Currently, if a person wishes to claim that they have caught a fish which is a record weight in Britain the catch has to be witnessed by a second person who was physically present when making the application to the British Record Fish Committee. This is obviously to ensure accuracy and honesty.
The rule may be changed to include video evidence only as provided by a man, Guntars Zukovskis, when he caught Britain’s largest sea bass at 21 lbs 5 oz. This is 2 pounds more than the current record.
He recorded himself weighing the sea bass on video using a digital display which recorded 22 lbs 2 oz with 13 ounces of that being the sling. He returned the fish to the water and submitted his evidence to the committee.
The committee rejected his application but they said: “We will consider putting in place protocols to permit the submission of video evidence. This will take careful consideration and we could not apply such a change retrospectively, so Guntar’s fish will be recorded on our Notable Fish List.”
Guntars is obviously disappointed. He said that it was a very cold night.
That night was really cold and rainy and I was just preparing to pack up when it bit. I knew as soon as I saw it pop up that it was a special fish and in the back of my mind I was aware the record was below 20 lbs.
He had caught the biggest sea bass by an angler in Britain by, as mentioned, almost 2 pounds. His video footage shows him struggling to lift the fish into his weighing sling.
He was fishing on a Somerset beach last year by himself. The rule that a record needs to be witnessed by a second person has been in place since 1968.
