Real Giant Monsters

One thing that makes the latest Po River catch unique is that it was done with a spinning reel, said Valla, who called it a record for such fishing tackle. It took Ferrari 40 minutes to bring in the fish, then bring it to shore, his sponsor said.

The fish was released.

The anglers hooked the huge catfish on the River Po in Italy, but when the creature from the deep took their bait it started to ‘run’ with it.

The men leapt from the bank into a motorised dinghy, but were powerless to act as the Wels catfish pulled them along for an hour.

After it was caught the fish weighed in at a mighty 218lbs and measured 7ft 8ins.

Source: The Sun

Yes, it’s The Sun so we can’t reproduce the picture. But, no, this is not a hoax. No joke – this thing is a MONSTER. But not the biggest. The world record Wels catfish was caught in the same river in 2010 by Roberto Godi and weighed in at 250lbs 3ozs. That pic we can show.

And also this pair. Impressive.

Don’t you think this can easily be mistaken for a mystery monster? They even eat birds and are assumed responsible for some lake attacks where birds just disappeared, eaten by something below.

Tales of man-eating wels catfish date back as far as the 15th century, but 2008 saw a spate of attacks in Lake Schlachtensee outside of Berlin. Many believe the attacker to be a 5-foot wels catfish. These fish have been caught in Russia with human remains in their stomachs, but most experts suspect the victims were already drowned before being swallowed. Still, the wels catfish can exhibit aggressive behavior during its mating season, making it plausible that this monster fish could be responsible for attacks against humans that venture into its territory.