It was the kind of fish anglers spend years hunting, the kind that ends up mounted on trophy room walls.
“The strength of the fish was unbelievable”, recalled Darren Reitz, 34, the amateur angler who caught the creature. “It felt like someone had run my arm over.”
Weighing 143lb, the giant catfish was pulled from Chigborough Lakes Nature Reserve in Essex on Friday night.
Reitz, right, needed help from Danny Pearson to catch the fish
Believed to be one of the largest of its kind ever caught in Britain, the battle to catch the fish lasted 50 minutes and involved four men.
It is thought to be both the biggest catfish caught in Britain and the biggest of any fish caught on a rod in freshwater.
Reitz, who started fishing in 2017, took up the hobby
