IT could so easily have been the one that got away. A story about that giant fish that no one but the guy who almost caught it could vouch for.

Except Tom Herron, 68, did catch it — a mammoth 8ft 1in long and 221lbs rare albino catfish. In doing so he smashed a record his mate John Edwards, 74, set only an hour before when he reeled in an albino catfish that weighed 205lbs.

Cornwall-based Mr Herron told the Daily Star: “It was like dragging two sacks of potatoes through the water, it was unbelievable. I’ve been fishing for 50 years and this was the biggest fight I’ve ever had.”

It was the biggest albino they have ever seen caught on the river. “Apparently they make good eating — but you’d need a lot of chips,” he told the newspaper.

The trip, two hours south of Barcelona, was organised by a British tour firm, whose staff couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

They had never seen a brace of albino catfish, let alone two world records smashed in one day.

A spokesman said: “Albino catfish of that size are very rare indeed. This is the biggest we’ve ever seen.”

The albino catfish gets its unusual appearance as a result of a genetic anomaly that causes the fish to lack pigment and thereby appear white. They are considered trophy fish.