World record catch in the Tarn

A keen angler has set a new world record after landing a catfish that was 2.74m long while fishing in the Tarn river.

Jean-Christophe Conéjéro's monster catch beat the previous mark - also set in France - by just one centimetre. In 2015, a 2.73m specimen, weighing in at 130kg was caught near Vauvert in the Gard.

Experienced angler Mr Conéjéro described his catch as 'a stroke of luck' and 'the fish of a lifetime'.

Fishing expert Matthieu Ravari said that while the catch was unusually large, big catfish of up to 2.5m were quite often landed in the Tarn. He added that southwest France was becoming an increasingly popular destination for anglers for that very reason.