A Hienz 57 of Catfish

Fishers in northern Thailand netted this huge catfish in the Mekong River on May 1. Nearly nine feet long (2.7 meters) and as big as a grizzly bear, the behemoth tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 kilograms). Experts say the fish, which belongs to the species known as the Mekong giant catfish, may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.



Want to know more about this endangered species? click the photo below to watch a superb National Geographic Video on the Mekong Catfish...



The Dutch think they have a new European record with this fantastic Cat, its been scaring the local tourists in a centerparcs lake, check out the full story here.

The Video Post - alternative methods for catching fish....

A video post of some strange - but effective fishing techniques! -enjoy







And a little Brazilan magic...



The American Way?

Catfish Conservation Group

Just came across this excellent site from the Catfish Conservation Group.
Ive signed up for their news letter and have been checking out the galleries, some excellent photos of big big cats from Spain, France, Germany and the UK.
Its got some very useful information and an online shop, which I found very difficult to navigate, but I would recommend this site to any budding Cat fisherman.
The catsncarp rating: Well worth a look.

I have just joined these forums, Carp Forum and Fishing Forum

catsncarp launches new online fishing gift store - My Bivvy

Come and have a look round My Bivvy! - our fantastic new Fishing Shop.

We have books from Simon Crowe, Rob Hughes, Tim Paisley and more fishing legends, the latest DVD´s from the top names in the sport like John Wilson, some great computer games and other bits and bobs, that you just cant do without.

Click here to browse around My Bivvy

Its been an incredibly busy week, apart from finishing off My Bivvy I´ve been working on a new Blog, eBay site and online store, all of which are meant to be launching this weekend! - ermm doesn't feel like it will happen as of now, midday Saturday, but who knows.

I am involved with a company called 360factory that produces 360º panoramic photos, we are launching a series of City Tours with panoramic 360 images and still photos combined in an easy to use browser. This product is available free for use on your own web site or blog. Check out the first City tour of Bodo in Norway here. If you are interested in panoramic photography, virtual tours or Quick Time you might want to check out the new blog.

My mate Mark, he´s the one with the huge Catfish, - his first 100lbs+ fish - which he caught during our trip up to the river Ebro, you can read that article here. Mark enjoyed his first catsncarp experience so much that he made an excellent purchase of a full set of carp gear from eBay during the week. I really couldn't believe the prices and some of the gear that was being offered, it was excellent. I was cursing the money I had spent a few years ago upgrading all my kit from new, when I could have spent a fraction of that and got loads more, ok - its used gear, but we all know how well made and durable fishing gear is these days.

We had been chatting on Skype during the process of selecting which of the carp set ups to go for - trying to work out which setup offered him the best balance for the type of fishing he was planning to do and I jokingly said that he would need a bigger car to get it all in.

He stunned me a few days later with a Skype message saying he had just bid and won on eBay, a cracking Volvo V70 - good on you Mark! and welcome to catsncarp world.

I have had a few comments back from my last post on the dreaded Zebra muscle thats infesting the river Ebro, you can read that here. It seems drastic action needs to be taken, but the scientists are stumped. Ill keep you posted on the current state of affairs.

So thats about it, - Ive got to get back to 360 Virtual World as I need to write the advert for eBay, but in a nutshell the 360 Virtual Tour includes 8 x 360º pictures, 12 still images, professional Voice Over running commentary, backed up with text that automatically scrolls as the 2 minute tour progresses.
Our first offering is the Virtual World 360 City Tour of Bodoe in Norway, in addition to the built in features of the tour we offer you the chance to customize your Bodoe tour with your own logo or corporate message, Google adsense adverts, anything you like really. We supply you with a unique LIFETIME URL for the Virtual World 360 Tour and a unique URL for the built in IFrame, which within the space provided you can do whatever you like. (subject to content moderation)
There is no other product like it on the market, attracting traffic to your site and a chance to make your own slice of online income. To celebrate the launch of the first Virtual World 360 Tour we are offering our Bodoe tour at €49 ( not customizable) including a Free upgrade to the commercial Iframe version if you wish to make money from adverts in the bottom navigation bar. (Limited time take up may apply)

Our Virtual Tours provide excellent content for businesses and private individuals, they are well presented, slick and beautiful content rich additions to any web site or blog.
If you are interested in purchasing this tour please check our eBay shop here.

