Holy Mackerel: Man reels in second largest Spanish mackerel in Australia
This giant Spanish mackerel was caught off the coast of Tweed on Easter Monday, weighing in at a near record amount. WATCH THE VIDEO
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A Tweed man was left buzzing after landing one of the largest ever Spanish mackerel fish off the coast of Tweed on Easter Monday.
The Spaniard measured at 193cm, weighed a whopping 51.9kg (114lb) and was caught on a Tuna dead bait.
The beast was the second largest ever caught on Australian shores after a similar 54kg Spaniard was caught in Cairns in 2015.
Nathan Warlosz said he hooked the fish after just five minutes of trolling past the South Head Seawall in Tweed Heads.
“I could tell it was a good fish as soon as I hooked up,” Mr Warlosz said.
The fight went on for 45 minutes before Mr Warlosz could have a glance at his haul from 40 metres deep.
“I looked at the size of it as it was coming to the surface and I thought it was a shark,” he said.
“To lift a fish that size from the side of the boat is really hard, I had to use my body to leverage the thing into the boat.”
Mr Warlosz said that his son, Kobe, would normally tag along with him but it was a solo mission this time.
“My son would normally be with me but he went to Movie World with a girl.”
He said the body of the Spaniard was inedible but he kept the head and the tail.
“I wanted to release this fish but after 45 minutes of fighting it, it was very fatigued and I brought it home with me.”
The last time a fisherman came close to catching a Spaniard this big was back in 2015 when Doug Buhagiar caught a beast weighing in at 54kg.
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Originally published as Holy Mackerel: Man reels in second largest Spanish mackerel in Australia
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