The catfish that swallowed a basketball - Crazy fishing story #2

First I must say sorry for the lack of post yesterday - it was my birthday!

It must be the week for crazy fishing stories. After being sent the sharks love story my Dad sent me the story of a catfish out of Lake Macquarie (in NSW Australia) that ate a basketball. Once again I am pretty sure that the photos are real, but I am sure that the southern Australian catfish doesn't grow very big or look like the one in the photos. So I think the story I received with the pictures is fabricated. If you know about the true story behind the pictures I would love to hear it (please leave a comment). Here is the story I received:

True Fish Story

A guy who lives at Lake Macquarie (50 miles north of Gosford near Newcastle) saw a ball bouncing around kind of strange in the lake and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flathead catfish who had obviously tried to swallow a basketball which became stuck in its mouth!!

The fish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, but unable to because the ball would always bring him back up to the surface.

The bloke tried numerous times to get the ball out, but was unsuccessful. He finally had his wife cut the ball in order to deflate it and release the hungry catfish. You probably wouldn't have believed this, if you hadn't seen the following pictures...