The '˜legend of giant catfish' lives on after woman's startling encounter at Tiddenfoot Lake in Linslade

A dog owner who visited Tiddenfoot Lake is warning others to take care when letting their animals swim in the water after a startling encounter with a giant fish.
Tiddenfoot LakeTiddenfoot Lake
Tiddenfoot Lake

Pat Armstrong let her dog swim in a shallow part of the lake in Linslade on a recent Monday morning at about 9am, when she suddenly saw a cascade of ripples across the water and a large fin.

She said: “I saw something prowling in the deep water of the lake, and all these ripples cascaded, they were caused by something very large, I actually thought something had fallen from the sky into the lake they were that big.

A 56lb catfish caught last year. In 2017 one of over 96lbs was caught at TiddenfootA 56lb catfish caught last year. In 2017 one of over 96lbs was caught at Tiddenfoot
A 56lb catfish caught last year. In 2017 one of over 96lbs was caught at Tiddenfoot

“I continued to watch as more and more ripples kept coming from the centre and then in the middle I spotted a very large animal, it was grey and I could see its back, it had a fin.

“I believe it may have been a catfish, it was very, very large. I want to warn other people who may also let their dogs swim here to be aware of what is in the deeper water, and also to let the anglers know what might be in there.

“It seems that the legend of the Tiddenfoot catfish lives on.”

Leighton Buzzard Angling Club says the lake holds a large stock of catfish up to 90lb. There are good numbers of fish over 50lbs.

A club spokesman said: “There have been catfish in Tiddenfoot Lake for about 50 years, if not longer, growing up to 90lbs which is about 6ft long. It is quite possible she did see a very large catfish and many people are shocked by how big they actually are. Lots of anglers have caught catfish in Tiddenfoot and many people travel to come and try and catch them.”