Giant grouper caught in Port Douglas
This giant grouper caught in Port Douglas is proof not all fish are created equal – the creature was so big a tie down strap was slipped around the brute’s gargantuan girth to get him in. See the video.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
This giant grouper caught in Port Douglas this week is proof not all fish are created equal.
The leviathan of Dickson Inlet was captured after a 30 minute tug-of-war, while an enthralled crowd looked on in fascination.
Toward the end of the epic man-versus-beast battle, visiting English duo of Ed Hirst and Harry Thomas used a tie down strap slipped around the fish’s gargantuan girth to drag the animal in by the tail.
Queensland and goliath groupers are a protected species and the fish was quickly released after a quick photo.
Mr Hurst through his ed.explores Instagram page said he originally thought the fish was a shark and then a reptilian inhabitant of the waters off Rex Smeal Park.
“I truly thought it was a saltwater crocodile,” he said.
“We then later realised it was indeed a (giant) grouper.
“I walked out towards the beast and tied a lasso around its back tail and dragged in this amazing fish.
“The beast went back safely and unharmed to live on another day.
“I can’t put into words how magical it was to experience this whole event, one I will never forget.”
The 25-year-old video creator planned to stay in Port Douglas for a few months fishing before taking off up north to explore the Cape and Torres Strait Islands.
“I came here when I was 12 and my sister was a backpacker, it was always my dream to come back and I bought some camera equipment and a drone and my big goal is to become a professional Instagram influencer,” he said.
“And I got recognised the other day by someone who had seen me in the video.”
He said he caught his latest big fish on half a mullet but never intended to actually hook a protected species.
“You hope that you don’t catch one really,” he said.
“And I gatecrashed a wedding on the (Port Douglas sugar) wharf to reel in a (2m) bull shark.”
Further north in Cooktown giant groupers swim in on the high tide to be fed by hand by local identity Thomas Anderson and though not widely known to be aggressive, a boy was dragged underwater at the Seisia wharf in 2019 by a Queensland grouper according to Northern Peninsula Area locals.
Groupers are one of the largest of all bony fishes in the sea, they can live for up to 100 years and grow to more than 3m while weighing upward of 600kg.
More Coverage
Originally published as Giant grouper caught in Port Douglas
Join the conversation
Lobby group pushes LNP for pledge on big ticket project
Advance Cairns has called on the LNP to commit to building a $45m common user hangar, if the party is swept into power this month, declaring that further investment in the Far North’s aviation industry is vital to growing the region’s economy.
Read more
Indigenous leader walks out of debate over KAP’s One Nation preference deal
A minor party’s preference deal with One Nation has not been well received by voters attending a debate in an Indigenous community in Far North Queensland.
Read more