Harbour Snapper a World Record

It took three-quarters of an hour for Mike Stempa to haul in a world record. The Owhiro Bay man has been fishing for 35 years but it was a sunny Sunday in February 2001, when he hauled in the massive snapper, with a light line.

The 9.86kg fish was recently confirmed as a world record haul for a light line. That's a line with a breaking strain of 2kg. Mr Stempa was fishing with his son and a friend in Wellington Harbour in a local competition when the big one bit into the squid bait. It took Mr Stempa about 45 minutes to land the huge snapper.

It was a solo battle, man and fish, as Mr Stempa and his prey tried all they knew to defeat each other. His son, Tony Judd, was standing by with a net to grab the snapper, but in the end Mr Stempa's gaff did the job and the battle was won. The world record is the first ever won by the Wellington Surfcasting and Angling Club, where Mr Stempa is vice-president. It took nine months for it to be confirmed and go through the processes at the International Game Fish Association.

And the fate of the fish? After it had been photographed and measured and identified by officials, it ended up on the Stempa dinner table.

NB: This fish broke the old mark of 9.4kg held by Grant Blair, director of Fishing.net.nz