Catfish-A-Saurus!
The whopping wels catfish weighed in at 102kg and measured 2.6 metres in length, and, according to local magazine Fishermen’s World, was the longest catfish ever caught in Poland.
The previous record catfish was only a piss-poor 2.59 metres. Barely a tiddler compared to this one.
Fisherman Nowowiejski told Central European News (CEN), “I didn’t expect such an impressive catch that day. The fight lasted several minutes. The fish resisted a lot and I have to admit I got a bit tired, but that’s why I’m often spotted in the gym, to have the power for such adventures.”
Nowowiejski is a big bugger himself. Just as well, too.
Crash Tackle
Szymsie – that’s what his mates call him…probably – used special equipment designed to cope with enormous fish. Standard equipment wouldn’t handle such a whopper. He added: “Professional fishermen use special mats to unhook and weigh fish so they don’t wipe off their natural protective mucus. Thanks to this, the giant catfish, after being measured, weighed and photographed, was safely returned to its natural environment.”
Mucus. Ew.
He also said the animal did not suffer during the process. Nobody asked the cattie, who would probably have said, “Can’t…breathe…can’t…breathe…”
Szymon Nowowiejski hoiked a line into the Rybnik reservoir in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. Before he knew what was happening he was wrestling a fricken huge catfish that was bigger than he was.
Livin’ Large
Rybnike reservoir reportedly has warmer waters than would be expected in the area as water is often discharged from a nearby power plant into the reservoir. The warm water allows wels catfish to thrive and grow to huge lengths, according to reports.
The wels catfish is a large species of catfish native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, in the basins of the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas.
Only under exceptionally good living circumstances can the wels catfish reach lengths of more than two metres. The largest accurate weight recorded for the species was 144kg for a 2.78-metre specimen from the Po Delta in Italy.
That bugger must’ve had it pretty good, eh?
