Italy: Enormous 9-foot-long catfish caught in Italy could break world record

Rome: An enormous 9-foot-long catfish has been caught in Italy, in what could possibly be a new world record.

Alessandro Biancardi, a member of the Madcat Italy fishing team, caught the catfish in May while fishing in the Po River, the longest river in Italy.

Madcat is a European company that creates and sells fishing equipment and supports anglers catching large fish.

Biancardi wrote on Madcat’s website that the day of the catch started as a normal day of fishing. He decided to use a spin fishing technique, where an angler uses spinning rods and wheels to cast lures to attract fish with the movement. He felt a “powerful bite” from the water and a fight ensued, as he chased the fish for about 40 minutes between currents and submerged obstacles.

Eventually, it emerged from the water, in what he said was the biggest catfish he had ever seen.

“I calmly managed to fight what I felt to be a prehistoric fish,” Biancardi wrote on Madcat’s website.

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After trying to glove the fish’s mouth, Biancardi eventually went into shallow water to catch the fish, which finally worked after a few tries. The fish measured over 112 inches, or just over 9 feet long.

Biancardi decided not to weigh the fish out of fear of the stress it could cause the huge animal, and decided to instead release it back into the river “hoping it could give another angler the same joy he gave to me.”

The fish was officially measured with 10 witnesses present and was sent to the International Game Fish Association, who documents world records related to fish. B According to IFGA’s website, the current All-Tackle Record for a catfish is 297 pounds and 9 ounces caught in the River Po in 2010. Field and Stream reported in 2010 that the current world record fish measured 8 feet, 2 inches long.