I Once Caught a Fish This Big: Italian Reels In 280-Pound Catfish

On February 12 Angler Dino Ferrari reeled in a 280-pound Wels catfish on Italy’s Po River.

One problem: Ferrari took photos with the fish and then rolled it back into the water, so proof beyond the photos is non-existent. What is existent are reports on Wels catfish from numerous outlets—including the US Fish and Wildlife Service—explaining the prodigiousness of the species.

Bleacher Report notes that “the Wels catfish is essentially a mutant version of the American catfish and can reach up to 300 pounds.”

Ferrari says it took “40 long minutes to reel the fish to shore,” where he then took photos beside it.

CNN reports that the weight of the fish is not even a record. That record belongs to a Wels catfish caught in 2009 that weighed 298 pounds. That fish was also caught from the Po River.

But the manner in which the fish was caught could be a different kind of record. Ferrari says he caught it “with a spinning reel.” A 280-pound fish would be a first for “such tackle.”

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