Forget catch of the day. This fish may be the catch of the century.

An Italian fisherman may have set a world record last week when he bagged a 127-kilogram catfish using a fishing rod and a reel.

The behemoth was a wels catfish 2.67 metres in length, which is a few centimetres and a few pounds shy of the largest wels catfish ever caught on record.

Italian angler Dino Ferrari landed the monster fish in Italy’s Po Delta, the same river where the record-setting wels catfish was caught a few years ago.

Ferrari’s sponsor, Sportex Italia, says the fish is a world record for rod and reel fishing.

Ferrari, who is an experienced catfish fisherman, reportedly hooked the whale-sized fish from his boat and hauled it in after a 40-minute battle.

He took several photos with the beast, including one to show the fish was capable of swallowing a human. Fortunately for Ferrari, wels catfish only eat bugs, fish, rodents and ducks.

The fish might have been large enough to feed a family for a week, but Ferrari chose to release it back into the water.

Wels catfish can live for 30 years, so Ferrari’s monster may have more growing ahead of it.