Australian fisherman reels in huge ‘once in a lifetime’ barramundi, lets it go

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In the very early hours of last Wednesday morning, Brisbane fisherman Steve Morgan set out to fish the Brisbane River.

It wasn’t long before he was battling the biggest barramundi he had ever heard of coming from the river: it was 110cm long.

“A mate of mine caught a 92cm barra earlier this year and as far as I know, the one I caught is the biggest one to have been caught in the river,” Morgan said.

It took Morgan about five minutes to reel in the huge fish.

“It was pretty exciting,” he told the Courier Mail. “It put up a really good fight, we were really pumped when we landed it.”

“There aren’t many barra in there, so to catch one that size is pretty great, I don’t expect to catch another one like that in the Brisbane River in my lifetime.”

On Facebook, Morgan insisted he did nothing special to reel in such a remarkable fish.

“Not much talent involved catching it. Ate the lure (I assume) just under the surface. I was wondering why the lure wasn’t sinking and when I reeled in the slack to check what was going on it was already hooked up. I assume it chewed on the lure for up to 10 seconds before my immaculate reflexes kicked in,” he wrote.

Morgan didn’t keep the “once in a lifetime” catch. Instead, he measured the fish, tagged it, and let it go.

This July, a California fisherman reeled in a 482-pound halibut. Jack McGuire planned to celebrate his catch by hosting a fish fry for his family, friends, and fellow fisherman.

That same month, a British fisherman caught what was considered to be the largest fish ever caught on British shores: a 208-pound common skate.

And in August, Texas fisherman Ryan Spring caught a 809-pound tiger shark off the Gulf of Mexico. He, too, shared the meat with family and friends — and then donated the rest to a coastal homeless shelter.