BILLY BARTHOLOMEW made a late decision to do a night session and ended up with this venue record 117 lb 11 oz catfish.
The huge catfish came from Forty Acres Plantation Lake in Billericay in Essex where local 25-year-old Billy used a boilie, aiming for carp.
Billy said: “After an eventful start for the first few hours of banking four carp off a marginal area just next to the reeds it looked like it was going to be a busy night.
“However, it seemed to die down as the sun started to descend behind the trees.
“Going into the night, I decided to stick one rod on an adjustable zig around 4.5 wraps out to my right which was set to just two foot under the surface, with fish crashing about around that area I thought it was a pretty safe bet.
“Around 2.30 am it screamed off in a typical one toner fashion. Hooking into it, I could tell that it was a big fish as it made a serious uncontrollable run.
“Two and a half solid hours later I managed to finally get the fish in the net. It wasn’t until I picked it up slightly that I see a huge head, body and long thick tail to match.
“At the time, I was shaking as my previous catfish PB was 37 lb and this was clearly miles over that. I’d never seen anything like it before and knowing this was sitting in my net was surreal.
“This will be a once in a lifetime fish that I will struggle to beat for a very long time for sure. Safe to say, I will not be forgetting that spontaneous session any time soon,” added Billy, who used a UK Bait Company yellow Pro Nut pop-up boilie.
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