It has been introduced to Western Europe as a prized sport fish and is now found from the United Kingdom east to Kazakhstan and China and south to Greece and Turkey. It is a freshwater fish recognizable by its broad, flat head and wide mouth. Wels catfish can live for at least fifty years. The wels catfish lives in large, warm lakes and deep, slow-flowing rivers. It prefers to remain in sheltered locations such as holes in the riverbed, sunken trees, etc. It consumes its food in the open water or in the deep, where it can be recognized by its large mouth. Wels catfish are kept in fish ponds as food fish. An unusual habitat for the species exists inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone , where a small population lives in abandoned cooling ponds and channels at a close distance to the decommissioned power plant.
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Welcome to Advnture, the new home of AnglersMail. If you want to do battle with some big catfish, this three-lake fishery, nestled in the foot of the South Downs, is a prime choice. There are also big cats in ft-deep, four-acre Heron Lake. Legered mm pellets tempt more catfish than any other bait, but boilies, meat, livebaits caught on site , worms and leeches are all worth a try. Fish a pellet on the deck, pop-up a bunch of worms with a polyball or deploy a dumbbell rig with a livebait for cats patrolling the upper layers. If you adopt a pellet attack, use strong size hooks, a reliable catfish hook link, such as 45 lb QuickSilver or 85 lb Ton Up, and 20 lb main line, though some anglers fish heavier tackle to cope with the hard-fighting cats. If you enjoy hiking, camping and the great outdoors, there's plenty for you on Advnture:. These are not just catfish lakes. There are also carp to over 40 lb, and the fishery is friendly, safe and nicely landscaped, with well-maintained swims. Other facilities include a shower, toilets, kettle, fridge, microwave, takeaways delivered to the car park and knowledgeable bailiffs who are always available for advice.
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These are external links and will open in a new window. A row has erupted over the removal of a "fish of a lifetime" after being caught by an angler at a Norfolk mere. The non-native lb 55kg catfish was "dropped in illegally" at Diss Mere about 10 years ago and was caught on Tuesday. After news of the catch was posted on Facebook , some social media users criticised the decision to remove it. But the Environment Agency said the fish did not belong in the mere and has been taken to an undisclosed site. Ben Wilby, from Diss and District Angling Club, said angler Phil Spinks "unintentionally" caught it while carp fishing, five years after the last known catch. A post on the club's Facebook page congratulating Mr Spinks on catch, which was estimated to be more than 6ft 1. The post has been viewed , times and attracted hundreds of comments on both sides of the argument, forcing the club to defend its action.
There are more than two thousand species of catfish to be found in the world today. The smallest is fully-grown at 20 mm. This fish is the European wels catfish, Silurus glanis, is one of the world's largest freshwater fish and is the largest freshwater fish in Europe. It can be found throughout Europe and into Asia. The wels catfish was first successfully introduced into the UK over years ago by the Duke of Bedford who stocked 70 of them into his now famous lakes at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. We still consider wels catfish as rarities in Britain, although their distribution is increasing every year and there are now catfish waters in nearly every county in England. For a time it was certainly true that the majority of the UK waters were within 50 miles of Woburn Abbey, however there was a big increase in numbers of catfish coming into the UK in the late s when fish farmers and dealers starting importing cats from mainland Europe with the vast majority of those coming from Croatia. Since then as fisheries have matured and stocks have been managed this had led to a steady if not huge availability of catfish to those looking to increase existing stocks or introduce cats into their waters for the first time. There are now over licenced waters in the UK and possibly as many as unlicensed you should never be too far away from a water containing wels catfish. The wels catfish is originally from the eastern countries in Europe and until recently thought to originate no further west than Germany.
