by Amy Hatch Jul 16th 2009 7:00PM
Jessica Wanstall, 11, may have set a world record recently when she caught a 194-pound catfish during a fishing trip with her father in Spain, no easy feat for a petite girl who is just 4-feet-10-inches tall.
Jessica and her dad, Mark, 49, traveled to the Ebro River in Spain from their home in Sittingbourne, Kent, England, where Jessica often goes fishing. All that practice came in handy while she struggled for 20 minutes to reel in her prize.
"'My dad thought it was going to be a small one and I told him it didn't feel small when I picked up the rod. It was really hard work pulling it in and my arms turned to jelly," says Jessica, adding that she didn't know exactly how big the catfish was until she saw herself next to it on the riverbank. "I look tiny next to it," she says.
Dad was pretty shocked, too, and compared the beast to the Loch Ness Monster. Jessica's catch turned quite a few heads: "Everybody on the bank was gasping. I'm so proud of her," he told the Daily Mail.
The International Game Fish Association has yet to verify the record.
"If it turns out to be legitimate, that's a heck of a catch," says Jason Schratwieser, IGFA spokesperson, in an exclusive interview with ParentDish. Schratwieser, whose department manages the world records, says he has not yet seen any application for this particular catch, but if it turns out that any adult helped her reel it in, "that would nullify any record."
"I hear hoaxes all the time, with a picture that was Photoshopped," says Schratwieser. "We don't know until an application comes in and is reviewed through a very vigorous process. Just because you catch a heavy fish, doesn't mean its a record."
A girl weighing less than 100 pounds outwits a grizzled old catfish more than twice her size? Something about this whale tale smells a little fishy. Did little Jessica have some help hooking her giant fish? Only she and her dad -- and the catfish, of course -- know the "reel" truth.
Photo Caption
Jessica Wanstall, an 11-year-old girl standing 4'10", caught a record-size catfish. Photo: BNPS Pictures
World Record Catfish 
