A recreational angler was shocked to reel in a 141.6 kilogram southern bluefin tuna at Portland on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The catch took Kirkstall dairy farmers Anne-Marie and Jan Oosthuizen 45 minutes to haul it into their boat.
"We decided we were going to go out at Portland because they had such a good run on "barrels" yesterday," Mrs Oosthuizen said.
"I got hooked 25 minutes in and it took me 45 minutes to get my fish in the boat. I was pretty stoked and happy.
"We struggled to get the massive fish in. Luckily my husband was the skipper and we managed to get it in."
The Warrnambool Offshore and Light Game Fishing Club members usually fish out of Port Fairy about once a week.
The pair launched their boat from Portland and were in 100 metre waters, about 20 kilometres off Portland. "We went out to hunt for "barrels" and I landed one that was 141.6 kilos. It's just so good," she said.
"My biggest tuna was 93.6 (kilograms) and that was two years ago off Port Fairy. So this is a huge improvement.
"I thought it was big but I thought it was maybe 120 kilos. It just blew my mind when I saw how heavy it was.
"We love catching tuna. We just go out when we get the opportunity to go out. I'm very excited about what happened today.
"It was good conditions. The weather conditions have been quite horrible these last few weeks but today was quite calm.
She said the whole family loved fishing and it was something they did in between dairy farming.
"We're going to take it home and clean it and fillet it and put it in the freezer. We'll bottle some of the fish and then hopefully smoke some as well. The tuna will definitely last us for a bit that's for sure."
It comes after more than 30 bluefin tuna weighing more than 100 kilograms each were caught in Portland on Monday.
Torquay's Col Shepherd and his mates brought in one fish that weighed 127 kilograms and another that weighed 104 kilograms on Monday.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
