Some answers here
Even though the biggest wels catfish ever caught in the Po Delta was reportedly 308 pounds and 9.1 feet long, Sportex Italia points out that no one knows how that fish was caught. Ferrari’s fish is one of the biggest wels catfish actually recorded in recent history. It is certainly the largest wels catfish caught in the Po region with just a reel, a rod, and simple bait.
The 280-pound catfish caught by Italian fisherman Ferrari was lured with artificial bait on the surface. According to Ferrari, he only used a reel and a Torpedo spinning rod made by an Italian manufacturer, and the fight with the enormous fish from his boat took about 40 minutes. After Ferrari and his brother Dario weighed the monstrous creature, they released it back into the Po Delta. As another Italian fisherman points out, “any one of us, of course, hopes that these catches do not remain isolated but that these dinosaurs of the river can go back to swim many more days in our waterways.”..
