Fisherman’s ‘full-on tug of war’ results in fish of a lifetime

Fisherman’s ‘full-on tug of war’ results in fish of a lifetime

Source: usatoday

11/2/2021

Fisherman’s ‘full-on tug of war’ results in fish of a lifetime

Mark Steward-Brown of England went on a fishing vacation to the famous Ebro River in Spain two weeks ago and came away with a fish of a lifetime, catching a whopping 234-pound wels catfish on the third day on the water.

“The fight lasted 45 minutes,” Steward-Brown told Field and Stream. “It was [a] full-on tug of war. I had to have the drag set very high to keep it away from the snags, but the initial run was still 50 or 60 meters [55 to 65 yards] upstream.”

The wels catfish is Europe’s largest freshwater fish with an average size on the Ebro River about 100 pounds. The Wall Street Journal once referred to these behemoths as “a Leviathan worthy of Melville’s pen and the ugly, freshwater cousin of the blue marlin.”

Obviously, it was a beauty of a catch to Steward-Brown, who told Field and Stream that “catfish fight harder than any other freshwater fish.”

“To catch such a big girl like that was a privilege,” Steward-Brown told Field and Stream. “It was truly a great fishing holiday.”