RECORD FISH

03 December 2019

Records fall as five new fish claims ratified

The British Record Fish Committee met in London on 27th November 2019 to consider, and subsequently accept, a number of new record claims as being duly ratified.

The committee considered and accepted the following claims as being duly ratified as new records:

  • Ben Wallis’s Streaked Gurnard (Chelidonicthys lastoviza) from Cornwall’s Helford river in August, was ratified as a new boat-caught record at a weight of 1lb 7oz 15dr. Ben’s fish beats the previous boat-caught record of 1lb 2oz for this seldom reported species.
  • Gary Marquis’s shore-caught Thin-lipped Grey Mullet (Liza ramada), ratified at 8lb 8oz 13dr, caught from the east coast of Guernsey on 11th August 2019. Gary’s fish is the latest in a run of record thin-lips over recent years and beats Geoff Le Page’s 2017 record of 8lb 3oz 8dr. Gary’s fish was examined at the Natural History Museum to verify the species identification. The BRFC’s Marine Scientific Advisor, Oliver Crimmen, has identified a previously unrecorded characteristic feature of thin-lipped mullet which, when thoroughly checked, may help to identify the species from good photographic evidence in future.
  • Ryan Wingfield has broken his own shore-caught Tope (Galeorhinus galeus) record of 75lb with a larger fish ratified at 77lb 3oz. Ryan’s new record was caught in June 2019 from a Pembrokeshire shore mark.
  • Colin Smithson’s Barbel (Barbus barbus) was ratified at 21lb 2oz, to overtake Grahame King’s 2006 Great Ouse record by just one ounce. Colin’s fish was caught from a Sussex river on 7th November 2019.
  • Mat Faulkner’s Three-Spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) was ratified as a record with a weight of 8 grams. Caught in July from Lower Beauvale Ponds near Nottingham, Mat’s fish just pips Dennis Flack’s 1998 record of 4 drams (7 grams). Mat’s fish was weighed on a scale which gave a reading in grams and after an adjustment for slight inaccuracy shown by the scales test the rounded down weight was agreed at 8 grams.

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