Catfish are breeding in UK rivers - is this good or bad for angling?
A JUVENILE catfish has been caught from the River Trent and, while it won’t break any records, it could have a huge bearing on the future of Britain’s waterways.
Far larger specimens have been reported from rivers, including the Thames, in recent years, and they’ve always been regarded as one-off, fluke catches. But this ‘kitten’ suggests that the species may have started to breed in our running water venues. This development has sparked debate over whether the predatory species should be left to flourish as a viable angling target, or eradicated on the grounds of it being an unwanted alien invader.
Calum Fox, who banked the tiny cat, explained how his catch unfolded:
“At first I thought it was an eel, but when it surfaced and I got a better look I realised that it was very different from anything I’d normally catch,” he said.
“It came from a spot where anglers have had their tackle smashed by unseen monsters, believed to be large catfish or sturgeon. Perhaps those beasts were this fish’s mum and dad!”
Calum Fox with a baby catfish caught from the River Trent
So, is it possible for Wels catfish to breed in the UK’s relatively cool waters? Dr Paul Garner, an expert on all things fishy, sees no reason why not.
“I can’t think of any substantiated reports of people seeing them spawning, but I’d say there is no reason why they shouldn’t have spawned in the river,” said Paul.
“If you look at the range of Wels catfish, you’ll see that they breed in waters much colder than ours. Someone needs to spend a bit of time on the Trent next summer with proper fishing gear and do a bit of clonking!” he added.
A larger Trent catfish caught in 2018
While it seems there’s little doubt, therefore, that the catfish caught by Calum was born in the River Trent, the question remains whether the species will be a welcome addition to our river system, or an unwanted non-native pest that will upset the ecological balance of our waters.
Opinion among our readers appears divided. Some, like Alex Fanshawe, relish the prospect of targeting these hard-fighting monsters. Alex said:
“A river catfish from the UK is the pinnacle of all domestic angling dreams as far as I am concerned.
“They have been breeding in our river systems for decades, and represent no threat to our native aquatic life if you’re willing to take a holistic view. Nature has found a balance, as it always will.”
Others were fearful of the impact the species might have, with Italian angler Andrea Penso warning of the impact Wels catfish have had on fisheries in his home country.
“Cats are part of the reason our rivers are now messed up, compared to several decades ago,” he said.
“They’re everywhere and have had a huge impact on our native fish species. But since everyone seems to enjoy a lengthy tug of war with an ugly fish, nothing will be done to eradicate them. I just hope that England’s outstanding chub and barbel fisheries will not be affected by their proliferation.”
These sentiments were echoed by Simon Clarke, a passionate catfish angler who is also managing director of tackle firm of anglers regularly doing battle with huge catfish from UK rivers remains a long way off at present.
“While I love catfish, in my opinion they shouldn’t be in our waters because they’re simply not native. Until global warming has a significant and sustained impact on our water temperatures, they won’t be a fish we’ll regularly see.
“Our population of Wels catfish is at the northernmost latitude in Europe, other than a few in Sweden. As a result, our summers are shorter and cooler than those in southern countries, which leads to lower water temperatures and poor breeding success for catfish.
“We know they’ve been in the Trent for up to 30 years and in the Thames for possibly 70 years. If they haven’t established themselves in that time frame, I think we’ve got a fair old wait yet before they breed successfully and really settle.”
Until they do, Simon revealed that the burgeoning catfish population in UK rivers could actually help to eradicate a non-native species considered to be a scourge of angling.
“Crayfish make up a large portion of their diet, so they could actually help to tackle the UK’s population of American Signal crayfish, which are a truly threatening, invasive species,” he said.
Another shot of Calum Fox’s Trent catfish that got people talking
Prebaiting produces shock park lake catfish - Leigh Flood
“I spent a week prebaiting a swim on my local park lake ready for a night session after I’d finished work on the Friday.
“I put a rod out before setting up my bivvy, and cast a bright-yellow pop-up on to a little gravel spot just an underarm flick from the bank. Fifteen minutes later my clutch went into total meltdown – I could even hear it over the bite alarm!
“I was targeting carp, but it became clear that I was playing something in a different league altogether. Whatever I was attached to stripped 50 yards of line within seconds of me setting the hook.
“After half-an-hour of playing it the fish became lodged in a weedbed, but just as my mate arrived I finally started to gain some line.
“This giant ball of weed came slowly towards me and I feared I’d lost the fish, but then we saw this giant black shape behind it. My mate slipped the net under the weed and in among it was this monster catfish. We just looked at each other in disbelief!
“That’s why I love fishing – you never know what you’ll catch next.”
Leigh Flood with his shock 85lb park lake catfish
“This giant catfish took me on a tour of the lake” - Robert Ayers
“My mates and I went carp fishing at Newdigate Farm Fisheries in Dorking, Surrey, but I ended up catching my first-ever catfish weighing 94lb!
