Twelve-year-old Donegal boy catches one of the country’s biggest lobsters

TWELVE-year-old Darragh Wilson was fishing with his dad and brother on their boat, the Miss Daisy for thornback rays off Kerrykeel, Mulroy bay when he hooked an impressive fish.

He was using a long flowing trace baited with mackerel for thornbacks, which we are hoping to tag as part of the Marine Sportfish Tagging Programme run by Inland Fisheries Ireland.

He is involved in this programme as a ‘citizen scientist’ along with his dad Chris and brother Ronan. He thought he had finally hooked a fine thornback on his light spinning gear, as they have proved elusive of late, and the fish fought hard before coming to the surface, which was when he realised it was not a thornback at all. Something even rarer and more impressive had come up from the depths of Mulroy Bay- a huge lobster.

This royal blue crustacean was far larger than any Darragh’s dad, Chris, a lifelong fisherman and diver had ever encountered, and would have been a shame to put into the pot. The lobster measured 72cm long and weighed in at 8lb 6oz. This impressive creature was around 80 years of age and was returned to roam around the seabed once more, and hopefully preserve its species for future generations, and possibly grow larger for a future capture.

The largest lobsters ever caught in Ireland were around 11lbs, with ‘Big Dessie’, an 11lb (approx. 5kg), 70 year old plus lobster caught off Portrush, County Antrim, in 2011 and now lives in Galway Atlantaquaria. Another massive lobster, weighing 5.3kg (11.6lbs), was caught in 2010 off the Blasket Islands. Preserving such large lobsters is vital to maintain their population.