Oh and dont forget to have a look round "My Bivvy" - maybe you´ll find a great Christmas present for that Angler in your life!

Zebras Blogs and bits and bobs

Ive been back from the Ebro for a week now and just about caught up with the work load. Why does it always seem that you are in need of another holiday as soon as you catch up from the first? I suppose it keeps you wanting more, and more holidays are always a good thing.

I wanted to start this post with a thank you to the excellent blog called Carpcast by Will James which Ive been reading over the last few days and would recommend for any Carp Angler. And also to my friend Mike who's just getting started on his blog. We have also just started a joint venture and you can read more about that here.

The other topic I wanted to mention was brought to my attention when traveling and fishing along the river Ebro. The Full story of that trip can be read here.

The Zebra Muscle is coming to a waterway near you....



It seems that this foreign invader has infested the river Ebro and is making devastating inroads up river and more worryingly into inland lakes and water ways.


Zebra muscles are native to the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas of Eastern Europe and probably arrived on the hull of a visiting sailboat. The little blighter's are resilient and can live for up to 2 days out of water, making anglers boats a prime and free transportation method from rivers to inland lakes and waterways.
The Zebra muscle wrecks havoc from both and industrial and environmental point of view. At a Michigan power station they stacked up 700,000 per sq. meter!



Zebra muscles are equally devastating to the ecosystem. They colonize on native muscles, killing them. They eat virtually anything suspended in the water, meaning algae, bacteria, protozoa, phytoplankton and all manner of important little microscopic creatures. This deprives other microscopic organism - dependent species like native muscles, minnows and baby fish.

From a fisherman's perspective its no bed of roses either.

How many times have you picked up a screaming take only to have the line part like cotton with not a whiff of contact? Its like someones played a practical joke on you, and I have actually looked around at moments like that to see if someones having me on.
But of course its just a hazard of fishing close to, or over, muscle beds, and from the sound of those Zebra muscles it could be a far more frequent problem.
I remember a very frustrating session on Salagou in Southern France when I lost fish after fish, I am sure the mussels actually open and closed on the line, as I had a couple of cracking drop backs only to find the line cut clean as a whistle!

At a local level there are plenty of well produced signs at all the popular boat launching sites, explaining to fishermen that they must clean their boat and gear on leaving the water. The signs are in three languages but it seems a bit weak when compared to the Zebras frightening reproduction rate, as the red areas on the map showing the infested regions, seem to be snaking their way inland.

The video highlights the current problems on the Ebro, and remember, this little critter has only just got started, the commentry is in Spanish, but a picture tells a thousand words as they say, click here to watch the video.

From another source - The daily news aptly describes it: The dastardly Zebra muscle And its well worth reading the article if you have an interest in this subject.
Finally a glimmer of hope from Millawokee Journal Sentinel
I have just found this interesting article that might be the solution to the Zebra muscle problem.

The article talks about a scientific experiment where the Zebras were subjected to low frequency electromagnetic waves, which apparently made the muscles die within 40 days.
Another couple of excellent blog post I found, again in Spanish but stressing that the local and regional authorities are not doing nearly enough to fight the problem. If you can read Spanish they are well worth a visit.

So its left me in a bit of a dilemma....

Do I respool all my reels with Krystons Ton up or electrocute the little buggers...

CatsnCarp: Fishing for Catfish and Carp on the river Ebro.

Watch this amazing video of a massive Ebro Cat fish.. it nearly pulls the bloke in a couple of times!