A group of anglers got more than they bargained for when they unexpectedly came face-to-face with a huge 17 stone “monster” catfish.

Andy McCabe, from Carlisle and six friends from the city travelled to Spain on a fishing trip looking to conquer the river Ebro Mequinenza’s renowned collection of catfish.

Despite being experienced fishers Andy, from Harraby, and the rest of his group did not expect to come across a catfish this big and be able to successfully catch it.

Peter Irwin, 35, is originally from Harraby, Carlisle and now runs Monster Catfishing Tours near Zaragoza in Spain. He was leading Andy’s group at the time he made the huge catch.

He said: “All in good spirits they caught plenty of catfish up and over 100lb and some lovely carp including very rare linear carp.

“On their fourth night Andrew didn’t know what was in store for him. At about 10pm Andrew felt something on his rod and as he struggled to keep hold of the rod I could tell by his face that he was in for the fight of his life.

“He fought this fish, which nobody had seen yet, as it tore off the fishing line metre after metre. So I told him to get in the boat with me, we had no other choice.”

What followed was a 40-minute duel between the Andrew, the rest of the team and the defiant catfish.

“I put on the gloves and looked over the boat, as by now it was pitch black dark. My head light shone through the water. I saw what I knew was a very big Wells Catfish.

“I said to Andy this is over 200lb. I grabbed the fish and attempted to pull it into the boat, its head was huge.

“Andy put down his rod and helped me pull a huge catfish and we laughed at the sheer size of this fish.”

He continued: “What an achievement. We took it to the side where our camp was to weigh it. We couldn’t believe what we saw on the scales – 238lb. It’s the fish of so many people’s dreams, what else can I say.”

Peter said it’s the biggest one he’s seen over a long career fishing.

Andy, 55, added: “It was terribly hard work, I nearly give up because it was nearly pulling me over.

“I let everybody have a go first and they all said ‘there’ll be nothing left’ [to catch]. I said ‘I’m waiting for the big one’ jokingly... and that definitely was the big one.”

Following the attempt the catfish was returned to the waters in the same condition it was caught in.