Please excuse the late reply. The thread somehow ended up in the “I'll reply later when I have time” folder in my head.

Yes, European catfish are now widespread in Europe, even though they originally come from Eastern Europe. (I'm from Germany, and whether catfish are an alien species is still being debated here.)

I've personally caught a few smaller ones (and they taste really good, especially hot-smoked ;D), but catching a really big one isn't that easy, unfortunately. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous of the US for its diversity of catfish species... I think you have at least five species, right? And I always imagine that it should be a little easier to fish in the USA because the population density is not as high as in my home country and therefore the fishing pressure in the individual waters/areas is not so high. But I guess it depends on whether you live in the countryside or near a big city, right?

If you ever go catfish fishing in Europe, the classic spots are the big rivers in Italy and Spain. After catfish were introduced there in the 1970s, they have grown extremely well in the warmer water, but guiding is probably a good idea there. Another tip might be France, where there are also many good catfish stocks and it feels like not everyone is aware of this yet.

You have the wels catfish in the EU right?

Not in all countries, and it's considered somewhat invasive in Western Europe. But it is the largest native European predator.

I want to eventually catch one IRL

If you actually get the chance, find someone to help you out. They're very hard to find if you don't know where to look for them, and what they've decided to eat at this time of the year this year.

Like you can buy the best bait that absolutely killed it last year around the same time, but they've decided to eat leeches instead of that type of bug this year so they're not interested at all. Or you can kill it with eathworms one week, but the next you don't get a bite because spring floods have stopped, the worms stopped getting washed away, so the catfish start focusing on different prey.