Shetland crew’s monster monkfish weighed in at almost nine stone
Andrew Hirst
A Whalsay fisherman has told of his surprise at catching a massive monkfish – the biggest his crew has ever encountered.
Skipper Arthur Polson’s five man crew were out in Resilient on Wednesday when they netted the 57kg (almost nine stone) beast.
Mr Polson said he was “very surprised” to catch such a huge fish.
“We spent 10 years in our old boat targeting monkfish and never saw one this size,” he said,
“We’ve caught some big ones before but nothing close to that.”
The crew, which is made up of John Montgomery, Ian Reid, Stephen Anderson and Theo Polson, was trawling 90 miles east of Lerwick when they caught the monkfish in their seine net.
Monkfish can grow up to six feet in length; although most are around half that size.
According to the British Sea Fishing website, the biggest monkfish ever recorded was caught off Norway in 2012 and weighed almost 18 stone.
Mr Polson’s monkfish was bought by Aberdeen seafood firm Granite City Fish (GCF).
Ed Fletcher, who runs GCF, told the Press and Journal newspaper: “Imagine the size of fillets and cheeks we’re going to get off of this beast.”
