A lifelong angler has finally hooked a monster catfish on his 42nd birthday.
Karol Vapno landed the beast during a trip to celebrate his turn around the sun.
The wels catfish was over 6ft long and weighed so much it broke his scales.
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But Karol, who has been fishing since childhood, has estimated it weighed over 135Ibs, or nearly 10 stone.
The current confirmed British record for the species is 147Ibs.
Karol, from Cardiff, made the catch at St John’s Lake, Linear Fisheries, in Oxfordshire, as reported by What’s The Jam.
“It was a battle royal to land it,” he said.
“It took around 40 minutes.
“I found myself fighting something which felt huge.
“After 40 minutes of pure torture I finally lifted this huge catfish and we all went quiet.
“At that moment I was knackered but buzzing.
“I just stood there for 20 minutes looking with disbelief at this fish in the shallow water.
“We tried to weigh the fish but unfortunately our scales went around the dial twice.
“We didn’t measure it either as we didn’t want to keep it out of water for long.
“But I figured it was over two-metres-long and weighed over 135lbs, possibly more.
“When we released it she swam back to deep water.
“I was on cloud nine and celebration beers were opened.
“This was a milestone of my angling career and possibly the biggest fish I will catch in my life.”
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