British Record Fish List Update – December 2015

by David Proudfoot

On the 1st December 2015 the British Record Fish Committee ratified the following records.

Gilthead bream Roger Simcox

Gilthead Bream (Sparus aurata)

Boat-caught

Salcombe, Devon, on 31st July 2015

Roger’s claim was ratified at a weight of 10lb 2oz, beating Mr Bradford’s record of 24 years by two-and-a-half ounces. Roger becomes a double record holder adding this Gilthead Bream to his 1980 Turbot record.

White bream Roger Bryant

White Sea Bream (Diplodus sargus)

Shore-caught

West coast of Jersey, on 8th August 2015

Roger’s fish weighed 2lb 12oz 8dr and supersedes Bryan Swain’s 2011 record of 2lb 6oz 14dr, also from Jersey

Thin-lipped mullet Greg Whitehead

Thin-Lipped Mullet (Liza ramada)

Boat-caught

East coast of Guernsey, on 14th August 2015

This huge fish was ratified at 7lb 0oz 8dr and just beat last year’s record of 6lb 15oz from Jersey, jointly held by Derek Kane and Gerald Gavey

Thin-lipped mullet Ollie Stenning

Thin-Lipped Mullet (Liza ramada)

Boat-caught

East coast of Guernsey, on 16th August 2015

16-year-old Ollie eclipsed Greg’s record (above) with this absolute monster of 8lb 7oz 4dr just two days after Greg’s capture, and while fishing from Greg’s boat

Stingray Guy Spriggs

Stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca)

Shore-caught

Chesil Beach, Dorset, on 1st September 2015

Guy’s fish was ratified at a weight of 78lb 8oz, beating Ken Canning’s 2008 shore record of 67lb 12oz. Guy’s great fish is the largest shore-caught English fish in BRFC records

Atlantic chub mackerel Colin Marquis

Atlantic Chub Mackerel (Scomber colias)

Boat-caught

Hoffets, Guernsey, on 30th August 2015

Verified at 1lb 15oz, Colin’s fish beats David Paddock’s 2013 Cornish boat record of 1lb 10oz

Gilthead bream Ryan Carter

Gilthead Bream (Sparus aurata)

Shore-caught

Kingsbridge Estuary, Devon, on 22nd October 2015

Ryan’s superb fish is ratified at a weight of 10lb 7oz, beating Colin Carr’s 20-year-old record of 10lb 5oz. Ryan also caught another Gilthead of over 8lb, making a fantastic brace

Notable Fish List

Common skate One catch was submitted and accepted for inclusion in the Notable Fish List:  a male Common Skate (Dipturus batis), caught from the shore at a Scottish east coast mark by Craig Mackay. This magnificent fish measured 84 inches from nose to tail and had a wingspan of 63 inches. This fish was off the scale normally used to estimate the weight of Common skate, which only goes up to 80 inches length for male fish, but we estimate that Craig’s fish weighed in the region of 146lb. All the skate caught by Craig and his friends are carefully landed and unhooked and returned safely to the sea.

The Notable Fish List was established by the BRFC to record rod and line captures of exceptional sea fish which cannot be claimed as records, perhaps because they have been weighed on a boat at sea, or cannot be weighed, such as in the case of shore-caught skate, when the weight can only be estimated from the measurements of the fish. The BRFC encourages anglers who catch exceptional sea fish in such circumstances to submit the details of their catch for inclusion in the Notable Fish List.

The committee also accepted a claim for an Atlantic Bonito (Sarda sarda) claimed at 3lb 6oz by Jake MacGregor, caught from the shore at Hartlepool Heugh on 4th October, but they await a detailed scales test before they can ratify the exact record weight for this fish.

More information about what to do if you catch a record fish can be found in the BRFC web pages.

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