The British media is saying this is the largest fish ever caught on rod and line in the waters of the British Isles. And it was caught by a 70-year old Swiss pensioner. It took Joe Waldis 35 minutes of almighty struggle to bring the 12’ 9” bluntnose six-gill shark to the side of his boat off the coast of County Clare in south-west Ireland, after it took his mackerel bait. This decisively smashes the record for the heaviest rod-caught fish in British or Irish waters, overtaking a 968 lb. bluefin tuna caught in 2001 (also off Ireland), and is more than double the weight of the heaviest rod-caught fish within the UK, a porbeagle shark of 507 lbs. taken off Orkney in 1993.