Fishermen and passers-by got the scare of their lives when this huge fish was hooked. It was an hour long struggle, but finally this completely exhausted man managed to get the huge 1.2 meter fish onto dry land. But then came the moment of shock.

Mark Larson, the 42-year-old man who brought the huge fish to shore, later confirmed to the media that he had never experienced anything so strange in his life. And in this case he wasn’t even talking about the 1.2 meter long fish. An achievement many anglers would only dream of, but the catch was dwarfed by the discovery he made in the fish’s mouth…

It all started that morning. Mark was known in the region as an experienced hand fisherman. An unfamiliar title perhaps to many people, but in some parts of the United States it is a well-known technique. It’s about getting fully into the water and moving your fingers up and down in the hope that a fish will bite your hand. But what does this look like?
That day a local journalist interviewed Mark. He waded into the water in his hooded boots and rolled up his sleeves. He plunged his entire forearm into the water. “This is the best technique for fishing for catfish ,” he said. He didn’t take long to bite. You could see his arm being tucked under him and Mark was yelling loudly, “Look at me!” .
Theserious-looking fisherman braced himself and lifted his arm out of the water in one powerful movement. And yes, there were beautiful 16-inch catfish in his hand. Fish do not have teeth, so the procedure itself is not very dangerous. However, they can suck hard and this can cause minor injuries. Mark lowered the fish and showed his hands.

The catfish made a few small scratches, but here we are not going to talk about the effectiveness of the technique. He quickly took the fish back to the lake and kept talking. “For the fish I caught yesterday, this wasn’t an option. That catfish was 4 feet long and I was sure it could throw me in the water. But that wasn’t the shocking part of this catch.”
That same morning, Mark had already caught some small catfish. He saw a large shadow appear below the surface of the water about 1.5 meters from him. He was moving slowly, but he was sure he was getting closer…
It was the biggest fish he had ever seen, and believe me that was saying a lot, as Mark had been fishing for over 25 years. Mark wasn’t the only one who saw this fish appear. His experience was known throughout the area, and he too had drawn the attention of many passersby that day. “Care!” yelled one of the onlookers.

Mark jumped out of the water in a panic. There was no way to solve this with his hands. He pulled out a special type of fishing rod. It was a long pole with a blunt hook at the end. Here Mark put some raw meat around and then the titanic battle between Mark and the lake monster could begin…
After only a few minutes, he bit into it. It was clear that the animal was not afraid of Mark. He wanted to be captured, but he wouldn’t give up easily. The fish pulled with all its might, nearly dragging Mark into the lake several times. Even the local policemen making their rounds around the lake were there to admire the spectacle, but they soon got the scare of their lives…
Everyone saw the huge fish from a distance, but they had not yet realized the dimension of the beast. It seemed that only Mark was aware of the seriousness of the matter. “Bring a trailer ,” he yelled at the top of his lungs. He threw his car keys on dry land and told someone to bring his truck and trailer.
Everything was ready, but this hand-to-hand battle would continue for more than 3 hours. Finally, the exhausted Mark managed to pull the animal out of the water. It had become a grueling fight, but Mark crossed the finish line first. Along with eight other people, he brought the animal to the trailer. But then the biggest shock was yet to come…

In the trailer was a scale that could weigh the gigantic animal. It was an unprecedented catch and would reach all the headlines. Mark knew it. It turned out that he weighed over 200 kilos. A record that would stand for several years. But then the catfish opened its huge snout…
Mark inspected the mouth of the gigantic animal and immediately felt chills all over his body. The catfish’s mouth seemed to glow. There were reflections of gold, red, silver and violet. And when the sun came up, the brightness only intensified. “Come and see. Something incredible is happening.”
All the passers-by and especially the police immediately approached. The huge fish’s mouth shone like never before. It was filled with hundreds of tiny stones that looked like diamonds, but also reflected the sunlight in a beautiful rainbow of colors. “Wait, what’s that?” , one of the officers asked.

The catfish not only had a mouth that seemed to shine as if it were made of diamonds. The mouth was really full of diamonds Mark lifted the fish’s huge tongue and under it they found no less than 10 sparkling diamonds. The minerals were the size of a fist. Everyone was shocked, but the officers were looking at each other, nodding…
“We know where these diamonds come from ,” one of the officers mentioned. “After all, we are not here by chance. For days we have been patrolling these waters. In fact, these diamonds are from the National Museum. They have a commercial value of about $20 million and are part of a larger theft.” “But how had it gotten to these fish?” Mark asked.
“Thanks to some sources, we learned that these thieves had thrown all the loot into the lake. However, until that moment we had not found any trace of the loot of the criminals in question. The fish must have accidentally seen the shiny stones and picked them up with your mouth. But how to find the rest? And most importantly, thieves…”
“I don’t have a plan for that,” Mark said. He reached over to the dashboard of his car and grabbed a small device. He centered it and placed it on the catfish’s back. “It’s a vibration sensor. It detects vibrations in the water and sends them to my car’s computer.” “But how can this help us?” the officer asked. The sensor was very powerful and detected vibrations all over the lake. When the thieves returned to dump the rest of the loot, the sensor would notice the vibration. This small device would then report the exact location of the thieves. And with any luck, Mark and the agents could stop them before they got away. A good plan that they put into action immediately.

They removed all the diamonds from the fish’s mouth and released the catfish back into the water. Any vibration of the water was highly visible on his computer, but when the thieves poured out the stolen good, it would cause a huge increase in vibration. It was night when that happened… Mark and one of the agents stayed in the car and had their walkie-talkies ready. More than 50 officers moved quietly and quietly lined up around the lake. At 1:52 a.m. the report came in: “A large tremor is observed on the northwest side of the lake. Coordinates 08-42-12. Get there quickly!” The report was correct. Within minutes, at least 8 officers were on the scene and thanks to that, they caught the robbers red-handed. The men were arrested and managed to recover the thrown loot. Mark was honored as an honorary citizen by the mayor. And he is now world famous. The simple fisherman who saved more than 54 million dollars from the bottom of a lake. All thanks to the largest freshwater fish in the world.