The fisherman had a huge success: he caught Hungary’s biggest catfish
It started as a simple survey of the lake bed and fish stocks, and finally the year ended with a huge catch for Zoltán Szarvas, who caught the biggest Hungarian catfish of his life, a 240-centimeter specimen, on his fourth cast. The exact weight of the fish giant could not be determined due to the lack of a suitable measuring device, but according to witnesses, it could have reached 80 kilos.
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The management of the DCM Horgásztó near Váchoz approached Zoltán Szarvas to help map the lake’s bed and fish stock. It was not about fishing, but about an instrumental survey, during which a bed map is created, on which the larger snags are marked and the fish stock is also estimated – read on the Pecaversum page.
As the lucky angler said, it was possible to find catfish. There were few larger specimens during the season, but smaller specimens under 10 kilos were hooked. Due to the intensive fishing of the lake, the survey had to be carried out during an active period, when there are no more fishermen, but the lake has not yet frozen over. In the end, they postponed and avoided windy and rainy days until the last week of December.
In the cold water, we got what we expected, larger parts were empty, but there were a couple of groups of fish of amazing size. I have found pool-like pools with a diameter of more than two meters, which are usually not made by small fish. We found large fish next to two such very large pools
– Zoltán Szarvas summarized the experiences.
The specialist immediately informed Zoltán Lestyán, the management member of the fishing pond, that these were most likely catfish. Finally, at his suggestion, they decided to throw a couple from a boat to see if they could be caught, since the sun was shining for seven days and the weather was spring-like. The result did not have to wait long, the fish was caught on the fourth cast. The beating took about 70 minutes, and according to Zoltán Szarvas, he had never been involved in a more tiring fight. As he said, he had to load the equipment so many times that he almost knew it would hold up. Seeing the size of the catfish, the fishermen decided not to pull the fish into the boat, but instead floated the fish out in the water next to the boat. after that, they released the artificial bait, and then the huge catfish was carefully pulled to the shore.
They finally reached the shore with the catfish in “perfect condition”. It was 240 centimeters, its exact weight – as only measuring devices up to 50 kilos are available – could not be determined, but according to the estimate of the association members and fishermen gathered on the shore, it was around 80 kilos. The fishermen treated the fish so gently that they did not even lift it out of the water. They let it regenerate for a quarter of an hour, then laid it on a mattress just long enough for the photos to be taken, and then released it back into the water.
Cover image: Getty Images