AN ANGLER reeled in a massive 9ft catfish after a gruelling 50-minute battle.
Jakub Vagner, 43, hauled in the epic catch just south of Prague, in the Czech Republic – setting a new national record.
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Celebrity angler Jakub Vagner set a Czech record with a 9ft catfishCredit: Newsflash
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The Fish Warrior host let the giant catfish swim free again after posing for photosCredit: Newsflash
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The encounter took place at the Vranov Reservoir just south of PragueCredit: Newsflash
The celebrity angler was drifting past a rocky overhang in the Vranov Reservoir, on August 4, when he spotted the giant fish gliding below in the early morning light.
He cast his custom-made rod towards it and waited.
“Ten minutes passed and nothing happened. Suddenly, it turned and went straight into my trap,” Jakub said.
What followed was “the hardest battle I have ever had with a catfish in the Czech Republic”, he continued.
The fish put up such a fight that Jakub had to call in a friend to help him hold onto the rod.
“After almost 50 minutes, it was lying half-tired next to my boat. I was shaking, completely done,” the angler said.
He released the record-breaking fish back into the water after posing with it for photographs.
Jakub explained: “At 2.68 metres (8.8ft) in length, it’s four centimetres (1.6in) longer than the one I caught last year.
“This is one of the biggest catfish I’ve ever seen in Europe.”
Pictures show the Fish Warrior TV host, aired on the National Geographic Channel, standing in the shallows with the enormous catfish.
Angler catches rare Atlantic Salmon while fishing on a river in London
The 8.8ft whopper was “not only long, but also brutally tall and broad… a beautiful, almost flawless fish with the potential to grow even bigger”, Jakub said.
He added that catching big fish is all about “morale, dedication and determination” – and stressed he never kills his catches, releasing them so they can keep growing.
It comes after another angler landed a monster 20-stone catfish in Italy following a 45-minute fight to reel it in.
Dramatic images show Benjamin Grunder, 37, wrestling with the catch of a lifetime on the banks of the River Po.
At first, he thought his hook had snagged a submerged tree, but the sheer weight revealed it was a huge fish.
The German angler finally hauled in the 8ft 8in Wels catfish – the largest freshwater species in Europe – estimating its weight at 20 stone.
That fish was also released back into the water safe and sound.
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Jakub Vagner with his record-breaking catchCredit: Newsflash
HIS leg twitching as he described to me his savage crimes, violent paedophile Rafael Josef admitted a nine-year-old girl was “terrified” when he raped her.
Then, he calmly revealed that after being released from prison for that act of barbarism, he’d bludgeoned and forced himself on an older woman who later died.
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Murderer and rapist Pavel Tomam, sex attacker and killer Rafael Josef, serial rapist Karel Havlovec and paedophile Ledek Jirak in a cell in the Havlickuv Brod psychiatric clinicCredit: Lee Thompson
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Rafael Josef admitted a nine-year-old girl was ‘terrified’ when he raped herCredit: Lee Thompson
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Rapist and murderer Pavel Tomam volunteered to be castrated at the secure psychiatric unitCredit: Lee Thompson
It was utterly stomach-churning to listen to this depraved monster, who was seemingly beyond redemption.
Yet, Josef’s doctor was convinced he wouldn’t reoffend when he walked free from the secure psychiatric unit where he was being held in the Czech Republic.
That’s because the former labourer – like dozens of the central European nation’s most dangerous sex offenders – had been castrated.
In a 30-minute operation, he had part of his testicles removed to repress his paedophilic urges.
Josef had even volunteered for the operation himself – and advised offenders in Britain to undergo the same process.
Speaking through a translator, he told me: “I wish I had been castrated years ago and would advise other repeat violent sex offenders to have the operation.
“It was painful but afterwards I felt calmer, more balanced. I was able to think more about my life and how sorry I am for my crimes.”
Despite the self-confessed violent paedophile choosing to undergo the op, human rights advocates have labelled the procedure “degrading” for the prisoner.
Never mind the rights of the nine-year-old who was raped or future victims that an uncastrated Josef might have later attacked.
Expect a similar outcry from liberal lobbying groups as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood ponders mandatory castration for the most serious sex offenders in Britain.
Government exploring mandatory chemical castration for sex offenders
A chemical – rather than physical – castration method will be used here. Some will undoubtedly believe that the worst of the worst deserve to go under the knife.
Making the procedure compulsory would be deeply controversial with the British medical profession, where consent is a long-standing principle of treatment with any procedure.
But chemical castration is mandatory for some men in several US states, including California.
‘Dangerous deviants’
Locked inside the Havlickuv Brod psychiatric clinic, 60 miles south-east of Prague, I was met with the beady-eyed glare of other paedophiles and rapists who had also volunteered to be castrated.
The Czech Republic is the only country in Europe to surgically castrate sex offenders. Dr Zelmira Herrova had overseen around 40 operations at the time of my 2009 visit.
The medic revealed: “Surgical castration is only carried out on dangerous deviants who have to request it themselves.
“They find castration a relief. The rate of re-offending among my patients is zero.”
Yet when the Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visited the Czech Republic last year, it called for an end to physical castration.
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Dr Zelmira Herrova had overseen around 40 operations at the time of The Sun’s visit and said she had seen a re-offending rate of zeroCredit: Lee Thompson
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Sun reporter Oliver Harvey, right, was left sickened by stories of the group’s horrendous crimesCredit: Lee Thompson
Its report said: “The number of approved applications for surgical castration continues to be relatively low, in comparison with the number of interventions actually carried out some two decades ago.
“However, that in itself cannot remove the Committee’s fundamental objection to surgical castration, which could easily be considered as amounting to degrading treatment.
“The CPT once again urges the Czech authorities to put a definitive end to surgical castration as a means of treatment of sex offenders.”
For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the threat sex offenders pose, considering the solutions too difficult or unpalatable
Government source
In Britain, a voluntary chemical castration pilot scheme in the South West will be expanded to 20 prisons in England and Wales ahead of a planned roll-out nationwide.
Drugs are used to inhibit the action of the sex hormone testosterone, which aims to lower sex drive.
Studies have shown using drugs to dull sex urges can slash offending by up to 60 per cent.
A government source said: “For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the threat sex offenders pose, considering the solutions too difficult or unpalatable.
“Shabana isn’t squeamish about doing what it takes to protect the public.
“As always, she will grab this problem by the proverbials.”
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Havlickuv Brod psychiatric clinic, 60 miles south east of PragueCredit: Lee Thompson
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is looking at plans to make chemical castration mandatoryCredit: PA
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Studies have shown using drugs to dull sex urges can slash offending by up to 60 per cent
