Big Fish Story or The One That Got Away?
Posted by: John Kirk on March 7th, 2006
George Josef was one the best stunt men in the business. He was based out of West Vancouver in British Columbia and you have seen him in plenty of movies and TV series where he has doubled for a ton of celebrities.
George passed away from liver cancer in January last year and a few months before he died he told me about an extraordinary turn of events that he had been party to when he was filming for a TV series in his native Romania in 1969.
The program was about pirates and some of the scenes for this series were shot on the River Danube rather than on the Black Sea. One afternoon when filming was in recess, George noticed a lot of activity taking place on the river close to the film site. He strolled over to enquire what was going on and to his amazement he was told that the locals were preparing a set of traps with which they hoped to snare a giant catfish that was responsible for the death of a six year old boy. George did not elaborate to me whether the boy had been eaten by the fish, but from the way he told me of his experience, I was led to believe that the catfish had some direct role in the boy’s demise.
The river-dwellers had also armed themselves with a variety of hunting rifles as they were adamant that the fish was not going to inflict itself upon any other unsuspecting children. George wondered to himself how big this catfish could be for it to have a direct contribution to the demise of a child. He left the locals to set their traps and returned to the set of his film.
The next day filming was brought to a complete standstill when the sound of sustained gunfire and explosions erupted from the site where the traps had been set for the killer fish. George and the crew ceased filming and headed over to see what was causing the shooting. As they reached the bank of the Danube where the traps were set, George and the crew could see a huge fishlike form thrashing in the water close to shore. Villagers were pumping lead into the fish with gusto and throwing sticks of dynamite into the river.
By George’s estimate this was the biggest catfish on record anywhere in the world. He estimated its overall length to be about 18 feet (5.53 metres) and its girth to be very thick even though he could not see it all because part of it was underwater. The fish was killed by the gunfire and just when it was to be dragged back to shore, George and the crew were summoned back by the irate director and the party commissar to finish the scene they had been shooting. He did not get to see the cryptid again.
The largest catfish in Europe and the world, for that matter, is the wels (Siluris glanis) the largest of which when caught was ascertained to be 11 feet 4 inches (3.48 metres). George’s catfish was even longer than this by about a metre. Without a corroboration from the people who dragged the carcass ashore, any efforts to have this specimen appear in the record books is a non-starter, I’m afraid. However, in view of the impeachable character of George Josef, I feel it appropriate that this sighting be recorded for posterity in the annals of Cryptomundo.
No fish anywhere has ever reached the size of the whopper George saw that day in Romania. Being the man of integrity he was, I know George would never tell me a “fish story” and if this is what he said he sighted, I have no hesitation in saying I believe he was being absolutely honest in recounting his sighting of a freshwater phenomenon to me.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
WoW ! I seen many a big catfish and heard about a few as well but nothing like that. I remember when I was about 17 back in Ohio, fishing at the Greenup Dam on the Ohio River. Of course being a teenager we were fishing on the deep side of the dam where your not supposed to be. I had my feet in the water and was just casting out when something brushed my foot, I thought it was a log so I positioned myself and put my foot on it to move it away. Instead of moving away it pushed back and surfaced. I have never moved so fast in my life. Its head was as big around as a barrel. Dont know how long it was but you can bet we never swam or fished there again. I’ll bet there are some big ones on the Mississippi and near the Hoover damn as well.
I don’t doubt it. I know that in Va, the state record catfish are caught in the Occocuan res. and can reach up to 75 lbs (which is a small fry compared to the Romanian). Also, I believe that it was in Huck Finn where Jim figures to bait a hook with a whole chicken in order to catch a catfish as big as a man. Mark Twain threw that out there as a “fish story” based on local legends.
I think these darn things grow until they die and the bigger the body of water- the bigger they can get.
Just a feeling
Thanks to John for recounting this story about the giant catfish on my homemade Crypto DVD. There are of course other species besides the wels that can grow to immense sizes, such as Pangasianodon gigas or the giant Mekong catfish of Asia and also Brachyplatystoma filamentosum of South America. Both species are rumored to reach weights of over six hundred pounds. What I am curious about is whether there are any specimens remaining in North American waters that approach Mark Twain’s.
Well, the giant Snapper Turtles have to eat something…
I had a very large catfish nicknamed “Whiskers” by the locals swim under the john-boat me and two other coworkers were in at Lake Monroe in Indiana. Flathead Catfish, perhaps 150 lb. or heavier. Let’s just say it was a record breaker at least for the state and longer than five feet in length.
My father was in Europe at that time in the service, and he heard of a giant catfish that had consumed a small child while he was there. He never mentioned where the event occured, but it was told to him as fact. I remember him telling me when I was around eight years old. I did not want to go fishing for quite a while afterwards.
Yes catfish can get very big. I’ve heard that in the Arkansas River, divers have seen catfish big enough to eat a man. This may seem a little morbid but bodies are dumped into the river and found all the time. Many of them are never found. Maybe this explains where the missing went.
In Cincinnati, there are numerous local legends about giant catfish haunting the bottom of the Ohio River. The euphemism you hear most often is “catfish the size of a Volkswagen.” What with all the nasty stuff in Ohio River water, it would not surprise me if there really were some big ugly mutants down there.
S
I’ve heard of Giant Armored ones in the Amazon. There is scientific proof for one the size of a man, though actually there’s only a little more than there is for Ole’ Foot.
Many years ago a barge hit the Belpre, Ohio/Parkersburg, WV Bridge, so divers had to go down and check for damages etc – possible even bodies – that I don’t remember for sure. However, a good friend of mine was asked to dive, and when he came up he said that he would never go in the Ohio River again – there were fish as big as he… he wasn’t no little man, and others said the same. Rather they are bigger, the same size… who knows, but I bet they can be DANGEROUS!