SITTINGBOURNE, Kent -- There should only have been one winner. On the riverbank was Jessica Wanstall, 4foot, 10 inches tall weighing less than 84 pounds and something of a tiddler among anglers.

In the river was a monster, a nearly 9 foot catfish that hit the scales at a record 193 pounds.

But despite its size and whiskery age, the fish was no match for the skills of 11-year-old Jessica who waged a 20-minute battle to land her prize.

Jessica, from Sittingbourne, Kent, hooked the fish during a trip with her father to the Ebro River in North-East Spain. She said: ‘I didn’t realise just how big it was until I saw the photos afterwards. I look tiny next to it. My dad thought it was going to be a small one and I told him it didn’t feel small when I picked up the rod. It was really hard work pulling it in and my arms turned to jelly.

"My dad helped lift it on to the bank and I just laughed when I saw it. It was massive," she added. 

Her father Mark, a 49-year-old engineer, helped return the catfish to the river after his daughter’s triumph was photographed.

‘As the fish got near we could see how big it was. Then its tail came out of the water and it looked like the Loch Ness Monster. Everybody on the bank was gasping. I’m so proud of her.’

According to the International Game Fish Association, Jessica has set a world record for a freshwater fish caught by an angler aged 16 and under.

"Her catfish easily outweighs the previous record - a 120-pound Nile perch caught at Murchison Fall, Uganda, in July 2000," a spokesman said.

To read the complete story in the Daily Mail, click here.