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The tiddler who caught a monster: Schoolgirl angler nets record catch that's twice her size and weighs 14stone


By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:21 AM on 16th July 2009

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There should only have been one winner. On the riverbank was Jessica Wanstall, 4ft 10in tall weighing less than six stone (84lb) and something of a tiddler among anglers.
In the river was a monster, a near 9ft catfish that hit the scales at a record 13st 8lb (193lb).

But despite its size and whiskery age, the fish was no match for the skills of 11-year-old Jessica who waged a 20-minute battle to land her prize.

What a catch: Jessica Wanstall with the 9ft-long, 14 stone catfish she caught during a trip to Spain's River Ebro

Jessica, from Sittingbourne, Kent, hooked the fish during a trip with her father to the Ebro River in North-East Spain. She said: ‘I didn’t realise just how big it was until I saw the photos afterwards. I look tiny next to it.

‘My dad thought it was going to be a small one and I told him it didn’t feel small when I picked up the rod. It was really hard work pulling it in and my arms turned to jelly.

‘My dad helped lift it on to the bank and I just laughed when I saw it. It was massive.’

Her father Mark, a 49-year-old engineer, helped return the catfish to the river after his daughter’s triumph was photographed.

He said: ‘Jessica normally catches tiddlers but just loves a day’s fishing.

Reeling it in: The 11-year-old schoolgirl needed help from her father Mark to heave the fish out of the water

‘As the fish got near we could see how big it was. Then its tail came out of the water and it looked like the Loch Ness Monster. Everybody on the bank was gasping. I’m so proud of her.’

And so he should be.

According to the International Game Fish Association, Jessica has set a world record for a freshwater fish caught by an angler aged 16 and under.

‘Her catfish easily outweighs the previous record - a 120lb Nile perch caught at Murchison Fall, Uganda, in July 2000,' a spokesman said.

Read more: Now that is one huge fish! Schoolgirl angler nets record catch (twice her size) that's 9ft long and weighs 14stone | Mail Online

[katfish]

Not quite twice her size, but my grandaughter caught a 52 pound flathead
when she weighed 37 pounds. I'm not too sure how many stones either weighed



At first she refused to let me help and I was mighty worried I might lose
a grandaughter and a rod and reel. When she finally discovered she could
not move the fish with one hand she allowed me to hold the rod while
she reeled with both hands.