A British boy caught a 152lb catfish while on holiday in Spain, breaking the European record for the largest freshwater fish caught by a child.
Joshua Davenport (11) was fishing with his parents when the giant catfish swallowed his bait.
Despite having his rod bent twice, the boy struggled for 25 minutes to reel in the colossal catch.
It took three adults to lift it onto a weighing conveyor and tip the scales at a whopping 152 pounds. The 10-foot tall specimen dwarfs Joshua, who is 6 feet tall.
He has now broken the record for the largest freshwater fish caught by a boy in Europe. The giant catfish also surpassed Joshua’s previous personal record catch by more than 110 pounds.
Joshua Davenport caught a 152 pound catfish while vacationing in Spain (pictured with his record catch above)
The large catfish is more than 3 meters long and dwarfs Joshua, who is only 1.80 meters long
Joshua, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, caught the fish during a recent trip to Spain’s River Ebro with dad Pete and mum Lorna, who are also keen fishermen (pictured: the family with another big catfish, Joshua, caught on vacation).
Joshua inherited his parents Lorna and Pete’s passion for fishing (Pete and Joshua above with big fish they caught together)
Joshua, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, caught the fish on a recent trip to Spain’s River Ebro with dad Pete and mum Lorna, who are also keen fishermen.
His mother (42) said: “Vengel is everything to Josh. He got his first fishing rod at age four and caught his first catfish at age six, which weighed 22 pounds.
“It went from there. He caught thousands of fish. He likes catfish because they are so big. We were in Spain for a week and he caught the big one, his last fish of the trip.
“It was about 11:30 am. and Josh swam next to us with his cousin. If you catch a big fish there is a whistle and Pete and I heard it and ran.
“Josh got the stick and fought the catfish. The post was bent and it was clear that it was a large post.
“His dream is to catch one over 100 pounds, so there was no way he was going to let it go. He did it brilliantly and took about 25 minutes.
“When he saw it, he just couldn’t believe the size. It took three adults and Josh to lift him.”
After taking photos with the mighty fish, it was safely returned to the river.
Joshua’s catch of 152 pounds is greater than the combined weight of his mother’s and father’s personal best catches, which are 72 pounds and 68 pounds respectively.
In 2009, Jessica Wanstall, 11, from Sittingbourne, Kent, caught a catfish weighing almost 200 pounds from the River Ebro.
Biggest fish caught by the British
There have been a number of British record catches over the years.
Earlier this year, 27-year-old fisherman Ria Bignell broke the record for the largest carp caught by a female in the UK after she caught a whopping 63lb 11oz at Waterside Fishery in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.
Their monster carp weighed just four pounds under the record for the largest carp ever caught in Britain, which was 68 pounds and 1 ounce.
British fisherman Ditch Ballard, 37, landed a monstrous 222-pound catfish that dragged his boat nearly a mile after an epic, hour-long battle in freezing temperatures in March.
He was carp fishing on the banks of the Ebro in Spain – where Joshua also made his record catch – when the eight-foot-long animal grabbed the bait and hung on the hook.
Ria Bignell (pictured), 27, broke the record for the largest carp caught by a female in Britain with a fish weighing 23kg 11oz
Ditch Ballard (pictured), 37, was fishing in Spain when he caught the huge catfish which dragged him down the river
He climbed into his 10-foot aluminum boat and summoned all his strength to catch the fish in “the biggest fight of his fishing career”.
The fisherman then placed his 16 stone catch on a tarpaulin where it was weighed and measured before the healthy fish was released back into the water.
One of the world’s largest goldfish was caught last year by fisherman Andy Hackett (42) in Champagne, France.
He caught the giant orange monster, aptly nicknamed “The Root”. It weighed a whopping 67 pounds and 4 ounces. The fish is a hybrid species of a leather carp and a koi carp, which is traditionally orange.
The carrot is believed to be more than 20 years old and was planted as a young plant in a lake in a fishery in France run by Briton Jason Cowler.
It was 30 pounds heavier than what is believed to be the world’s largest goldfish, which Jason Fugate caught in Minnesota, USA in 2019.
Another monstrous catfish was caught by 36-year-old Briton Dean McEwan, who managed to catch a 30 stone monster in Thailand.
Fisherman Andy Hackett holds ‘The Carrot’, a huge fish weighing a whopping 20kg that he caught in Champagne, France.
Dean McEwan (centre), a 36-year-old oil rig engineer from Renfrewshire, Scotland, was amazed when he caught the monstrous Mekong catfish during a fishing trip at Palm Tree Lagoon Fishery
The oil rig engineer from Scotland said he was amazed when he caught the giant Mekong catfish during a fishing trip at Palm Tree Lagoon Fishery in southern Thailand.
The powerful monster gave Dean the “fight of his life” and it took him an hour and a half to land it. Three men then had to help hoist it into a large net so that the catch could be measured.
In 2019, another British fisherman, John Harvey (42), got lucky in the same lake in Thailand when he caught the world’s largest carp weighing a whopping 232 pounds.
He landed the giant Siamese carp after an 80-minute reflexive fight to catch it in a lake in Thailand. He said he couldn’t believe his eyes when the monster broke the surface of the water.
John Harvey (centre), 42, landed the giant Siamese carp after an 80-minute reflexive struggle to catch it in a lake in Thailand. Left: lagoon guide Nanwam, right: fellow fisherman Dan Hastings
It tipped the scales at 16.5 stone (105kg). The colossal carp had to be weighed using a scale on a sturdy stainless steel tripod.
In 2017, Welsh fisherman Andrew Alsop, 48, caught a whopping 7ft long tuna weighing a record 500lbs.
The sea charter captain struggled with the fish before pulling it on board with the help of five crew members 45 miles off the coast of West Wales in the Celtic Lowlands of the Irish Sea.
The whopping 36st (504lb) bluefin tuna weighs three times as much as Mr. Alsop and is believed to be the largest fish ever caught in Wales.
In the epic battle, the giant fish dragged his boat over two and a half miles after it got stuck.
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Elizabeth Cabrera is an author and journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest news and trends, Elizabeth is dedicated to delivering informative and engaging articles that keep readers informed on the latest developments.
