Angler Sees Tug on Line, Battles 222-Pound Monster Catfish That Drags Him Half-Mile Downriver

(Courtesy of Ditch Ballard)

In the biggest catch of his life, angler Ditch Ballard caught a humongous monster of a catfish in a Spanish river, weighing a staggering 222 pounds. The 8.2-foot (2.5-meter) long catfish—almost the length of a small car—dragged the British fishing enthusiast’s boat almost a mile downriver as he fought to hold onto it.

Ballard, who runs angling holiday company Ebro Mad Cats in southern Catalonia was out carp fishing one icy night in the dead of winter when he detected a bend in his rod. In a Facebook post describing his jaw-dropping experience, Ballard set the scene:

“With an air temp of minus 3 the wind chill actually made it feel unbearable on that January night. I was carp fishing, but the bend in the little 10-foot rod suggested I was likely attached to a catfish!”

Ditch Ballard with the 222-pound catfish (Courtesy of Ditch Ballard)

The forceful pull on the fishing line was so strong that the expert angler untied his boat and took off along the River Ebro, in pursuit of what he knew must be a simply enormous creature. Such was Ballard’s excited haste, he didn’t even pause to grab his hat or shoes from the bivvy (boat shelter). Given the freezing temperatures, this was a “big mistake,” he said.

The next hour was excruciating, Ballard said, because once the initial adrenaline rush subsided and his muscles fatigued, his body temperature began to crash.

“I found myself crouched in the bottom of the boat trying to hold on whilst shivering uncontrollably,” he told his followers, going on to describe his panic when he thought his line might snap, then his relief at seeing he’d caught up with his prize. The night was dark, and Ballard realized just how far he’d been dragged downstream.

(Courtesy of Ditch Ballard)

After struggling to put on his frozen gloves, the fisherman began to haul in his catch.

“I needed this battle to be over one way or another, so I just pulled with all I had left in me,” he said. “Each time the fish ran I nearly lost a digit, as by this time my hands were so cold they weren’t really doing what my brain was telling them.”

If the line had snapped at this point, Ballard would undoubtedly have been sent flying into the ice-cold water, but finally, at long last, the whopping, 8-foot-long river monster surfaced, and Ballard succeeded in getting his hand on its huge jaw.

“I was physically and mentally exhausted but had to give one last push to secure my prize,” Ballard said in the post, which was accompanied by a photo of him smiling with his astonishing catch.

(Courtesy of Ditch Ballard)

“It was the biggest battle of my fishing career, yet I wouldn’t wish it on anyone!” he said in good humor.

The post garnered thousands of likes and comments, with some users wondering what then became of the enormous fish after he’d been weighed and photographed. Happily, according to reports including that of Outdoor Life, Ballard then released the catfish back into the water, unharmed.

The 222-pound catfish may have been a monster, but it isn’t the largest wels catfish ever tackled. That record goes to angler Attila Zsedely, who reeled in a specimen weighing just over 297 pounds (almost 135 kilograms) from Italy’s River Po in 2010.

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