PHILIPP REHBERGER had a dream come true when he landed this huge catfish - one of the biggest ever caught.
Wild Catz Adventure Weeks participant Philipp landed the 265 cm leviathan weighing an estimated 130 kilograms on the floodwaters of the River Po in Italy.
But it didn’t give up easily, Angler’s Mail understands that Philipp had to win a brutal fight from the dinghy that lasted over 25 minutes.
The catfish took off upstream immediately after the bite in just 80 cm of water, which is typical behaviour of only the largest specimens, before sitting on the bottom for several minutes as solid as a rock.
The fully parabolic power blank of the Black Cat Wild Catz rod eventually forced the fish to move on, allowing the fight to continue in deep, fast-flowing water.
After many nerve-racking minutes, the catfish made its first appearance at the surface.
Philipp and Wild Catz Adventure Weeks organizer Patrick Haas quickly realized from the huge appearance of the head that they had to be looking at one of the largest catfish ever caught.
Giant as long as Wild Catz boat!
Patrick Haas used the catfish grip to take the river monster by the jaws and, with the help of Philipp , pulled it aboard the 270 cm Zeepter Ultra dinghy.
Once on terra firma, the catfish was measured in front of several witnesses to confirm its enormous dimensions, before being photographed.
The outstanding specimen fell to a 5 g U-float rig and Black Cat Gripper single hook in size 1/0 gained a secure hold and withstood enormous stresses during the fight.
Peter Merkel and Patrick , long-standing team anglers for Tostedt-based fishing tackle manufacturer Zebco Europe, organize guided catfish adventure tours on the River Po in Italy in conjunction with Markus Eule’s “Wallerwelt” angling centre.
The tours focus on practical transfer of expertise to participants and shared exploration of the most unknown stretches of water.
Angler’s Mail understands that the professionally organized tours produce monster catches on a relatively frequent basis.
WANT TO CATCH A CATFISH? Read this week’s Angler’s Mail print magazine (out Tuesday, April 24) for helpful insight.
SUBSCRIBE TO ANGLER’S MAIL PRINT MAG AT A LOW PRICE!
The best weekly print magazine, Angler’s Mail, will be delivered to you.
Just subscribe to one of the top Sale deals online at magazinesdirect.com.
You’ll then get Angler’s Mail print magazine delivered to your door, anywhere in the world, at discounted rates from just 96p per week!
CAUGHT A BIG FISH OR GOT SOME NEWS? Email photos and details exclusively to: anglersmail@timeinc.com – you could appear in the must-read print magazine.
You may also like to read these Angler’s Mail stories…
Monster catfish is specialist angler’s fifth over a ton
The 51-year-old consultant of catfish products company Big Cat UK fished for 48 hours on a day ticket water in…
Stunning first-ever UK catfish slams scales to 113 lb!
The giant day ticket catfish fell during a night session at Chigboro Fisheries in Essex. Great Wakering-based Finlay, 21, who…
Gary Newman notches eight freshwater species over 100 lb
During an eight-day session at Gillhams Fishing Resorts, Gary Newman landed 25 Siamese carp. Eight of them topped the 100lb…
Targeting big catfish
Why? Because I’m enjoying hooking into something like the 52-pounder above, the second ’50’ I’ve had in the last couple…