History Main / TheCatfish

** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'', the fishing is streamlined a little better and the Guardian has been renamed the River Guardian. However, now you can go a beach area and fish for the ''Sea Guardian'', a much bigger and harder fish to catch.

** The first game has Magu Tapah and Thanatos, giant great white sharks; the Ancient Mother, a giant ''whale''; and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Golden Catfish]].
** The sequel has three stranger examples, [[spoiler:the [[StockNessMonster Sea Serpent]], ''Anomalocaris'' and ''Cameroceras'']], all of which you can't directly interact with and agree to never speak of again.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_catfish.jpg]]

* In ''Film/{{Radiofreccia}}'' the protagonist and his gang go on a nighttime wels catfish fishing session to see if the fish exists.

* In ''Literature/ACanticleForLeibowitz'', the giant catfish Bo'dollos is rumoured to haunt a lake formed over a crater once occupied by a village and an intercontinental launching pad with "several fascinating subterranean storage tanks", until an excavation led by a monk known as the Venerable Boedullus went... less than ideally. The lake has apparently very good fishing, but the local shepherds avoid it due to their belief that the fish are the souls of the villagers and excavators lost in the lake's creation, and out of fear of Bo'dollos.
* In ''Literature/DecemberBoys'', an old fisherman named Shellback spends his days trying to catch a huge fish called Henry, [[spoiler:and was visibly upset when one of the orphans beat him in catching it]].

* In ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'', Huck and Jim catch a man-sized 200 lb catfish by using a whole skinned rabbit on a huge hook. Actually quite plausible since even today 150 lb blue catfish are sometimes caught in the lower Mississippi River.

* In ''Literature/TheSoundAndTheFury'', there is an eddy outside of Boston inhabited by a trout which has been eluding capture for 25 years. A store in Boston offers a $25 fishing rod to anyone who catches it. The main character, after observing a group of boys looking out at the Eddy and coveting the prize, tells them, "Only don't catch that old fellow down there. He deserves to be let alone." One of the kids remark, "Can't anybody catch that fish."
* In ''Literature/TheSwordInTheStone'' by T. H. White, Wart and Merlin encounter the king fish of the moat, who argues that might is right.
* A book of New England humor that suggests a name for this kind of Legendary Fish: "Knock Less Monster". As in "Knock (back) Less (alchohol while fishing) Monster".

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "With Baited Breath", fishermen flock to Solomon Gorge desperate to catch a giant fish that is said to lurk in the lake. Their plans are threatened when hundred of others appear for the Pyscho Mud Run.

** They did a show about giant catfish in Germany, where tradition going back hundreds of years says they eat people. It turns out they [[ImAHumanitarian only nip at them a little]]. Overlaps with LegendaryCarp.
** In the episode focusing on them, Jeremy notes that the ones that've been allowed to breed in Barcelona are growing much bigger than the ones from their homeland typically do thanks to warmer environment, and it shouldn't be more than a few years before there genuinely will be ones big enough in those rivers to drag fishermen off the banks and swallow people whole.
** A specific species of catfish, on the other hand, is definitely TruthInTelevision. The Goonch catfish of India, ''Bagarius yarrelli'', can certainly reach man-eating size given the right environment. It's also notable (not unique, but notable) among catfish in that it's a ''predator'' rather than a scavenger. Jeremy Wade caught a five-foot-long one that weighed almost 170 pounds, and it wasn't quite big enough to eat a person -- which means that the man-eating fish of the stories ''is still out there''. What really sets the Goonch apart from other catfish, however, is that most have tiny needlelike teeth that are good only for holding squirming prey and keeping it from escaping and are thus limited to things they can swallow whole while the Goonch has large triangular teeth more like those of a shark that can theoretically allow it to dismember prey.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'': In one of the comedy episodes, Xena goes hunting for "Solaris" instead of chasing down the villain of the week thanks to meddling by Aphrodite. She still gets them in the end, of course... and then shoots the fish into the sky, turning it into a constellation for good measure. This would also be the episode where the infamous "she wants me to fist a fish?" line came from.

* In ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'', Trickle Lake has a fish named Old Grundy, known for being impossible to catch due to being smarter than the average fish, though simultaneously full of hooks from people having at least gotten him to bite. The episode "Ice Fishing" sees Monty make a goal of catching him to prove he can be better than [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter his sister]] at something for once, though by episode's end, he decides to let that goal go. Meanwhile, [[CityMouse Eugene]], much to Tom Riley's disbelief, manages to land him several times [[BoringButPractical just by choosing the right place to drill his hole in the ice]], but throws him back in just because of how impossible he'd be to eat with all the hooks still in him

* In ''TabletopGame/DragonlanceShadowOfTheDragonQueen'', the enormous carp known as Benebog the Line Breaker is a local legend amongst Vogler's fishermen. The players can potentially catch him during a fishing contest at the start of the campaign, though the odds of encountering him are low and the DC to reel him in is very high.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'', there's an OptionalBoss to be encountered by approaching the hexed city of Chamba from the back (in other words, go to the next waypoint after Chamba and return). This boss is a gigantic Angler fish, called (appropriately enough) "Angler". Beating him earns you the North Chamba fishing spot, which is full of Jellyfish and some of the biggest catfish in the game. If you want to get the highest possible rank for catfish, this is your fishing spot!

