Giant catfish fished from Tarn
Two huge specimens have been hauled out of the river in the south-west over the last month
TWO giant catfish have been fished out of the Tarn river in the south-west this month.
A fisherman from Toulouse has just caught an 80kg specimen, 2.31m long, at Lisle-sur-Tarn (north-east of Toulouse) – following a similar feat at the start of the month, when a tourist from Nancy caught one that was 2.24m and 76kg at nearby Lagrave.
The giant catch makes a new record for a catfish fished from the river (which runs from the Cévennes to the south of the Massif Central, to join the Garonne, north-west of Toulouse).
The Toulouse fisherman, Cyril Roux, told La Dépêche du Midi: “As soon as we arrived we quickly realised it was a good day – there was a bit of current and we saw a few catfish rising to the surface – it was clear they were hungry.”
Just before he made his catch a friend broke a line with a 40kg breaking weight. He caught his fish using a 100kg braided line, with a bream as bait.
“I had to battle for nearly a quarter of an hour because the fish had taken up a good 100m of line, but it became exhausted and I took another half an hour to get it out onto the shore because of its weight and the current.”
He threw it back afterwards. “The flesh isn’t good when they’re that big – too fatty – and if you take it out of its territory another one will soon take its place.”
The fisherman who caught the Lagrave fish, Johnny Ferrière, also threw it back, though there are views on both sides as to whether this is right.
Some say the fish is not native and eats too many other fish species, disturbing the ecosystem.
However the president of the Tarn fishing federation, Stéphane Cabanes, said it had been present in their waters for 50 years and was now a part of the local wildlife. “What’s certain is it’s a fish that gets people very heated up,” he said. “But it’s made a place for itself in the Tarn, even if it has perhaps pushed some other species elsewhere.”
He added they were “a wrongly unloved fish” and there was no need to call for exterminating them.
Photo [shows a fish similar to those caught in the Tarn]:ThundermanVic2006
