A Scots angler snared the biggest skate fish ever caught in the world - an 8ft whopper weighing 300lb.

Fisherman Hamish Currie, 59, spent more than an hour hauling in the giant 8ft 3in beast, which had a wingspan of 7ft.

The "once in a lifetime" catch took 65 minutes to reel in, off the coast of Portrush, Northern Ireland, and is the largest ever giant common skate recorded in the world.

The previous record was logged in 2014 when a fish weighing 208lbs and measuring 7ft 3in long was caught off the Isle of Skye.

Charter skipper Mr Currie, who caught the fish in June, said: "My legs were shaking.

''It was mind blowing to see it on the deck. I knew straight away that it was the biggest one ever.

"It's definitely a peak in my career. It's the best moment so far for me.

"I've never seen anything of that size before and I'm very proud of it."

After he wrestled the beast onto his boat, Predator, it was tagged for conservation purposes and released back into the ocean within four minutes.

Mr Currie, who recently moved to Northern Ireland from Saltcoats in Ayrshire, was involved in a historic tug-of-war with a giant 450lb shark off the coast of Islay in 2012.

The keen fisherman has been working in Irish water for more than 20 years, and has caught hundreds of the fish, which he tags at the request of the Northern Irish authorities.

He said: "I do all of the tagging for free.

"It's for conservation and protection purposes and I release all of my catches.

"I am very proud of myself because I went out to catch a big fish - I got the timing perfect.

"I want to put Portrush on the map. It's an underestimated place but it's open to the Atlantic.

"It's a rich ocean. The big fish are there to be caught. You've just got to catch them."

The biggest ever catch in UK waters is believed to be a 505lb bluefin tuna landed by Andrew Alsop, off the coast of Neyland, near Pembrokeshire in Wales, last year.