have
been a 3,427 lbs. great white shark, caught in 1986 off Montauk, New York, by Frank
Mundus - the fisherman thought to have been the model for the shark hunter Quint
in the novel and Stephen Spielberg movie Jaws.