Will Morice catches brown trout weighing in at 16 pounds and 36 inches in length

Will Morice’s dad has described the trout his son caught in the Central Highlands as “the biggest fish he has ever seen”.

Will Morice with a brown trout he caught in the Nive River in the Central Highlands. Picture: Supplied

Ben Morice had dropped his 13-year-old son Will at a rockpool in the Nive River in the Central Highlands while he did his work.

“He sort of disappeared for about 40 minutes, and I could hear yelling and screaming and raced up the river to find this monster trout.

“I was shocked.”

“He’d spent probably 20 minutes fighting this fish.

“And the good thing was that there was probably another five or six fish bigger in that particular section of the river.

“We tried to swim the fish back again, but it was too tired after the fight.”

The trout weighed 7.2kg (16lb) and was 81cm (36in) long, with Mr Morice, of Brighton, describing it as the biggest fish he had ever seen in person.

He said his son had been fishing since “he could hold a rod”.

“He started when he was about four. Working in remote areas, he comes fishing with me as well.

“We have a fishing boat on the East Coast as well, so we do a lot of sea fishing as well.”

Will said he caught the brown trout while it was sleeping under a rock.

“I never caught anything like that before. I was excited and shocked when I reeled it in.

“My dad was absolutely surprised when I showed him the fish.”

The young angler said he loved fishing.

“I like getting outdoors and going fishing all around Tasmania – Beauty Point, Nive River and the Great Lakes.

“Now I’m going to try and catch a bigger trout.”

Will’s dad said he would mount the brown trout his son caught and give it to him for his birthday in late October.