Shetland angler makes records with 6ft-long catch

A SHETLAND angler looks to have fished his way into the record books after catching a 6ft ling north of the islands.

James Isbister was fishing with local fish tour operators Northmavine Charters at lunchtime on Saturday around a wreck six miles north of Muckle Flugga, the most northerly point in the UK.

It took Mr Isbister, 38, almost half an hour to land the enormous fish, which weighed in at 67.46lb on the scales at Lerwick fish market, 10lb more than the previous record, set 23 years ago.

The fish had to be folded in half to fit in Mr Isbister’s mother’s freezer, where it will remain until it has been formally measured by the British Record Fish Committee to establish whether it is a new record.

The Natural History Museum in London has expressed an interest in the fish, which will be transported as soon as possible.

Mr Isbister, who is 6ft 5in tall, said the fish was nearly as big as he was, but was landed with a home-made lure put together at the dining room table the night before with his two young sons, Danny and Robbie.

He said: “They helped me make it. They just handed me bits and pieces out of my tackle box and said ‘Dad, put that on’, so I put this on and they gave me another bit and I tied that on – it was just a bit of a home-made rig.”

The common ling, Molva molva, is a large member of the cod family and can be found around the British Isles, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Norse coast and occasionally around Newfoundland.

Ling can be considered interchangeable with cod. The salted roe of the ling is considered a delicacy in Spain.