Two f ishermen have hooked 'Britain’s biggest fish' ever caught on a rod weighing 900lb.
The 9ft long Atlantic bluefin tuna was brought on board a boat by Simon Batey and friend Jason Nott after struggle which lasted an hour.
At 64st, it is as heavy as a small tractor.
But it would also provide enough filling for more than 6,000 sandwiches.
After it was caught, though, the pair released released it 30 miles off the Pembrokeshire coast.
They were on a fishing boat captained by Andrew Alsop, who described it “the dirtiest fighting fish I have gone up against”.
Simon, 56, of Sarn, Bridgend, South Wales, and Jason, 50, of Cwmaman, near Aberdare, and Andrew had been coming back from the Celtic Deeps in the Irish Sea when they reeled in the giant.
Andrew is licensed under the new tuna catch and release tagging scheme, and has six boats.
He said: “Simon did well for the first part of the battle then handed the rod over.”
it is the biggest fish caught in Welsh waters and could surpass a British record of 851lb which was made off Whitby, North Yorks, in 1933.
The giant Atlantic bluefin have returned to Welsh waters after more than five decades after being badly affected by overfishing and climate change.
Actor Julian Lewis Jones, patron of the Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers, said: “It’s no mean feat to catch a fish of this size — at that length it’s the same size as a big shark."
In 2015 The Mirror reported wo huge tuna fish weighing a combined 800lbs and worth £75,000 have been caught by British anglers in UK waters.
Chris Bett, 50, hooked a monster 500lbs bluefin tuna off the west Wales coast just days after drawing a blank for them while on a fishing trip to Madeira.
Then angler Mike Steer caught a 300lbs specimen using a rod and line in the same area of water.
The species are an endangered species, highly protected and hardly ever caught in UK waters.
Both Chris and Mike accidentally caught the two specimens while out shark fishing and returned them to the sea.
Father-of-three Chris said: "The spare line started to run and I picked it up.
"I knew almost immediately it wasn't a blue shark, I thought it might be a bigger mako shark.
"It took three hours before I got it to the surface and could see it was a big tuna."
The 50-year-old added : "It was over 7ft long and was colossal and very powerful.
"We managed to get it alongside the boat but there was no way three of us could lift it on board.
"It would have tipped us over."
