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.
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.
