GLOBE-TROTTING local anglers have caught some superb fish lately, but Dave Neil from Southampton came up with the heaviest.

Neil, a member of Shirley SAC, is pictured, above, after heaving over the gunnels a huge tarpon, estimated to weigh a staggering 250lb!

The fish of a lifetime, which he caught while on holiday in Cuba, took just over three and a half hours to get on board.

Daily Echo Sea Angling correspondent Chris Clark also found quality fish during an exploration sortie to the west coast of Ireland. He and Simon Barber from Wessex Angling Centre and three other anglers tackled new and old marks with spectacular results.

Based at Kilkee on the Loop Head peninsular guarding the northern side of the Shannon estuary, Clark used light float tactics to tempt 35 pollack between 2lb and 6lb during one short session. They fell to ragworm fished around 15ft.

Another productive session produced a staggering 41 thorneback, blonde and cuckoo rays for the five-strong party, from a deep water rock mark lying to the north of Kilkee.

Recording that number of rays from the shore in one short session was quite amazing. They all fell to sandeel fished at long range.

The rays and other fish landed during the trip were weighed, photographed and returned alive.

One of the new marks that the party tackled, close to Loop Head and surrounded by stunning scenery, saw them fishing in 25 metres of water right under their rod tips, where they recorded some cracking brightly coloured cuckoo wrasse, conger pollack and good ballan wrasse.

"For those heading to this more remote area of Ireland, obtaining fresh bait and tackle can be a problem but we did stumble on an excellent tackle shop just on the outskirts of Kilkee," said Clark.

"Not only was it well stocked but the owner has a wealth of fishing information."

You can find Michael at Bourkes Tackle, Kilkee (tel 00353 659056363).