While many fishos who haven’t, aspire to one day catch a barramundi, Sydney fisho Glenn Smith’s barra dream was realised in a big way this week at Queensland’s Lake Awoonga.
Under the guidance of local fishing guide Jason Wilhelm, Smith, fishing with son Shannon (pictured left), hooked his first-ever barra on a cast Squidgy Slick Rig soft plastic.
Wilhelm told Fisho after the initial hookup the fish’s first run nearly emptied the Stella 4000 spin reel of 30lb braid, despite 7kg of applied drag pressure. At that stage he’d thought his client may have foul hooked the fish, until it jumped… The only aerial display of the 20 minute battle that followed left no doubts the Sydney fisho had hooked a monster.
Smith’s barra was finally landed and went on to measure 132cm in length and 100cm in girth. It weighed 36.56 kgs – one kilogram short of the current world record.
