Gympie angler in fight of life against monster mackerel

Anglers can spend their entire lives hoping to hook onto a monster but one keen angler got his 'fish of a lifetime' last week.

WHAT A CATCH! Jake Day with his "catch of a lifetime" Spanish mackerel that he landed between Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island. Picture: Contributed

FISHING: Anglers can spend their entire lives hoping to hook onto a monster but one keen angler got his 'fish of a lifetime' last week between Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island.

Gympie's Jake Day reeled in this monster 145cm Spanish mackerel weighing in at 20kg last Wednesday.

"Rainbow Escape Charters took us out and the first drop (I put out) this was the first fish I caught in less than two minutes," he said.

"I fought it for about 15 minutes and it was a crazy fight. Everyone thought we had a shark because of how hard it was fighting.

WHAT A CATCH! Jake Day with his "catch of a lifetime" Spanish mackerel that he landed between Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island. Picture: Contributed

"When I got it to the surface everyone was quiet - even me. I have never seen anything that big before."

Once the mackerel was in the boat, Day realised how close he came to losing it.

"When we got it up on the boat, I don't know how we kept it on," he said.

"They have these massive teeth and people usually catch them on wire traces (prevent fish from biting the line) but I was using mono line.

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"When I pulled the hook and line out of its mouth, just using my arm strength it snapped.

"It was completely destroyed but I kept enough pressure on it to get it to the boat."

Day said the fight with the mackerel to get it to the boat was the hardest part.

"I had heavy rod and line and it was still fighting," he said.

WHAT A CATCH! Jake Day with his "catch of a lifetime" Spanish mackerel that he landed between Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island. Picture: Contributed

"I have caught hammer head sharks before but this fish was something else. My arms were completely dead, the water was a bit choppy and after I landed it I was pretty sick."

"It is a fish of a lifetime, for me anyway - there are bigger fish out there but people and pro anglers have messaged me and said 'it is an unreal fish'."

It is not a fish Day will soon forget and as he plans his next charter, he said it would be a tough one to beat.

"It is a memory I will never forget. When it was in the boat I was silent, I was still in shock. I definitely got a monster. I am not sure how old this fish would have been but it was definitely well fed," he said.

"We are planning out next charter in about a month but this was the best sports fish I have caught and this will be hard to beat."

Day kept the mackerel and fed his whole family with six bags left in the freezer.

Spanish mackerel have previously been recorded at the maximum length of 120cm.

Originally published as Gympie angler in fight of life against monster mackerel