“We arrived at 9.30am but the action was really slow, and I only managed to catch a bream. In mid-afternoon I changed my rig and cast out a 15mm pop-up boilie, and within half-an-hour I caught a 15lb common. I put the same set-up on to my second rod.
“A little while later I was having a laugh with my mates, saying how I wouldn’t mind catching a catfish. Not long after that my second rod screamed off!
“The fight that followed was something I’ve never experienced before as the fish took me on a tour of the lake. I got it to within a couple of rodlengths of the bank, at which point we saw it was a cat! It took off again and wiped out another angler’s lines!
“I’ve no idea how long the fight was, but my mate recorded a six-minute video of us just trying to get it into our net. Luckily the fishery owner was on hand to help. When he confirmed that it was a new lake record I couldn’t believe it. Not bad for my first cat!”
Robert Ayers and his 94lb catfish
SHOCK 100lb-plus catfish banked from park lake
PARK lakes can often hold many surprises, but none can be bigger than this giant 122lb catfish landed by Phil Spinks from Diss Mere in Norfolk.
The huge catfish was caught whilst testing carp tackle for a product video
The monster fish, one of the biggest ever catfish landed in the UK, was caught during an Angling Direct product shoot by Phil and cameraman Chris Ansell. Taking well over an hour to tame on the carp tackle it was hooked on.
Originally setting out to catch the venue’s carp, Phil tackled up with 10ft 3lb test curve rods and Shimano entry level bait-runners loaded with 12lb line, which was tested to the max when around midday the enormous fish struck…
“The fight was incredible. Every time we brought it closer, it would shoot back out across the lake,” Phil tells us.
“We had to keep swapping the rod between us to keep our breath, the whole time with a large audience gathering to see just what we had hooked.”
Fortunately, realising what Phil was attached to, the owner of Diss Angling Centre was soon on hand to provide the correct equipment to deal with such a large creature.
“If we hadn’t had the catfish unhooking kit brought down, we would have just had to unhook the fish in the net. We had nothing to deal with something of this size,” Phil said.
The giant fish was stocked into the lake illegally
Stocked illegally, the impressive fish was not returned to the lake but rehomed at a specialist catfish fishery by the Environment Agency.
A representative from Diss and District Angling Club told us:
“The fish was introduced to the lake without the club’s knowledge a few years back. Once we became aware it was in there, we were under strict instructions from the EA that should it be caught they must be contacted, as we have no licence for the species.”
Monster 100lb-plus catfish strikes whilst packing up
Peter Walker had the session of a lifetime recently when he banked a 130lb-plus brace of fish during a 48-hour session at Oakwood Lakes near Thetford.
Topping Peter’s catch was an enormous 103lb catfish that put him through an intense battle just as he was packing up his kit.
Earlier the same day Peter had caught a PB carp of 32lb, so was already on cloud nine when the beast struck.
He told Angling Times:
“The session got off to a quiet start, but out of nowhere I managed to hook a pb carp of 32lb on the second day.
“I would have left a happy man, but the trip was about to get even better.
“On the first day I had positioned a double piece of mackerel next to a reedbed and just left it.
“While I was packing away something picked up the bait and went screaming across the lake!
“I could tell it would beat my old catfish PB of 68lb and after a gruelling fight I finally landed this beast – all 103lb of it!”
Peter Walker and his giant 103lb catfish
Squid hookbait snatched by super strong catfish! - Rui Pedro
“WHILE waiting for the new river season to start I thought I’d have a go at catching a big catfish. Tuscany Lake at Beaver Fishery in Surrey holds lots of them, so I booked myself on and started on a snowman rig.
“On the first night I had a 28lb cat and numerous dropped runs so I switched to a float set-up for day two.
“Baiting a spot near the bank with 20mm halibut pellets, chunks of mackerel and cubes of meat, I suspended a whole squid hookbait set 6ft deep over the top.
At 5pm my float buried and over the next 20 minutes I enjoyed the craziest and strongest fight I’ve ever had from a fish!
When she finally went into the net my arm was aching like mad, but I was buzzing with my new PB and my first-ever 50lb fish!”
Catfish have massive heads
My first ever 50lb-plus fish!
100lb-plus monster landed on just a size 10 hook!
A pair of carp anglers endured the battle of their lives this week, when during a session at their local water they hooked into a true monster of the deeps – an 106lb wels catfish.
Kyle Colledge and Joe North put a joint effort to bank the new Mill Pools lake record fish at the second time of asking, struggling to fit the exceptionally long specimen over the net.
Twenty-two-year-old Kyle told Angling Times:
“I knew it wasn’t a carp pretty much instantly and the near hour-long fight almost tore my arm off.
“It’s the fish of a lifetime, I have never seen anything that big – it bottomed out our scales with ease.”
Incredibly the enormous fish took just a tiny piece of black foam presented on a size 10 hook, tied to 10lb line, which was fished zig rig style.