A catfish of this size can easily swallow an adult, as evidenced by official data. Some experts claim that there are cannibal catfish. But such statements have no scientific evidence. If human corpses are found in the belly of a river giant, it is assumed that the people were already dead. Simply put, these people drowned in due time, and only after that they were swallowed by a catfish.
Nowadays, the number of large catfish has sharply decreased due to the difficult environmental situation, as well as uncontrolled human fishing. In addition, modern gear has enormous potential in terms of catching fish. Despite this, weighty underwater predators are still occasionally encountered. In order not to be unfounded, we can present to your attention an overview of the largest catfish in the world, caught not so long ago.
The largest catfish was caught on the Volga using live bait
Alexey and Igor Malashin are avid fishermen. They spend every free minute on the river. They catch pike perch, silver carp, pike, carp, and there are also big bream. The catfish caught their hook for the second time. Eighteen years ago they already caught a two-meter giant.
The giant caught this summer is more than two meters long and weighs almost 90 kilograms. Having caught small fish in the morning, the fishermen began to catch larger prey with live bait. We fished in the middle of the Volga, in the channel where large ships sail. The fishermen purposefully chose the deepest place, where they lured their prey using kwok. Kwok is a special device used when catching catfish. When hitting the water, the quok makes a sound that attracts fish. Until now, ichthyologists do not know what attracts catfish to these gurgling clicks. But almost always, with skillful quoking, the fish leaves its hole and approaches the place where the sound of the quok comes from. Some scientists believe that the sounds of the kwok are similar to the sounds made by the female catfish.
In the evening, the experienced fishermen of Malashina were finally able to catch the fish that had captured the bait. It was very difficult, because the catfish is gigantic. To detect it, be sure to use an echo sounder, since in a huge river it is difficult to find out where this majestic fish stands. And it can lie at a depth of 8 to 20 meters. When a catfish swallows the bait, it is very important not to miss it, to fight it. The catfish is very slippery and is pulled into the boat using a hook.
Alexander Lukashenko left Vladimir Putin
In response to reports about Putin’s 21-kilogram pike, Lukashenko said that he “personally pulled out” a 57-kilogram catfish...
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko was fishing in the Gomel region on the Pripyat River and caught as many as three catfish, the largest weighing 57 kilograms.
“I personally pulled out a 57 kg catfish. 57, 24 and 7 kg - I caught three catfish,” said the head of the Belarusian state during a meeting on improving the rules of hunting and fishing.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Government Mikhail Rusy , apparently, was present at that historical moment, for he hastened to testify that the catfish was as tall as him. “But not by weight,” the president added.
Although, indeed, catfish weighing over a hundred kilograms are not uncommon in nature. According to fishing reference books, this fish reaches 5 meters in length, and its weight is even 300 kilograms. Such dimensions, according to scientists, can boast of long-lived catfish at the age of 80-100 years. And the German archives mention the capture of a 400-kilogram catfish (in 1830 on the Oder River). The largest catfish caught in the world is considered to be an individual caught in Uzbekistan about 100 years ago - its weight was 430 kilograms.
In Belarus, a catfish weighing over 50 kilograms is already considered a great fishing success.
As Lukashenko especially emphasized, recently “there were no fish in Pripyat.” “But they put things in order there. Now you put your finger in there, and the fish grabs your finger,” he said. That is, during the years of his presidency in Belarus, not only people, but also fish began to live better. Until they get caught.
What happened next to the presidential catch is unknown. Was it cooked and eaten by the head of state himself, or did he commit an act of goodwill and, like his Russian colleague, release the prey into the reservoir?
Spiteful critics see a direct connection between the fishing trips of the two presidents and believe that Lukashenko simply outwitted Vladimir Putin in this way. Let us remember that the owner of the Kremlin boasted last week that while fishing in Tyva he caught a pike weighing 21 kilograms. True, Russian bloggers criticized Putin’s fishing photographs, casting doubt on their authenticity. At first, they only doubted the weight of the pike caught by Putin, which, judging by the size of the fish captured in the photo, did not weigh 21 kg. Then journalist Andrei Malgin noticed that in the photo with the pike, Putin was wearing the same glasses, watch and pants in which he was photographed back in 2007.
Famous world records
Despite the fact that catching a large catfish from the river is not as easy as it might initially seem, some professional fishermen and ordinary amateurs still managed to do it.
Top 10 river giants
Every year people manage to set new records in the unofficial ranking “The largest catfish caught.” Currently, this list includes the following ten unique specimens , which are classified as the heaviest weight category:
- The absolute record holder today is a giant monster caught back in the 19th century in the waters of the famous Lake Issyk-Kul, which at that time was part of the possession of the Russian Empire. Surprisingly, the weight of the largest catfish caught in Russia was as much as 347 kilograms, while its length exceeded 4 meters. In honor of the giant, local residents decided to erect a small arch in the shape of fish jaws, of which not the slightest trace remains today.
