To some, fishing may seem like a boring way to spend your time – something for grumpy old men or weirdos that like to sit around in the cold freezing their knackers off.

But when ZOO was offered the chance to try it out on Spain’s River Ebro, we decided to give it a go anyway. Turns out what we thought about fishing was so wide of the mark, even Uruguayan linesman Mauricio Espinosa could have spotted it.

For the past week our ZOO man has spent his time trawling the banks of the lower Ebro in search of the revered Wels Catfish, a monster known to weigh over 200lbs and measure up to 7ft long.

With the help of angling expert and local guide Paul Schild, ZOO’s best (and only) angler began hunting the depths of the river using the most gut-wrenching of baits – squid and eels - in hope of hooking into one of these monsters.

The Wels was originally introduced to the River Ebro as an experiment in the '70s, but, as is usually the case with experiments involving monstrous creatures, things have gone horribly wrong with the fish devouring nearly everything in its path – from fish and mice to aquatic birds, wild bore and even - it has been said - humans! Which meant more man-points for us. Grrr.

Luckily for our man, he wasn’t swallowed whole as he managed to bag one of these whopping great monsters.  After hours of ZOO style angling (think cack-handed casting and getting snagged in countless trees), our rod finally got a leathering from a giant Wels as the fish gobbled up our delightful offering of squid and eels.

Having endured what seemed like an hour-long battle, whereby the fish persistently insisted that ZOO was headed face-first into the river, our man finally landed the great monster.

The catfish - slimier than Ashley Cole and with a bigger mouth than that of Welsh rent-a-gob Robbie Savage - weighed a colossal 134lbs and judging by our man’s expression was a bit of a lump to lift.

So there you have it. Fishing rules. You read it here first.