THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

I suggested in my representations, not only to the BRFC, but also the Scots, Irish and Welsh, that they
might want to take this one stage further by requesting a girth measurement at the widest point as well,
or in the case of skates and rays, between the wing tips.
By multiplying length and girth together, you then arrive at a representative points score. The fatter or
longer the fish, the more points it will generate in the same way that it would pull the needle around
further on a weighing scale.
The difference is, this could be done quickly and accurately in a pitching boat, after which, with all the
usual safeguards of photographs, witnesses etc. in place, the fish could then go back at the spot from
where it was taken, in some cases as required by law.
I further proposed that they run these scores in an additional column next to the existing weight records,
in effect creating two parallel lists – one each for those willing to kill fish and others insistent on
returning them.
A second alternative was to consider creating a separate sporting species record list for those fish which
anglers want to return and/or cannot legally be brought ashore. But yet again, no response. And no
response either to my focusing their attention on a wide range of more general anomalies within the
existing lists, which could so easily be rectified by a quick meeting and a bit of administrative tidying
up.
Perhaps they just don't take kindly to 'unqualified outsiders' highlighting their faults, mistakes, and short
comings.
For example, the sandy ray appears in
the British record list when clearly it
shouldn't. As new species come on to
the list, and also in some cases with
long standing inclusions where only
one of the two available boat and shore
record slots is occupied, such as for
example the mako shark which has
only ever been caught from a boat, the
corresponding vacant slot is then
declared open for claims, which is fine,
but with a minimum qualifying weight,
which is not fine.
If a specimen is the biggest example
ever caught, then it should be the
Separate list for sporting species??
record without having to cross some
artificial threshold. So why have qualifying weights at all. If elevated standards need to be met to make
the list appear more respectable, exclude the current British six gilled shark boat record of 9½ pounds
as they have been caught in excess of a thousand pounds in nearby Irish waters.
Anyway, back to the sandy ray. A species listed with two qualifying weights, one each for both boat
and shore, which in real terms means that in common with numerous other deep water species
potentially available around the British Isles, none have ever been officially recorded on rod and line.
Why then not either remove this empty inclusion, or for consistency, list all the other fish nobody has
ever caught too, in addition to which I have a further axe to grind here. Back in the 1970's I actually
caught a sandy say in the deep water off the Isle of Arran in the outer Clyde.
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