British Angler Catches Largest Freshwater Fish Ever

By Queuebot in Animals & Pets on Feb 25, 2009 at 7:09 pm

Ian Welch of Aldershot, Hampshire (U.K.), caught the biggest freshwater fish by rod in Thailand, a record 55 stone (770 pound) freshwater ray!

It took 90 minutes to land, 13 men to heave it out of the water… and weighed 55 stone when they finally got it to the scales.

So it’s little wonder that when Ian Welch first hooked the record stingray, it almost pulled him into the river.

Mr Welch, who weighs 111/2 stone, said: ‘It dragged me across the boat and would have pulled me in, had my colleague not grabbed my trousers.’

The angler, from Aldershot, Hampshire, was fishing in Thailand when he landed the ray, which is the biggest freshwater fish to be caught with a rod.

The biologist was helping with a stingray tagging programme on the Maeklong River, when he hooked the fish.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Tags: fish, thailand

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Alex
Feb 25th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Good for him to release it! It would’ve been a shame to kill such a wonderful (and pregnant) specimen.
jmk816
Feb 25th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I’d hate to come across that ray while in the water, but I wonder what they’ll find out about it from the DNA.
angstrom
Feb 25th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
“Mr Welch, who weighs 111/2 stone”

It took me a while to decipher that number. I worked it out as 111/2 = 55.5 stone. Then I realised what was going on.

eleven and a half stone.

OK, carry on.
LisaL
Feb 26th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Glad they released it, but the stress they put on it hauling it out will probably cause it to release its fry premature.
Doesn’t happen all the time, but it does happen w/ livebearing fish when they get too stressed.
Jim R Feliciano
Feb 26th, 2009 at 1:52 am
How old do they think this one was?
Secret Peter
Feb 26th, 2009 at 4:03 am
@angstrom Lol, wouldn’t it be nice if journalists described people with equations once in a while…
“When swinging from the roof, Mr Welch’s velocity at a time, t, is given by v=-8sin(2t+5)…”
Moodindigo
Feb 26th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Wow, my hometown gets a mention on Neatorama. Whod’ve thought it? More information on this jewel in the South East of England’s crown can be found here:

http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=1106
Evilbeagle
Feb 26th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Very cool catch! I never realized they could get so big.
TwoDragons
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I, for one, welcome our new Giant Freshwater Ray Overlords…

OK, SOMEONE had to say it…

–TwoDragons
TwoDragons
Feb 26th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Y’know, I just took a closer look at that thing, and I realized it’s bigger as my son’s twin bunk mattress. Probably as big as my king-size mattress, in fact.

Wow…just…freaking…wow…

–TwoDragons
Doug in Seattle
Feb 27th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Sturgeon are larger, up to 1000 pounds. Check it out.
Fishsiam
Mar 15th, 2009 at 3:38 am
The Fishsiam team in Thailand have now caught 78 different Giant freshwater stingray in a fifteen month period.
Whilst working with Dr.Zeb Hogan and the Megafish project on an official research program with approval from the Dept of Fisheries we have tagged 18 fish.
The fish caught by Ian Welch whilst fishing with the team was the largest example of this species that we have encountered and was a true monster fish.
The results of the trip will be aired later in the year in a show called Monster Fish on National Geographic channel.
kyle
Jan 24th, 2010 at 11:06 pm
my mate afro duck has caught bigger he caught a 95.5 stone gold fish at mount everest

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