Gerard Smyth nearly got more than he bargained for when a giant catfish he hooked while fishing from a float-tube dragged him nearly a mile down river and at one point came close to pulling him under the water. The “scary moments” occurred during a 1 1/2-hour battle that ended with Smyth landing the massive catfish weighing a whopping 169 pounds.
Smyth and his “Team Monster” fishing crew believe it is a world record for the biggest catfish ever caught while float-tube fishing. It very well could be, but no category exists for float-tubes with the International Game Fish Association, the keeper of fishing world records.
Smyth, 32, a fisherman from Roslea, Ireland, was fishing the lower stretches of the famous Ebro River in Spain recently with guides Dee Mason and Johnny Kerr of Monster Tours following him in a boat. He explained his catch in detail via an email to GrindTV Outdoor on Tuesday.
Smyth was on a mission to catch a giant catfish from a float-tube. He was bouncing a dead Vietnamese swamp eel on the river bottom for bait when the fish hit like a “steam train.”
“I didn’t realize just how hard it would fight,” he said. “Quite a few scary moments throughout, [particularly] when the float-tube was getting dragged under like a [fishing bobber] with only my head and shoulders above water level. I finally got the strength to use one arm and loosen the [drag on the reel] a tad as instructed. Keep reading on….