Fisherman Catches Record 206 Pound Albino Catfish - East Idaho News
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Fisherman Catches Record 206 Pound Albino Catfish

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ht world record catfish sr 131115 16x9 608?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1384540483919Bernie Campbell/CatMaster Tours(BARCELONA) — A British fisherman caught a record breaking 8 foot-long and 206-pound rare albino wels catfish while fishing on the River Ebro near Barcelona, Spain. Then he let it go.

Bernie Campbell tried for seven years to catch the rare fish, which breaks the previous record by 10 pounds.

“We go out obviously to catch big fish,” Campbell told ABC News. “It’s just one of those things we joked about because they are 1 in 10,000, I would say.”

Campbell, 54, works for CatMaster Tours and is part of a guided fishing tour. The world record was previously held at 196 pounds, caught by CatMaster Tours’ Phil Hilton.

Campbell detailed the strenuous fight he waged one-on-one against the monster.

“It’s like fighting with a boss,” Campbell said. “If you could imagine putting a rope on the back of a car, holding on to the rope and letting someone drive away, that’s what it’s like.”

“It’s power against power,” he continued. “You’re determined to get it in and the catfish is determined you’re not going to, and the best one wins. Fortunately, that was me.”

Campbell had been fishing carp fish for more than 20 years, but had been focusing his attention on catching the larger catfish.

“It’s a great feeling, the adrenaline rush of catching such a thing. But it does put up a fight.”

The catfish was released safely back into the water after Campbell and his group took photos with it.

Although Campbell was pleased with his conquest, he was not fishing for records.

“I’m not in it for that,” he said. “All I was interested in was I got a beautiful fish, I got photos with it and I put it back into the water where it belongs.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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