Marty van Turnhout had just dropped his line in the waters off Taieri Mouth during Saturday’s 25th annual Brighton Club Fishing Competition and found himself battling a monster grouper.
When the fish was finally cleaned and gutted it tipped the scales at 7.2kg.
"I won the rod last year [at the competition] as a mystery prize," Mr van Turnhout said.
"I took it out today for the first time.
"There were a few cod about and I thought I’ll drop the wee rod in and first thing I caught was that 7.2kg grouper. And it broke my rod."
Mr van Turnhout was not too fazed at the loss of the rod, seeing it as a necessary sacrifice to bring in the huge fish.
"I’m not too broken-hearted," he said.
"I can go and buy another one."
He and his two friends on board the boat hauled in about 40 cod, half a dozen grouper, a gurnard and a kahawai during the competition.
"I’m stoked," he said.
"It was a good day out."
The group contributed to the hundreds of fish caught during the competition.
Club president Geoff Bright said he was pleased with the number of entrants and fish caught during the day.
"There were a lot of blue cod, a couple of grouper and a few paua," he said.
"We got quite a bit."
Those fishing enjoyed a calm day on the water and warm temperatures as the mercury peaked at 21degC.
