It’s the greatest skate...
THE biggest skate fish ever caught in the world has been snared off the Antrim coast – a 2.5-metre whopper weighing 136kg.
Fisherman Hamish Currie, 59, spent 65 minutes hauling in the giant beast which had a ‘wingspan’ of 2.1 metres.
Caught off the coast of Portrush, Co. Antrim, it’s the largest ever giant common skate recorded in the world. The previous record was logged in 2014 when a 94kg and 2.2-metre-long fish was caught off Scotland’s Isle of Skye.
Scotsman Hamish hauled in the ‘oncein-a-lifetime’ female skate off the Irish coast at the end of June this year and has spoken about it to mark the end of the big game fish and shark season.
The skipper, who lives in Portstewart, Co. Derry, said: ‘My legs were shaking. It was mind-blowing to see it on the deck. I knew straight away that it was the biggest one ever. It put up one hell of a fight and I was shattered. The rod was bent right over the side of the boat. It took me an hour and five minutes to reel it in. I managed to get it to the surface three times but it was just so powerful.’
After Hamish wrestled the beast on to his boat, Predator, it was tagged for conservation purposes and returned to the Atlantic Ocean within four minutes.
Hamish holds a special licence – issued by the Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland – that allows him to fish for giant common skate.