* In ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'', the first actually somewhat challenging enemy happens to be a giant, bored catfish that has been tormenting the nearby village with earthquakes.

-->Fifty, perhaps a hundred or two hundred pounds, long as the tallest pine and wilder than the savage bear of the forest, and appearing only once every thirty years, the Old One has defied the fishing poles of men for centuries. "They even say," says one man, "the Old One even carried away the bride-to-be of ol' Bob of the bait store, though he never really believed it. That I heard when I was a boy of five, that I did!"

* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', you actually have to catch one named the Guardian to max out a Social Link. [[NintendoHard It's not easy.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DinosaurTrain'', the Old ''Spinosaurus'' holds a fishing competition to catch an elusive ''Mawsonia'' (a kind of coelacanth) that he's named Chester. The other contestants are Mr. ''Pteranodon'' and Marco ''Megaraptor''. They all end up catching it at the same time, but their ensuing argument causes them to drop it back into the ocean.

* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': While it was a salmon, the story of 'Big Irene' in "A Song For Lola" plays out like a typical giant catfish story. Miranda once caught a huge salmon she named Big Irene, but it was too fresh, and started flopping around on her.

That ''almost'' part is important. The protagonist will inevitably be encouraged to go out and be the One to Catch Said Giant Fish. Eventually he does so and he has a huge battle with it. Finally the protagonist wins the fight and the great fish gives in. Inevitably, the protagonist lets the fish go; usually he says that "the legend must live on" or makes up some other excuse.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': The ''Little Archie'' spin-off features the Perilous Pike, a huge pike that Mister Weatherbee constantly tries (and failed) to capture.

Not to be confused with [[DatingServiceDisaster being catfished]].

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': The King of Lakes is a creature requiring near-mastery of the fishing skill to even get its attention and the strength stat of a top-level player to reel it in (Nishida and Kirito, respectively). After finally being pulled up, it's revealed to be the size of a house.

* [[http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=vf34hkPXHHw This]] RealLife example.
* In 2006 there was a rumor that a sea monster had been seen in the moats of Varbergs fästning in Sweden. A woman who was out walking her dog had seen something huge shoot up from the water and swallow a gull in midflight. The monster turned out to be a large catfish.

* [[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124991924916619783.html?mod=yhoofront Benson the giant carp,]] formerly of Bluebell Lakes, England.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV'', there's a BonusBoss to be encountered by approaching the hexed city of Chamba from the back (in other words, go to the next waypoint after Chamba and return). This boss is a gigantic Angler fish, called (appropriately enough) "Angler". Beating him earns you the North Chamba fishing spot, which is full of Jellyfish and some of the biggest catfish in the game. If you want to get the highest possible rank for catfish, this is your fishing spot!

* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' has a special BonusBoss in Oboro's chapter named Lord Iwama, which turns out to be a ''giant koi''; it's represented by an enemy sprite that's 4x4 squares in size.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The Season Two season episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E20TheWarOfTheSimpsons The War of the Simpsons]]" sees Homer and Marge go to a marriage counseling retreat with Reverend Lovejoy, except Homer only goes to catch the legendary catfish called General Sherman who lives in the retreat's lake. He does catch it -- only to throw it back in to show Marge that she matters to him much more. Afterwards, the fishing shop owner tells a patron about the man who caught the fish, but describes him as [[MemeticBadass a giant with tree trunks for arms and hair as fiery as the pits of Hell itself]].

* In ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'', Yu has to catch a massive catfish in order to get back a comb that a woman had thrown into the river.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Whiscash, which based on the mythical Japanese earthquake catfish, features in an episode where an old man is trying for years to capture a famous giant Whiscash. He eventually gets a Master Ball, a Poké Ball with a perfect chance of capturing a target, to use on the Whiscash -- and the Whiscash eats it.
** In ''Journeys'', Goh catches a Magikarp in Sinnoh that's bigger than he is (A MythologyGag to a fishing spot in the Battle Resort that could fish up Karp up to level 100!). When it participates in a [[VideoGame/PokemonMagikarpJump Magikarp Jump]] competition, it Splashes itself into orbit for ''half an episode''.