A British man has wrangled what’s considered the largest freshwater fish ever caught anywhere. Ian Welch managed to bring in a 770-pound stingray from the Maeklong River in Thailand.Largest Stingray: Nearly 800 Pounds
The stingray — which was five times Welch’s weight — measured 7 feet long by 7 feet wide. Its stinger alone was 10 feet long. Welch needed the help of a dozen men just to lift the thing out of the water.
“It dragged me across the boat,” Welch, 45, tells The Mirror. “I knew it was going to a big one. As soon as we saw it there was just silence. Everyone was in awe of this thing.”
Welch says it took a full 90 minutes to bring the nearly 800-pound stingray in. He and his team soon learned the giant stingray was actually a pregnant female. They released the massive creature back into the water.
It was certainly an uphill battle when 13 men struggled to capture a massive, giant Stingray in Thailand - but they succeeded!
The giant stingray was caught by not one man, not two - but 13 guys led by fisherman Ian Welch. They caught the creature and threw it into their boat.
But that's not where the story ends - in an interesting turn of events, the massive stingray was later discovered to be pregnant!
Landing this 771lb giant stingray was a true David and Goliath struggle for 154lb Ian Welch.But beaming with pride next to his catch, he clearly felt his 90-minute ordeal was worth it.
The 45-year-old had his runin on the Maeklong River in Thailand while helping to tag the endangered creatures.