It’s a whopper: Brendan Leitch is all smiles with his 1.21m Murray cod, which was measured and safely returned to the Goulburn River.
Brendan Leitch had never entered the Toolamba Easter Fishing Classic but on Good Friday he was up early and determined to have a crack.
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The Mooroopna fisherman was camping near Toolamba and was on the water by 6.30am.
He put some chicken breast on a hook and cast into the murky water.
Within minutes his rod was bending.
He had no idea the 1.21m cod would end up being the biggest fish landed because for the first 10 minutes it was smooth sailing.
“It probably took 20 minutes to land, but it wasn’t until near the end when it got closer to the boat that it put a real bend in the rod,” Mr Leitch said.
A quick photo and measurement later the massive cod was back in the water and swimming off to fight another day.
“My main concern was getting it back in the water, but it went well, there was a big kick and tail splash and I got wet,” Mr Leitch said.
Mr Leitch said he had been fishing since he could walk but had never caught a cod anywhere near as big.
“It is my biggest cod, I finally got to join the metre club,” he said.
Winning the prize for biggest fish was a bonus.
“That is the fish of a lifetime for me, I’ve been trying for years to land one,” Mr Leitch said.
Long story: The monster cod.
“It was my first time entering the classic and I had a decent crack.”
Fishing guru Steve Threlfall said the 1.21m cod was one of the biggest to come out of the Goulburn River in recent memory.
“That is a ripper, a real cracker,” he said.
“It would be one of the biggest ones caught on the Goulburn River for a long time.”
A cod measuring 1.03m was caught soon after on the same stretch of river.
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