Blind woman breaks TWO world records on holiday after being taught to fish by her husband

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Great catch: Sheila Penfold, 59, (right) caught this 214lb giant catfish in the River Ebro, near Barcelona. It was the largest catfish ever caught by a woman. Husband Alan (left) has not managed to better his partially-sighted wife's efforts


A fisherman who introduced his blind wife to fishing has been upstaged twice - as he watched her break two world records for catching giant catfish.

Retired gardener Alan Penfold, 63, decided to start bringing wife Sheila along on his fishing trips four years ago but wouldn't have expected to be upstaged by his partially-sighted partner.

She has broken the record for the biggest catfish ever caught by a woman and then hooked the largest albino catfish ever caught in two fishing holidays.


Whopper: This 192lb albino catfish that Sheila caught was comfortably the largest one ever hooked - and her second world record


Alan and Sheila regularly take trips to the famous River Ebro, near Barcelona, Spain to fish - but Mr Penfold could be forgiven for thinking that his wife's degenerative eye condition Retinitis Pigmentosa would prevent her matching him.

The great grandmother's first big catch came when she caught a 214lb monster catfish in 2009 - the largest ever caught by a woman. The amateur angler had to be directed where to place her bait.

Weighing the equivalent of 15.3 stones - around twice the weight of X Factor judge Cheryl Cole - she posed for a photo with the beast before putting it back into the water.

Husband Alan, who has caught dozens of catfish that are almost as big but never managed anything as large, vowed to snare a bigger monster when the pair flew out for a two week break two months ago.

Within days of the couple arriving in Spain, Alan managed to hook another mammoth catfish - but when he put it on the scales it came to just 2lb under his wife's 2009 record at 212lb.

He then reeled in another giant of the deep, but again he failed to beat his wife's catch after it came in on the nose at exactly the same as his wife's catch the year before - 214lb.


The biggest catfish ever caught in the world by a man is a staggering 646lb - or 46 stone - Giant Mekong Catfish caught in Thailand in 2005.


source: dailymail