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Although no one knows how long they have been around here is how
biologist Ian Welch found one. The giant freshwater stingray, weighing
as much as 350kg (772lbs, or about 55 stone), was the size of a garden
shed and so cumbersome that Ian Welch had to enlist the aid of 12 other
people to get it out of the water.Welch, a professional fisherman, biologist
and columnist for the magazine Angler's Mail, was visiting Thailand to
help with a stingray tagging programer when he landed the monster in the
Maeklong river. The 45-year-old said he was nearly pulled over the
side of the boat when the specimen took his bait. He said: "It dragged
me across the boat and would have pulled me in had my colleague not grabbed
my trousers – it was like the whole earth had just moved. I knew it was
going to a big one. "It buried itself on the bottom and the main
fight was trying to get it off the floor. I tried with every ounce of power
but it just would not budge. After half an hour my arms began shaking and
after an hour my legs went. Another 30 minutes went by and then I put a
glove on and physically pulled the line with gritted teeth and somehow
I found the reserves to shift the fish."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/24/stingray-catch-thailand-fishing
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/24/stingray-catch-thailand-fishing
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While this is a great tale of a killer fight with a big fish on
the end. There are many other tales that end in tragety with the
fisherman being dragged in and drown. The are also others where the fisherman
or a onlooker get hit by one of the barbs. This causes sever
pain and possible even death. There are two barbs on these monster so it
doubles chances.
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http://www.underwatertimes.com/news2/giant_stingray.
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J.O.W
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Fishing for giant freshwater Stingray |