The largest catfish reached 4 meters in size - The second in the top “The largest catfish in the world” was the giant from the Polish Lake Oder, which has the same length as the previous specimen, but one and a half times less weight, amounting to 200 kg. In addition to its large weight, this catfish attracted the attention of researchers with two more characteristic features, the first of which indicated the impressive age of the animal (over 100 years), while the second was that a corpse was found in its belly. However, after all the relevant tests were carried out, it was found that the deceased first choked and only then was swallowed by a huge predator.
- “Bronze” went to another of the largest catfish in Russia, which was pulled out from the Seim River, located among the banks of the Kursk region. This fish also weighed 200 kilograms, but its height only slightly exceeded the 3-meter mark. The story of the capture is also surprising, because the fishermen managed to shoot the fish underwater with a harpoon, but they were unable to raise it to the surface, as a result of which they had to call a local tractor driver and his equipment for help.
The weight of a huge catfish can reach 200 kg or more - Another mustachioed giant, whose distinctive feature is its white color, was caught from the waters of the Mekong in exotic Thailand. At that time (2009), a fish weighing 275 kilos and more than two meters in length was considered the largest in the world, which allowed it to get into the famous Guinness Book of Records, however, it was not possible to save the life of this record holder, since he could not withstand the stress and died almost immediately after the measurements.
- In 2007, in the Kazakh Il River, local fishermen were lucky enough to catch a truly large fish weighing 130 kilograms. It is noteworthy that the length of the predator, just like that of the Mekong albino, reached 2.7 meters.
- Another record was set by Russian sports fishing enthusiast Yuri Grisendi, who went to explore the river waters of France. As a result, the gambling tourist managed to pull a huge fish weighing 120 kilos and more than two and a half meters long onto the bank of the Rhone River.
A huge catfish weighing 120 kg was caught in France - An Italian named Godi managed to pull out a catfish of the same length, although the weight of this animal was only 113 kilograms. It is difficult to predict how this situation could have developed if it were not for six friends of an avid fisherman who went with him to the river for bream. As in the previous case, the prey was measured, weighed, photographed and sent back to free swimming.
- Eighth place goes to a catfish with a unique yellow color, which no one had to catch, since we are talking about an honorary resident of the central park of one of the Dutch cities. This fish, which received the funny nickname “Big Mommy” from local residents, is protected by law and all that is known about it today is its height of 2.3 meters.
- In 2009, in the Spanish River Ebro, British tourist Sheffield Chris caught another albino, whose live weight reached 88 kilos. It took half an hour to pull out the monster struggling in the river waters and, most likely, the Briton would not have been able to cope with the task if not for his faithful friends.
- The top 10 is closed by a two-meter catfish weighing 60 kilograms, which has more modest dimensions. He was caught by a Belarusian amateur fisherman, who spent an hour trying to ensure that the rare catch could not escape from his nets. This time the animal did not manage to go back to the bottom and the satisfied fisherman gladly let it go for roast and cutlets.
One can only guess whether all the largest specimens of river fish that people have ever managed to catch are included in this rating, because many records are simply not recorded, remaining only in the memory of happy fishermen.
Fishing for catfish
There are several useful secrets, the knowledge of which will help even a novice fisherman to pull a fairly large catfish ashore, which is quite suitable for preparing a delicious stew and many other aromatic and rich dishes:
- The first thing you should learn is the temperature regime, because the easiest way to catch this fish is in the summer, when the water warms up well (you can try fishing after the temperature in the river exceeds 10 degrees Celsius).
The best time to catch catfish is when the water in the pond warms up. - It is necessary to prepare the ground for successful fishing in advance. This requires fertilizing using special substances with pheromones, small shellfish, earthworms hidden in the turf, or even ordinary bread. Naturally, it’s not worth throwing catfish-appeasing treats all over the river, since it has long been known that the largest representatives of this family live at the greatest depths. Such places are called catfish camps and, as a rule, it is there that professional fishermen advise pre-baiting. It is necessary to feed large fish over several days, because then the probability of a good bite increases several times.
Feeding is important for catching catfish - Catfish bite most readily on dried locusts, all kinds of spider bugs, worms, frogs, fresh fish and even meat. A large shiny fish-shaped spoon will also help to attract the attention of catfish.
- When choosing the optimal means for catching big fish, a novice fisherman should know that even the best quality fishing rod may not withstand its resistance. That is why professionals most often use harpoons, large screens with metal frames, deep-sea nets and huge fishing nets to help pull prey out of the water onto the shore or to the bottom of a boat.
When going fishing for catfish, you need to remember how dangerous and uncontrollable this huge predator can be. And in order not to suffer from his actions, it is recommended to go fishing in a large group of friends and not swim to great depths, even if you want to look at the fish closer.
