Who was Pat Smith?

So who was Pat Smith?

 

Pat was best known among the sharking community for the 369 lb porbeagle shark she caught out of Looe in 1970 for which she was widely recognised. 

 

Among the honours she received at the time were the Shark Angling Club of Great Britains Mitchell Hedges, Sammy Porbeagle, Midland and Alan Caunter trophies. She was also awarded a special one off trophy in recognition of her world record and the then secretary of the SACGB, Hamish Rogerson, commissioned a gold broach in recognition of her achievement. 

 

A Dutfield Tapestry followed and although she missed out on the Bacardi Rum competition to Phil Taylor with his Mako which, was one pound heavier than Pats fish, she was invited to meet Mr Daniel Bacardi at Hotel Europa  where no doubt she had a Bacardi or two. She was also invited by the House of Hardy to become a member of the prestigious Hardy Hall of Fame.

 

Today she still holds the Ladies British All Tackle and 60kg Line Class records plus the Ladies World 60kg Line Class record for porbeagle shark. 

 

The British records she holds will of course never be broken as the SACGB took the decision 1994 to move to catch and release for all sharks and the British Record Listing was closed to new entries.  Pat was a keen supporter of the decision to move to a system of catch and release and continued to be an advocate for this, and the ongoing development of best practise within the sport throughout her life. 

 

Her record shark measured 8 feet 6 inches in length and with Pat being 4 feet 11 inches, or as she would say, 4 feet 11 inches and a little bit, this made her achievement of bringing this fish to the boat unaided all the more impressive.

 

Pat, who sadly passed away in April 2023, two days before her 99th birthday, shared our belief in behaviour change through education which, combined with her enthusiasm for the sport and shark conservation, led us to ask if she would agree to share her name with this important database. 

 

With the database comprising data entirely from recreational sea angling we felt it was appropriate that it shares its name with one of our most successful lady shark anglers.