The true tale behind that monster barramundi photo

For six years, a photo of a giant barra has circulated along with "weird stories” but finally the angler who caught the fish has told the true tale

The 41.5kg barra caught in Kinchant Dam by Willem Reichard in 2011. Picture: Facebook

IT'S the 'man versus beast' story that keeps on giving.

Mackay man Willem Reichard, with mate Grant Zietsman, caught a 41.5kg barramundi while fishing at Kinchant Dam in 2011. Since then his photo has been shared thousands of times, along with thousands of false background stories to go with it.

Back on that night six years ago the pair was fishing at the dam wall for sooty grunter when, just after nightfall, they decided to try a renowned "big barra hotspot".

It didn't take long for the name to live up to its reputation, with only two casts in before Willem hooked the 41.5kg barra.

"We had the anchor out and I said to Grant, we are going to have to unhook the anchor and chase it," he said.

Willem recalled the first run from the giant barramundi as extreme and said it nearly spilt the reel, but its second run was heavy and headed back towards the weed.

"It ploughed itself in the weed and we had to get on top of it and do a few circles around it with the braided line to cut through..."

It took 5-7 minutes of "mayhem" before it floated to the surface. When it did, Willem just recalls thinking "wow, that thing is massive".

Willem Reichard landed the 41.5kg barramundi at Kinchant Dam.

When they originally weighed the fish, it bottomed out the scales - 24 hours later they weighed the beast on certified International Game Fishing Association scales, where it took out the 15kg line class world record at 41.5kg.

The official length of the barramundi was 135cm. Its girth was 106cm.

"I've hooked many big barra in my life; I knew it was a big fish," Willem said.

"The excitement and adrenaline that goes through you when you hook a big fish like that is insane."

But it almost didn't happen. Willem said he was worried they were going to lose the fish, particularly when it headed for the weed.

"When he ploughed through the weed we literally couldn't get to him," he said.

"I pushed everything to the breaking strain, the rod and the reel and the line.

Although he caught the fish six years ago, Willem is constantly reminded of his giant catch. It's gone viral and even cropped up on a fishing Facebook page again this week.

It was put onto social media without any description or story behind it, and since then it just went "wild".

"I've watched it, and I've been tagged in it hundreds of times over the past six years, and I've watched it pretty well get ripped apart," Willem said.

"I've heard it's been called a 100kg Nile perch, I've heard it's been caught in Western Australia," he said.

"They've got it pinned up in a Darwin Pub... I've heard some weird stories. People tend to photoshop it and put their own stories on it. "Because it is such a big fish, it's turned into a highlight, and it will never die."

Willem said catching a fish of that size was an "honour" but if he could have his time over he would have made sure he got the barra back in the water more quickly, as it died after a build-up of lactic acid from the short fight.

His only advice for fishermen who want to catch big fish is - size does matter.

"Putting on big lures catches bigger fish," he said. "If you put a big lure in front of a big fish he's going to eat it."

Have you caught a monster fish? Email your photos to news@ dailymercury.com.au

Originally published as The true tale behind that monster barramundi photo