Potential New World Record Wels Catfish from Italy

A monster of a wels catfish(Silurus glanis) was landed in Italy earlier this month by MADCAT Pro Staff Alessandro Biancardi with a record-breaking 285cm (112.2in-9.35ft) catfish. The giant Wels was caught in the River Po while Mr. Biancardi was solo on a johnboat chasing after these monsters. The new catch beats the previous IGFA world length record by 4 cm and is the culmination of 23 years of hard work for Mr. Biancardi.

Alessandro was fishing alone in a small johnboat that day starting off with a crankbait but soon switching to a big swimbait, Savage Gear Cannibal Shad on a 12/0 (40 gram) jig head. After a couple of spots and casts searching for a strike, it finally came. A powerful strike from a fish that just held in place for some time before deciding to take Mr. Biancardi for the fight of his life. Even with the strong current, tons of submerged obstacles, and the fish itself, Mr. Biancardi stayed calm and fought the giant wels catfish. He followed it up and down the river for 40 minutes alone in the small boat before finally seeing it on the surface. Finally laying eyes on the fish gave him a jolt of adrenaline, realizing that this was the one he had been chasing for 23 years.

Even with most of the fight on rod and reel over with the fish, Mr. Biancardi’s work was not done. He had to still land the giant, after trying to glove the fish in the mouth a few times. He realized that the fish was still too strong so he would have to go to shallow water and beach it. After a few attempts, he finally succeeded and landed his record catch, the largest catfish he had ever seen. Though even with the fish tied off to recover in the shallows, his struggles weren’t over. In the rush of landing the fish he had forgotten to anchor the boat and it was drifting away in the current. So after a quick swim to recover the boat, Mr. Biancardi called his friend Marco to get everyone from Wels Camp AM Po to come down.

With the fish carefully on a mat to protect it more than ten witnesses saw the tape measure stop at 285 cm. The new IGFA world-length record for catch and release. While they were curious as to what the fish might weigh, Mr. Biancardi was too concerned the stress might be too much for the fish and choose to release the giant.

I was very curious about the weight but I feared to stress too much that rare specimen so I decided to safely release it, hoping it could give another angler the same joy he gave to me.”

Congratulations to Andressi Biancardi on his monster record catch and his sportsmanship. I wish him many more in the future.

Eugene L.

Writer for AllOutdoor.com and OutdoorHub.com A lifelong angler that chases after anything with fins, I also am firearms enthusiast and try my best when it comes to hunting. Instagram - mrfish49