A 78.00kg monster tapah (wallago leeri) on lure in Pahang river, Malaysia

A 78.00kg monster tapah (wallago leeri) was caught recently on lure in the Pahang river, Malaysia. It supposedly measured 2meters and weighed 78kg. In quotes from the newspaper article Zulfiki Abidin 36 said it took him 2 hours to land the fish. “I had to conserve my energy as the fish  was very strong. It felt like pulling a buffalo.” The article says Zulfiki  had heard of giant tapah (Malay language) but never expected to catch one.  He admitted that he was initially scared when he remembered when  he remembered a rural legend that the predatory catfish could grow into a monster and eat animals and humans. “But I told myself that I must catch this fish as it is a sought after species”The fisherman said he went to the river at 07:30 and as usual used his fibreglass boat to catch fish using a rod and an artificial lure. “Around 09:30, the big fish suddenly bit the lure and dived. To ensure that my boat did not capsize, I had to ‘play’ with the fish, allowing it to drag my boat before  pulling back the line several times”. The fish was not released and instead sold for 1,000 Malaysian Ringits (Approx 9,750 Thai baht).

Original article written by Hamzah Jamaludin for Nation Newspaper.