ONE of the biggest catfish ever landed in Spain was caught by an Okehampton angler during a recent fishing holiday.
Trevor Chastey caught the monster 175lb, 7ft-plus fish while he was on the trip with Steve Dawe, Chris Hodgson and Pete Gregory.
Steve goes to Spain every year to fish for catfish ? last year he raised money for charity by catching as big a fish as he could.
He said Trevor was not a regular angler and decided to join the trip after a win on the horses.
?He?d just had this lucky win and then he gets the fish of a lifetime,? said Steve. ?It was only 20lb short of the Spanish record, so it was quite an achievement ? if the fish had taken one more meal he could have got an all expenses-paid trip for breaking the record!?
Steve said the monster Wels Catfish was Trevor?s first catch of the holiday and it weighed 165lb more than anything he had ever caught before.
?When he hooked it, it pulled him down the river bank. I had to grab hold of him and then both of us were being pulled into the river. It got stuck under some trees and our guide had to get it out,? said Steve.
The catfish was caught using live eels as bait.
?They?ll actually eat anything, from geese, snakes, ducks, all sorts. They have very poor eyesight but they have these whiskers that detect movement ? they attack from below and grab anything on top of them, but they?re actually quite docile when you catch them,? said Steve.
The only time the enormous fish become aggressive is when they are spawning, when they have been known to attack boats, he added.