Shatterford Fishery has produced its biggest catfish of 2009, and almost certainly the biggest ever from the day ticket venue.

The fish, which bottomed out 65lb scales, was landed on Masters peg 15 by Craig Botfield from West Bromwich, using a small piece of luncheon meat.

Both he and witness Duane Wallbank, Birmingham were convinced the monster would easily have touched the 70lb mark if the scales had coped. If it did, it would have beaten the fishery record of 66lb held by Stuart Hart since May 2008.

Craig said: “As I’m currently unemployed, this was my one and only session at Shatterford this year, but it certainly paid off. I’ve had two cats (the other weighed in at 30lb 11oz) and five good sized carp including a 22lb 13oz common and a 22lb 10oz Mirror.”
It took Craig over an hour to land his big cat, the fish finally giving up at 7.45pm.

His second cat was hooked at 4am and landed at 4.30am again using meat. Both cats were caught near the margins.