Ok.. what do you think??

[Alan Taylor]

Jim Roper:

]

Jim, I am just curious but have you ever visited Davy's site and READ ALL the information available? If you have not, it may be an idea to take the time to have a good read. It might be an idea to read the comments made by people that have been fortunate enough to be a guest of Davy and Linda.

 

As for your inane comments about Davy "I catch bigger skate" or some such rubbish, when I was with him he made me take the first 3 fish to come into the boat and I had to insist that he took the next one. You will never meet a more genuine and generous man.

 

 

I do feel a little bit sorry for you.

 

Alan(nl)

[poledark]

I am going to chip in here....I was once involved in a row about how long a certain fish was kept out of the water to weigh and photograph it. As a result I/We started to time the sequence over a period of time and many captures. Most times it was several minutes, ten minutes passes very quickly. I suggest that you do the same Davey as it is probably a LOT longer than you think.

But having said that, if you have actually measured the time then I will accept your statement.

 

 

 

Den

[Cranfield]

Jim, thanks for asking those questions.Some of them I have wondered about.

 

Davy, thanks for the answers, they were very interesting.

Its a shame that there is a "trophy" type attitude to these big sea fish and size is an issue.

 

Alan, please don,t "feel a bit sorry" for me, as well.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

poledark:

I am going to chip in here....I was once involved in a row about how long a certain fish was kept out of the water to weigh and photograph it. As a result I/We started to time the sequence over a period of time and many captures. Most times it was several minutes, ten minutes passes very quickly. I suggest that you do the same Davey as it is probably a LOT longer than you think.

But having said that, if you have actually measured the time then I will accept your statement.

 

Den

I know what you mean Den and when dealing with big fish it is quite easy to lose track of time, this is always at the back on my mind when we bring a skate aboard. Hence the reason everything is layed out ready for the fish coming aboard and everything is done in the same order everytime with the trophy shot *always* being the last thing done before the fish goes back over the side, infact it's quite common for the photo to be skipped just to get the fish back in the water

 

[ 24. November 2002, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: Davy Holt ]

[SandTiger]

It's a nice fish, it's not a record fish. The 230lb estimate comes from someone who happens to be aboard and is connected with fisheries in some way. There for validating his opion.

 

However the chap can't distinguish between a tope run and a skate retrieve and Mr Yates has set out to capitalise on his meaningless estimation.

 

Based on the information available I put the fish at 208lb although I would like to know the actual dimensions of the boat for a more accurate assessment.

 

I am a tad miffed that someone with Mr Yates apparent wealth of knowledge seeks to undermine the work done by the Skate Tagging Program as a whole by relying on such a spurious estimate for his own personal glory hunting.

 

However, I am mightily p*ssed to see the damage inflicted upon that fish which may well die as a result of trauma and build up of lactic acid. It's been stabbed twice, at least once with a barbed gaff, and appears to have been run over the gunnels face side down causing significant injuries.

 

Grrrrrrrrrr...

[Alan Taylor]

SandTiger:

.

Could'nt agree with you more.

 

Alan(nl)

[poledark]

Thanks for your clarification Davey.

 

Den

[Jim Roper]

Cranfield:

Jim, thanks for asking those questions.Some of them I have wondered about.

 

Davy, thanks for the answers, they were very interesting.

Its a shame that there is a "trophy" type attitude to these big sea fish and size is an issue.

 

Alan, please don,t "feel a bit sorry" for me, as well.

I think that just about sums it up!!

 

It seems the charts might be accurate to plus or minus 10%.

 

Jim Roper

 

http://www.searchlineuk.co.uk/FishList.htm

 

http://www.anglingforums.co.uk

[Davy Holt]

Jim Roper:

 

It seems the charts might be accurate to plus or minus 10%.

Erm NO the figure is plus or minus 5% but then what do we know... I mean we only help run and collate the information for the tagging programme and spend all our time working towards conserving these magnificent creatures (and No we do not get paid for any of it)

 

Oh and by the way, today I took a copy of the Sea Angler and the Dutch mag that Alan's article was in along with me to the meeting of the Common Skate Biodiversity Action Plan tis strange why no one there agreed with the 230lb weight for that fish. But then again what do we all know, compaired to the "armchair anglers" out there that have probably never see a live Common Skate, oops that's right, we're only disgruntled anglers moaning because someone claims to have caught a bigger skate than us.

 

A couple of wee facts:

My "BEST" skate is a fish of 3lb

My "biggest" skate.. well... that information is known by quite a few, myself, the people of Lochaline, the anglers on the boat at the time and the Tagging team...... we all know that this is not about anyone catching a bigger fish than me

[Cranfield]

Davy, I can understand the 10% conclusion arrived at by Jim.

In your answers, you said that a normal variation would be around 5%.

But there could be an additional variation, (depending on good to poor condition) of between 2lb and 40lb.

If this was applied to a 200lb fish, the variation on condition alone ,could be between 1% and 20%.

 

I think the secret here, is just to enjoy catching and seeing the fish.

The controversies and disagreements only seem to surface, when weights and records become important.