This is one Big Catfish

NP didn't catch this one, but this would be the ultimate for him. This is a wels catfish. The wels catfish is found in wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas.

Size

With a possible total length up to three meters (ten feet) and a maximum weight of over 150 kg (330 lbs) it is the second largest freshwater fish in its region after the sturgeon. However, such extreme lengths are extremely rare and could not be proved during the last century, but there is a somewhat credible report from the 19th century of a wels catfish of this size. Most wels catfish are only about 1.30 to 1.60 meters (4 ft. 3 in. to 5 ft. 3 in.) long; fish longer than 2 meters (6 ft. 6 in.) are normally extremely rare.

Only under exceptionally good living circumstances can the wels catfish reach lengths of more than two meters, as with the record wels catfish of Kiebingen (near Rottenburg, Germany), which was 2.49 m (8 ft. 2 in.) long and weighed 89 kg (196 lb.). This giant was surpassed by some even larger specimens from France, Spain (in the River Ebro), Italy (in the River Po), and Greece, where this fish was released a few decades ago. It grows very well at that location thanks to the mild climate, lack of competition, and good food supply. The current record wels catfish was caught in the Po, a gigantic monster 2.78 m (9 ft. 1½ in.) long and weighing 144 kg (317 lb.). Reports of larger fish have not been verified and are often regarded as typical big fish stories or in some cases misidentifications of the now rare sturgeon