PREVIEW

An amateur angler who went all day without catching anything has landed the UK's biggest ever fish caught by rod in freshwater.

Darren Reitz, 34, said he and three others had to battle for 50 minutes to haul the 143lb catfish out of Chigborough Lake.

The dustman from Rainham in Essex had started his day of fishing at the nature reserve in Maldon, Essex at 8.30am but had failed to catch a single fish.

After more than 12 hours fishing, at around 10.30pm, Mr Reitz said something finally took his bait and an hour after struggling against the monster fish, he was weighing his catch.

The previous record for a catfish was set at 130lb and the British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee (BRFC) has encouraged the record-breaking fisherman to claim his title.

The angler said he was overjoyed by his catch which has been nicknamed Scar.

Mr Reitz, who started fishing in 2017, ignored the advice of his friends and after a long day of disappointment switched his bait and managed to land the giant catch.

But it wasn't all plain sailing.

He told The Telegraph: 'My friends started panicking as it was clearly a big fish and they were telling me how I should pull it out.'

The fish could be the largest ever caught in the UK and Mr Reitz said he was 'over the moon'.

'I can’t stop talking about it, you never think you will catch something like that.' he said.

Paul Tallowin, co-owner of Chigborough Farm & Fisheries, where the fish was caught, said it might not be the biggest in the lakes.

He said: "The catfish put on about 7lbs (3.2kg) a year, so this one would be about 45 years old. I am sure some are a bit bigger. It all depends on what they have to eat.

"This one is the biggest that has been caught at the moment. Well done for getting it out."