A professional Italian angler reeled in an enormous, almost record-breaking big catfish last Thursday near his native country's Po River.

Dino Ferrari somehow managed to use his rod and reel to catch the nearly 280-pound fish, which may be a record for that method, according to News.com.au. The wels catfish came in at 8.75 feet long.

Surprisingly, this is not the biggest catfish caught on record. In the same river, a wels catfish weighing in at 317 pounds and slightly more than 9 feet long was once captured.

Catfish are known to inhabit every continent but Antartica and can grow up to as big as 880 pounds and 13 feet long. However, a catfish of those proportions has not been recorded in centuries.

Check out photos of Ferrari and the massive catfish he reeled in below.