Species › Europe, UK & Ireland · Freshwater › Wels Catfish

Freshwater

Wels Catfish

Silurus glanis · wels, European catfish, sheatfish

Water temp
68–81°F
Peak season
May–Sep
Best light
Night
IGFA record
297 lb 9 oz (134.97 kg)
Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis Rio Ebro Spain 1.jpg)

Photo: Joe Pell at Flickr · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

OverviewWhere & WhenHow to CatchGearRegulationsRecordsForecastCatches

Overview

Wels are scaleless, slab-headed catfish with six barbels, tiny eyes and a long anal fin running to the tail, native to Central and Eastern Europe and introduced west into Spain, Italy and France, where they now grow largest. They hold in deep, slow water by day and roam shallow flats, dam faces and weir pools at night, eating fish, crayfish, frogs and even birds. Fish over 8 ft (2.4 m) have been documented. Anglers travel to the Po, Ebro and Rhône specifically for the chance at a 100 lb-plus (45 kg) fish.

Typical size20–60 lb (9–27 kg); 3–5 ft
Trophy150 lb+ on the Po, Ebro and Rhône; 200 lb+ is exceptional
Table fareFair — small fish are edible; big fish are released

Where & when

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D

Wels feed hardest once water passes 60°F (16°C), with May–June pre-spawn and warm late-summer nights the peak; they slow dramatically below 50°F (10°C).

River Po, ItalyWorld-record water; biggest wels on the planetRiver Ebro, SpainMequinenza/Caspe reservoirs; most accessible big-cat fisheryRiver Rhône, FranceLower Rhône and Saône hold huge numbers of 100 lb-plus fish

How to catch

Buoy and boat-dropped baitRow or boat a whole bait, bunch of worms or pellet cluster out to a deep channel edge and suspend it a few feet off bottom beneath a buoy or sunken float, tethered to a bankside rod with 150 lb braid. Fish from dusk through the night on a bait-runner or heavy clutch.
Clonking and vertical fishingFrom a drifting boat, strike the surface with a clonk (a wooden sound-maker) to draw wels up from the bottom, then present a bait or large soft plastic on a short heavy rig beneath the boat. Watch the sounder and drop the bait to the depth fish rise to.

Gear

Rod9–10' 5–8 lb test-curve catfish rod, or 6' heavy boat rod
ReelLarge bait-runner spinning or 30–50 lb-class multiplier
Line100–150 lb braid; 150–250 lb braided or mono leader

Lures

oversized soft-plastic shads (6–10 in)big vertical jigslarge spinnerbaits

Baits

whole live or dead fish (where legal)halibut pelletssquidworm bunchesleeches

Regulations

Licenses and often guided-boat permits are required on the main rivers; Spain's Ebro and Italy's Po treat wels as non-native and may prohibit returning them, while France and Germany protect them with minimum sizes. Rules differ by region, so check locally.

Records

IGFA all-tackle world record: 297 lb 9 oz (134.97 kg) — River Po, Italy, 2010 (Attila Zsedely). State and regional records are kept by each fish & wildlife agency.

Frequently asked

How big do wels catfish get?

Confirmed fish exceed 9 ft (2.7 m) and 300 lb (136 kg), with the IGFA all-tackle record just under 300 lb from Italy's River Po. In most of their native Eastern European range a 50 lb (23 kg) wels is a very good fish; the introduced populations in Italy, Spain and France grow far larger thanks to warm water and abundant forage.

Bite forecast — Wels Catfish

Recent catches

Posted by anglers on the live map, filtered to Wels Catfish.

Pin: