Pussy galore! Brit angler reels in document 9ft 9ins catfish weighing 258lb after gruelling 30-minute battle in Spanish river

A British holidaymaker has hauled in what is believed to be the largest catfish ever caught, measuring a staggering 9ft 9ins and weighing 258lb. 

Josh Garrity, 30, was fishing with friends in Mequinenza, Spain, when he felt a sudden, violent pull on his line late on Thursday evening. 

The sheer force of the fish almost dragged him into the Segre delta river. 

Garrity, a digger driver from Glasson, Cumbria, was on a five-day angling trip with four friends from Carlisle.

The group had to work together to haul the massive European Wells catfish in, using a makeshift slide to bring it safely to the riverbank around 9:30pm. 

Speaking about the 30-minute gruelling battle to catch the monster, Garrity said: ‘It was crazy, I could hardly breathe.

‘At first I couldn’t tell what I had on the line. It nearly took us all in. We were just holding on, we nearly all went in, I just screamed. This is the catch of a lifetime, I can hardly believe it.’

The men were on a guided trip with Monster Catfishing Tours, which is run by Peter Irwin, 44. 

Josh Garrity with his massive catch. He was fishing with friends in Mequinenza, Spain, when he felt a sudden, violent pull on his line

Joshua and his friend holding up the massive monster. The group had to work together to haul the massive catch in, using a makeshift slide to bring it safely to the riverbank

He said: ‘This is the record catch for this river, which is home to some of the biggest European Wells catfish.’

In 2023, Italian fisherman Alessandro Biancardi was believed to have smashed the world record by catching a 9.35ft monster. 

Last week, two fishermen in Poland caught a massive catfish measuring nine and a half feet.

The enormous fish was pulled from the Rybnik Reservoir, a body of water located near a power plant in Poland’s southern Silesia province, on October 19.  

Last month, three anglers in South Moravia caught an albino specimen thought to be over 8.2 ft long and weighing more than 100 kilograms. 

In August, Czech TV fisherman Jakub Vagner reeled in a catfish measuring over 8.7ft. Two weeks later, he beat his own record with an 8.9ft catch. 

Catfish are found throughout Europe. Specific locations where there are significant numbers include the River Ebro in Spain and the Volga River in Russia. 

In the United Kingdom, they have been introduced to many rivers and freshwater lakes. 

In June, angler Shaun Ing said he had caught the largest catfish in the country’s history in a lake in Essex. 

It measured more than 8ft and weighed in at 68kg.