Published: Wednesday, 7th October, 2009 11:37am

Forth fisherman's surprise catch

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JUST when you thought it was safe to go into the water a nine foot long swordfish is pulled out of the River Forth at Alloa.

The 250lb monster was caught up in fisherman Brian Hynd's nets on Sunday as he was trawling for slightly smaller creatures. The fish's 'sword' alone measures three foot in length.

Brian told the Advertiser, "I've never seen anything like it or heard of it. It is the weirdest thing I have pulled out the river. It got tangled in the ropes and took three of us to lift it.

"Since we caught it I have been reading that swordfish's main diet is herring and there has been a lot of that in the area recently. It might have something to do with the high tides."

Brian has been fishing on the Forth for around forty years and this is the first time he has caught a fish of this size.

He said, "They are caught off the British coast but it is the sort of thing you expect to see more in Florida, certainly not as far up the river as this."

Last week's Advertiser reported on the improving quality of the river's water and the impact it was having on what lies beneath. Ann Henderson, head of the marine ecology unit for SEPA (Scotland's environment regulator), said, "The dissolved water content has got better and better over the years.

"There is a wide range of worms and molluscs that are food for creatures higher up the food chain."

The giant catch is not something Brian will be eating regularly for the next few days though.

He said, "It's with my uncle, I won't be eating it, I'll eat fish and chips but not swordfish."