Largest recorded catfish in UK caught in Maldon, says angler

An angler said he was “absolutely broken” after landing what he hopes will be confirmed as the largest ever recorded catfish in the UK.

Shaun Ing caught the 150lb (68kg) specimen at Chigborough Fisheries near Maldon, Essex, at the end of September 2024.

He told the BBC that it took an hour-and-a-half of “absolute madness” to reel the fish in.

The catch is still awaiting official verification from the British Record Fish Committee but if ratified it would beat the current best – a different catfish from the same lake last May which spun the needle round to 143lb (64.4kg).

Mr Ing was fishing with his wife, Chloe, and several friends when the fish took his bright yellow hookbait.

The 34-year-old said the catfish – which measured more than 8ft (2.4m) long – was incredibly powerful.

“There was no stopping it – it was stripping line like you wouldn’t believe,” he said.

“I used to have a German shepherd – it was like walking 12 of them at once.”

Mr Ing, from Langdon Hills, said his friends were unable to help until he could bring the catfish closer to the bankside.

“Even an hour into the fight, the fish was still taking line and we were all wondering ‘when is this going to end?’,” he said.

“They were looking at their watches thinking ‘are we still going to be here in the morning doing this?”

Eventually the group was able to lift the catfish out of the water with the aid of a couple of weigh slings and a body bag, which they had left over from a Halloween event.

The fish was so heavy that it bent the hook on the weighing scales.

When it was last caught 10 years ago it weighed around 20lbs (9.1kg) less.

“It’s the catfish that everyone’s been losing for a long, long time,” he added.

Mr Ing – who has been fishing since he was a young child – said the catch was “a great accolade” for Chigborough Fisheries, where he and his wife volunteer.

“It’s all about Chigborough for me because it’s given me and Chloe so much in the past five, six years.”

A spokesperson for the British Record (Rod-Caught) Fish Committee said that it “has received a record claim in respect of Shaun Ing’s fish”.

“The claim has not yet been ratified, but will be considered in due course,” the spokesperson added.

The catfish – which Mr Ing said was returned to the water regularly during the weighing process – has now been released into a specialist catfish lake at the fishery.