throwing away a record fish...... damn

looking through the sites as i should do a bit more often i found that the record for bullhuss is just over 23 lbs ... now a few years ago on a day out (walk down the road) i caught a huss i reckon would be touching 25-27lbs even the person who landed it for me agreed with an open mouth you could fit a honeydew mellon (about 7" across) and then i proceeded to put it back not realising that not only was it a specimen fish but a good record.... oh well, them be the breaks..... better luck next time i say...

just goes to show though, you never know when you got a good one....

I remember , a good few years ago, a specimen grey gunard of at least 2lbs being caught off Wicklow pier and being used as a football while still alive by the lads that caught it. Most people thought Gunards were poisonous. I remember being warned that they spray a web on several occasions while unhooking them.

Donagh

I caught a cod estimated at 30-35lbs in alaska a few years back when fishing for halibut. After boating the fish, I went looking for my camera, only to return and find the fish gone.
When I asked the skipper what had happened to my prized cod he said
" That old thing, I threw that in the bait bin". (Cod dont register on the edible scale when youre surrounded by halibut and salmon)
The bait bin in question was a barrel 3 feet deep in slimy herring and coalies being used for bait. Somewhere underneath them was my cod. To my shame, thats where it stayed.
So , the biggest cod of my life , no photos and no chips
Kev

phew i thought i was the only one out here to catch a "monster" and not get to register it .. even tough now i have found that i seem to have put my 35mm camera in my fishing bag (much to the horror of my girlfriend)..
i just have to remember to use it... even though i have me with a 12lbs huss on the roll offilm thats still in the camera .... just need to catch another 12 fish to finish off the roll......

Another one I just picked up on,

My first and only ever trip out of Dunlaoire I caught a 45lb (guess by the skipper) Tope. It was a female as well. I hear thats specimen size. I'm glad it went back but I would have loved to have it weighted. I did get a photo though, but in my wisdom at the time I had me hair dyed blonde and it was growing out so my head looked a streaky orange. :shock: :D