Record catfish caught in Lake Constance
A hobby fisherman from Austria has landed an 83kg wels catfish at the mouth of the Rhine, the Federal Fishing Office has confirmed.
The fish, which is 2.40 metres long, featured on the front page of the St Galler Tagblatt paper and it apparently took the fisherman a good hour to haul it into his boat.
Fredi Fehr, a fish warden in St Gallen for more than 30 years, said he had never heard of such a catch.
Silurus glanis, also known as a sheatfish, is a large catfish found in wide areas of central, southern and eastern Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas. It is a scaleless fresh and brackish water fish recognisable by its broad, flat head and wide mouth.
Wels catfish, which can live for at least 30 years, are not dangerous to humans.
The successful fisherman, who comes from Vorarlberg in western Austria, said the fish had yielded 22kg of filet.
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