The anglers hooked the huge catfish on the River Po in Italy, but when the creature from the deep took their bait it started to ‘run’ with it.
The men leapt from the bank into a motorised dinghy, but were powerless to act as the Wels catfish pulled them along for an hour.
After taking them one mile the exhausted beast gave up and the fishermen — German anglers Stefan Seuss, 31, Uli Schuppler and Patrick Nimz (of Team Black Cat )— were able to guide it into the shallows.
After it was caught the fish weighed in at a mighty 218lbs and measured 7ft 8ins.
The fish was more than 30lbs off the official world record for a Wels catfish.
That was caught in the same river in 2010 by Roberto Godi and weighed in at 250lbs 3ozs.
After capturing their catch on film the men returned it safe and well back to the water.