7/5/2005: Largest fresh water fish ever caught
 

http://cellar.org/2005/largestfish.jpg

No more ones that got away stories because this one didn't get away. The offricial cap:

A 646.2-pound (293 kg) Mekong giant catfish, netted in Thailand, may be the largest freshwater fish ever found. The fish was documented as part of a World Wildlife Fund-National Geographic project to identify and study and conserve freshwater fish around the world that exceed 6 feet in length and 200 pounds in weight.

I guess they didn't conserve this one though?

Anyway, good eatin.

Remember that catfish that got a ball stuck in his mouth and he couldn't dive so the nice man got it out for him?

This isn't that catfish.

I read that the fishermen who caught it were talked into letting it go by the WWF guys, and then it drowned. :greenface

I just watched Jaws over the weekend ...

"We're going to need a bigger beer keg."

Things I can't help but wonder:
if they ate it, how did it taste?
how did they catch it?
what was in his stomach?

One thing I do know:
This is ONE HELLUVA FISH!

For something that big, it would have to also be older than the hills. Just think of how many toxins/heavy metals it would have had time to concentrate. I wouldn't eat it. I wonder if anyone over there is into stuffing and mounting fish? Surely it would be worth way more to them as a tourist attraction or to sell to a collector.

*pfffftt!* you call that a fish? i grew up on the mississippi river and this one time i was fishing and...

I took a closer look at this pic and y'all might be interested in what I found. You make your own decision.

How in the world did it grow so big???

That's truly humongous...

This one was caught in MS. river a few weeks ago.
http://www.timpruitt.net/

I had a friend in the taxidermy business who said most fish mounts are actually reproductions these days. Particularly catfish, whose skin does not lend itself to being stretched over a form.

This fish is now living at the giant Cabela's, just a couple of miles west of my office. I intend to go ogle it soon.

That was the plan, anyway. According to the link, the fish died in transport.

Tim Pruitt! i went to high school with him. seriously.

I'm not a big fan of the catfish... so i can't imagine how gross it would taste at that size when it is gross at normal size.