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What a catch! Italian fishermen reel in 280-pound catfish

(Facebook/Sportex Italia)
(Facebook/Sportex Italia)

It might be a world record.

On February 19, Italian fishermen (and twin brothers) Dino and Dario Ferrari caught a 280-pound wels catfish, also known as a sheatfish, in Italy’s Po Delta.

Italian media outlets quickly dubbed the creature “the monster of the Po.”

We’re just surprised that the enormous catfish didn’t swallow the fishermen whole.

While the world record for largest wels catfish stands at 308 pounds, Ferrari’s 8-foot-9-inch-long catfish is likely the largest of its kind to be caught with a rod and reel, USA Today reported.

After weighing, measuring and photographing the catfish, the brothers released it back into the Po Delta.

“It’s a silurus glanis [the Latin name for the species],” Dino Ferrari told the Telegraph. “The American catfish doesn’t grow to such large dimensions – at most it can weigh 50kg.”

“They don’t range over very large distances, they tend to live in the same stretch of river, moving just a few kilometres either way. They eat all types of fish,” he added.

“To catch them you need a lot of patience but also physical strength. We fought for 40 minutes to reel it in. We tired it out and then lifted it out of the water.”

(Facebook/Sportex Italia)
(Facebook/Sportex Italia)

Ferrari estimated the wels catfish to be about 30 years old. Because the species can live for up to 50 years, it may not be the last we’ve seen of this massive sea creature.

“Who knows, maybe we will manage to catch it again in a year’s time, and it will be even more gigantic,” Ferrari said.

According to the Daily Mail, the wels catfish can grow up to 13 feet and over 800 pounds. It’s very rare, however, to catch one over 6-and-a-half feet long.

This isn’t the first time the brothers have caught a huge fish.

In 2013, Dino and Dario Ferrari reeled in a 258-pound catfish. Their impressive catch was captured on video.