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Now that is one huge fish! Schoolgirl angler nets record catch (twice her size) that's 9ft long and weighs 14stone

By Daily Mail Reporter

15th July 2009

Schoolgirl angler Jessica Wanstall netted a record when she hooked this monster fish that was more than twice the size of her.

Petite Jessica was nearly dragged into the water when the catfish, weighing nearly 200lbs, took her bait.

The plucky youngster spent 20 minutes fighting the beast and needed a helping hand from her father Mark to heave it out of the water.


What a catch: Jessica Wanstall pictured with a 9ft long, 14 stone catfish which she caught during a trip to Spain's River Ebro

At nearly 9ft long and weighing 13.7 stones, the impressive specimen dwarfed 11-year-old Jessica, who stands at 4ft 10ins and weighs 5.7 stones.

She is now broken the record for the biggest freshwater fish caught by a child in Europe.

Jessica, from Sittingbourne, Kent, hooked the fish during a trip to Spain's River Ebro.

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 onto the bank and I stood back and just laughed when I saw it. It was massive.'


Reeling it in: The schoolgirl, aged 11, needed help from her father Mark to heave the fish out of the water

The mutant fish tipped the scales at an impressive 193lbs.

Jessica is normally used to catching 'tiddlers' and it was 13 times bigger than her previous record of a 15lbs carp fish.

It was 150lbs bigger than her 13-year-old brother Spencer's best catch and 10lbs greater than her dad's best effort in 40 years of fishing.

Mark, a 49-year-old engineer, said: 'Jessica normally catches tiddlers but just loves a day's fishing.

'I have been to the River Ebro before but I took Jessica this time as a present.

'We were fishing for carp bit we obviously knew there were catfish in the river as well.

'Then she got a bite on her rod and she was off, going towards the water so I grabbed hold of her.

'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 in the bank was gasping.

'I'm so proud of her.'

Mark, Jessica and family friend Gary Peet landed 51 catfish during their trip, but Jessica's was by far the biggest.

Their fishing guide Bodo Kunkel, who runs Bavarian Guildng Services on the River Ebro, said: 'It was a large fish, much bigger than Jessica.

'She couldn't close her mouth afterwards, she was, how do you say, over the moon.

'She is the only child to have caught a freshwater fish that big in Spain and probably Europe.'

Ear

Bongme

imagine how many fish fingers we could have outa that

Jeez, did they use Jessica as the bait?

i'd like to see bruce parry pull that out using his fingers as bait!

I've caught bigger mackerel

Very nice Wels,as soon as I saw the fish I guessed the Ebro,funnily enough I was looking online yesterday at properties along that particular river,its the european mecca for cat-anglers.

Look above the dam at Caspe fpr property, great little town and chocka block with cats some touching 200lb now. Go with Martin from Catfish Capers, he always gets us on the fish.

WB

Now thats a proper pussy......gorgeous aint they..

fantastico no
gen

They grow them big here !!!!

"The mutant fish tipped the scales at an impressive 193lbs."

Mutant?

Forgive him,he attended the same school of Journalism as the guys who write about killer-skunk and indoor marijuana plantations

What a fish

Can you eat them and what kind of fish would you compare them to taste wise?

Likes a spot of fishing myself nice pastime....

Cats are bottom feeders,I would imagine a fish that size would taste like mud soaked cotton wool

I was just wondering....
Tuna can be big and tastes ok
Click to view attachment

Tuna is different mate,pure muscle saltwater predator,I was at one of the worlds premier tuna ports earlier this year,got a friend who manages a cannery,I always fantasise about canning weed there and shipping it back to europe,but he is a straight as a die family man

Can the weed, ur mate dont need to know, you can can with a canning machine, easy tek, u can can if you wanna can can...

p

very, very impressive - only 20 mins as well!

only catch i've seen which was more impressive is John Wilsons daughter catching a 200lb+ skate on one of his programmes - properly showed him up!

as for eating them I dont know what a large Wels tastes like but i've caught and bbq'd dozens of small cats in France on the bank and the fillets are excellent eating - imagine the size of fillet you'd get off that tho

Thats amazing it took me 25 mins to bring in a 25lb Mirror carp, but I was using 4lb line with a size 8 sweetcorn hook on a very light spinning rod, but fair play to this lucky lady.