Reeling it in: The 11-year-old schoolgirl needed help from her father Mark to heave the fish out of the water
What a catch: Jessica Wanstall with the 9ft-long, 14 stone catfish she caught during a trip to Spain's River Ebro
Posted on 07/16/2009 6:54:54 AM PDT by rawhide
There should only have been one winner. On the riverbank was Jessica Wanstall, 4ft 10in tall weighing less than six stone (84lb) and something of a tiddler among anglers. In the river was a monster, a near 9ft catfish that hit the scales at a record 13st 8lb (193lb).
But despite its size and whiskery age, the fish was no match for the skills of 11-year-old Jessica who waged a 20-minute battle to land her prize Jessica, from Sittingbourne, Kent, hooked the fish during a trip with her father to the Ebro River in North-East Spain. She said: ‘I didn’t realise just how big it was until I saw the photos afterwards. I look tiny next to it.
‘My dad thought it was going to be a small one and I told him it didn’t feel small when I picked up the rod. It was really hard work pulling it in and my arms turned to jelly.
‘My dad helped lift it on to the bank and I just laughed when I saw it. It was massive.’
Her father Mark, a 49-year-old engineer, helped return the catfish to the river after his daughter’s triumph was photographed.
He said: ‘Jessica normally catches tiddlers but just loves a day’s fishing.
‘As the fish got near we could see how big it was. Then its tail came out of the water and it looked like the Loch Ness Monster. Everybody on the bank was gasping. I’m so proud of her.’
And so he should be.
According to the International Game Fish Association, Jessica has set a world record for a freshwater fish caught by an angler aged 16 and under.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Reeling it in: The 11-year-old schoolgirl needed help from her father Mark to heave the fish out of the water
What a catch: Jessica Wanstall with the 9ft-long, 14 stone catfish she caught during a trip to Spain's River Ebro
you will be green with envy ; )
Correction: weight should have read ‘193 lbs’ in title.
By the end of the day the fish will be well over 250 #. ;>)
PING!
I know a guy who’s into noodling - catching catfish with your barehands in Missouri rivers and streams. I think I’ll send the picture to him.
Very cool! Thanks for the ping!
Great catch girl! I caught a Blue Marlin that weighed 350 pounds and I only weighed about 125. I have a picture somewhere, of me laying over the fish. It almost killed me.
ping
Wow! I caught my largest fish when I was 11 too. Mine was no wheres near that size though. I can’t believe she brought that in without a fighting chair. Good girl!
Noodling is illegal in Missouri.
In case you still check pings.
Ping!
It's been illegal...then legal...then illegal again. My friend's been doing it anyway since he was a kid. And has the nine fingers to prove it.
As a vertically challenged person myself, I say “Well done!”.
I recall that after it was made illigal, there was discussion of having a short noodling season to see what the results would be on the cat population. The Missouri Department of Conservation objected so it went nowhere.
Yes, well the Missouri DNR has their priorities and my friend and his fellow noolers have their’s. I think they’re all crazy myself - wandering around in water, sticking your hands into blind holes in the riverbank, then haning on to whatever you happen to find doesn’t sound like fun to me.
I’ve seen some might big snakes along the Missouri...
Looks like a band of bait dunkers to me (grin)!
It's not the snakes that get ya, it's those monster snapping turtles who like to hang out in the same kind of holes that the catfish like. Hence the nine fingers that my friend sports.
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