Record breaking tope

A 68lbs tope has been caught in Carlingford Lough. The fish was weighed, tagged and released, but the record cannot be claimed as the fish was not weighed on land. Great to see a fish of that size caught, and very sporting to see it released instead of killed just to claim a record. Surely a case for changing the rules to allow fish to be weighed afloat rather than having to do so on land.

http://loughs-agency.org/angling/anglin ... sp?sid=182

What a legend. Not prepared to kill the fish just for the sake of a line in a book! Pity more "anglers" arent of the same mind!! Its high time this rule was changed, its madness that you have to weigh the fish on land to claim the record.

outstanding lookin fish and respect of the fella for releasing it to fight another day.

the fight should be enough for any angler fair play to him for releasing it

Fantastic on the release fairplay that man!!!

fish and photo of a lifetime. hats off to Mr Love and co.

congrats thats a fish of a liftime
those photos are worth far more than any badge or piece of paper c/r at its best

I wonder about those record books sometimes. The tope record is now 68lbs so who cares what's written in the annual reports. Anyone who catches large tope are aware of this fish being caught now so that should be the benchmark from now on.

there have been lots of tope cought over the record of wicklow and on wicklow beaches but its grate that the lads who have cought them fish dont see the point in killing them just to get there names in a book

Great catch fish of a life time fair play for releasing it rather than kill it for a bit of paper.

In this day and age the ISFC should accept these fish being weighed on board boats and measured and photographed there is no need for them to be weighed on land and also carcasses kept in case they request them as they do with other species.

what a catch well done on releasing it great to se that done!!!!

What a legend. Not prepared to kill the fish just for the sake of a line in a book! Pity more "anglers" arent of the same mind!! Its high time this rule was changed, its madness that you have to weigh the fish on land to claim the record.

firstly i`d like to say what a fanastic fish and well done to the angler

im curious as to why you`ve said "anglers" and not just anglers
are record/specimen hunters not considered to be real anglers just cos they fish for a different reason than some of you??????

I wonder about those record books sometimes. The tope record is now 68lbs so who cares what's written in the annual reports. Anyone who catches large tope are aware of this fish being caught now so that should be the benchmark from now on.

the tope record is not 68lb.... its still 66lb 8oz caught in Carlingford 15-7-1979

Great catch fish of a life time fair play for releasing it rather than kill it for a bit of paper.

In this day and age the ISFC should accept these fish being weighed on board boats and measured and photographed there is no need for them to be weighed on land and also carcasses kept in case they request them as they do with other species.

its ridiculous to say a fish should be accepted if weighed on a boat....
maybe if its flat calm but as you all know it almost never is

i weighed a large cod onboard in calm(ish) conditions and put it down as 38lb but when we got ashore 30mins later i weighed it again and it was only 30.6lb thats a huge difference from 38lb...
how can anyone say its fine to weigh a potential record onboard with these sort of differences.
someone could end up getting the new record for a fish thats well off the mark,and taking it away from the true record holder....
from what i understand the ISFC are thinking about a conservation record for fish measured instead of weighed
i might be wrong but i`d read this somewhere and think its a good idea..

the ISFC are always reviewing the rules and also which fish are considered to be at risk and should be removed from the specimen list.if they didn`t care then skate,monkfish and undulate ray would still be on the list

just remember lads without the ISFC and the records list none of us would know if we caught a big fish cos there would be nothing to compare it to

Great catch fish of a life time fair play for releasing it rather than kill it for a bit of paper.

In this day and age the ISFC should accept these fish being weighed on board boats and measured and photographed there is no need for them to be weighed on land and also carcasses kept in case they request them as they do with other species.

its ridiculous to say a fish should be accepted if weighed on a boat....
maybe if its flat calm but as you all know it almost never is

i weighed a large cod onboard in calm(ish) conditions and put it down as 38lb but when we got ashore 30mins later i weighed it again and it was only 30.6lb thats a huge difference from 38lb...
how can anyone say its fine to weigh a potential record onboard with these sort of differences.
someone could end up getting the new record for a fish thats well off the mark,and taking it away from the true record holder....
from what i understand the ISFC are thinking about a conservation record for fish measured instead of weighed
i might be wrong but i`d read this somewhere and think its a good idea..

the ISFC are always reviewing the rules and also which fish are considered to be at risk and should be removed from the specimen list.if they didn`t care then skate,monkfish and undulate ray would still be on the list

just remember lads without the ISFC and the records list none of us would know if we caught a big fish cos there would be nothing to compare it to

Killing a fish to get yourself some glory never was and never will be justifiable, end of story....END OF STORY.
and as regards not knowing if we have caught a big one??? if an angler knows their area well enough they know what big is. For example a 10lb cod is "big" from the shore...why? because it isnt every day that you get one of those..
and specimen hunters can be exactly that without having to kill the specimens..

killing a fish to get yourself some glory never was and never will be justifiable, end of story....END OF STORY.
and as regards not knowing if we have caught a big one??? if an angler knows their area well enough they know what big is. For example a 10lb cod is "big" from the shore...why? because it isnt every day that you get one of those..
and specimen hunters can be exactly that without having to kill the specimens..

nobody said anything about killing the fish

its up to the person who caught the fish to do whatever he/she wants with it,thats the law...END OF STORY...

killing a fish to get yourself some glory never was and never will be justifiable, end of story....END OF STORY.
and as regards not knowing if we have caught a big one??? if an angler knows their area well enough they know what big is. For example a 10lb cod is "big" from the shore...why? because it isnt every day that you get one of those..
and specimen hunters can be exactly that without having to kill the specimens..

nobody said anything about killing the fish

its up to the person who caught the fish to do whatever he/she wants with it,thats the law...END OF STORY...

nobody mentioned the law mate..like i said justifiable....would you have killed that tope then? I dont think you need to even answer

Great stuff!
In my opinion the greatest thing about all that story is that slowly but surely record books are being rendered useless and irrelevant as more and more big (record breaking) fish is not claimed. Soon they become just a catalog of "big dead fish" but not records anymore. This may encourage more and more anglers to release their trophy as there will be no point in claiming it.

Great stuff!
In my opinion the greatest thing about all that story is that slowly but surely record books are being rendered useless and irrelevant as more and more big (record breaking) fish is not claimed. Soon they become just a catalog of "big dead fish" but not records anymore. This may encourage more and more anglers to release their trophy as there will be no point in claiming it.

Well said tom

I am glad to know of 3 potential new Irish records of sharks this year that have been released and not claimed it show you how anglers think now days. And as for the dinosaurs who think that killing fish and claiming them for bits of paper and badges well hopefully there days are numbered and they will come to their senses and we wont see any more fish hanging for trophy shots like those ones of that six gill shark that was dragged ashore by the tail behind a boat.

nice fish i wouldn't kill a tope even if it was a record.