FINLAY SPEAKMAN broke his catfish duck with some style when he landed this 113 lb 14 oz beast.
The giant day ticket catfish fell during a night session at Chigboro Fisheries in Essex.
Great Wakering-based Finlay, 21, who works at Pete’s Tackle, legered double boilie.
There’s no official British catfish record despite a recent request from Zyg Gregorek, owner of Anglers Paradise in Devon, that the catfish record be re-instated.
The British Record Fish Committee discussed the issue but turned down the proposal.
Zyg hadn’t put in a official claim for a fish of 82 lb 4 oz that was caught in the summer after officially stocking them at under 1 lb back in 1994.
But he had asked could the species go back on the list.
A BRFC statement said: “The catfish record listing was closed to future claims in 2007 because, at the time, large catfish were being imported illegally from Europe with the deliberate intention of increasing the record weight.
“This undermined the legitimacy of the record and was providing a key pressure for the illegal importation of Wels catfish.
“Communications with CEFAS and the Environment Agency suggest that the suspension of the record may be contributing to a reduction in import activity.
“The wels catfish record listing will therefore remain closed.”
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