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.”

Also on FTW Outdoors: Monster catfish landed after fisherman cuts line in madcap battle

Steward-Brown and his friend Billy Malcolm Williamson were fishing with guide Pontus Ingvarsson of Ebro Monster Hunt. Ingvarsson has been guiding on the Ebro River for 11 years. His website states, “He lives just minutes from the river, so he will always know where and when you have the best chances of success.”

He proved that true with Steward-Brown, whose biggest wels catfish before this trip was a 48-pounder. With Ingvarsson, he caught four over 100 pounds on the first day. He and Williamson also caught nice carp. All the fish were released, including the big one.

While Steward-Brown’s wels catfish was huge and a personal best, it wasn’t close to being a record, in case you wondered.

The official all-tackle world record for a wels catfish is 297 pounds, 9 ounces caught March 11, 2010 by Attila Zsedely in Italy’s River Po. Reportedly, the biggest ever recorded weighed 317 pounds and stretched 9 feet, 1 inch and came out of the Po Delta in Italy.

Photos courtesy of Mark Steward-Brown.