Man Catches 9-Foot-Long Catfish, Likely Breaking World Record

A man fishing on Italy's Po River late last month spent 40 minutes battling a giant catfish that stretched 9 feet 3 inches across, a length likely to break the world record.

Alessandro Biancardi, who has been an avid fisher for over two decades, chose not to weigh the fish because he feared it would become too stressed and die. Instead, he quickly measured its length and returned it to the water.

The angler chronicled his adventure in a blog post for Madcat, a European fishing equipment supplier that supports his angling team.

"I calmly managed to fight what I felt to be a prehistoric fish," Biancardi wrote. "When it surfaced for the first time, I really realized that I hooked a monster, adrenaline started pumping hard, and the fear of losing it almost sent me into a panic."

He said he attempted to "glove" it with his hands two or three times. But it was too strong, so he instead carried it toward shallow water, where he could eventually get the fish up onto land.

"I was alone facing the biggest catfish [I'd] ever seen in 23 years," he added.

Biancardi claims there were 10 people who witnessed his measurements. He plans to send evidence to the International Game Fish Association to be considered for the catch-and-release length record. If approved, it will beat out the current record-holder by 1.57 inches, per Insider.

The world's heaviest catfish was caught in Thailand's Mekong River and weighed 646 pounds, according to Tackle Village.

Biancardi said that by returning the fish back into Italy's longest river, he'd be able to give someone else the chance to catch the behemoth at some point in the future. "I decided to safely release it, hoping it could give another angler the same joy he gave to me," he wrote.