Every so often we catch a really solid fish, more often for some than others. I've only caught 3 really big snapper in my life, pretty modest for the amount of time I've spent trying to catch them! While I will let some of them go (my first two I released), I also like to keep them, like a very special 18lb snapper I caught earlier this year:

Here's my report on this fish if you're interested:

To cook bigger than average fish, eg big snapper, any size kingfish or hapuka, plus a few others, takes a bit of a rethink. If you just fillet them and put the thick fillet in the pan, the heat is going to take a long time to travel through the outer layers of flesh to the centre, leading to the fillet drying out and losing its flavour and delicate texture. A fillet cooked this way will be as dry and tough as Moses's jandal, which I think is one of the reasons a lot of people consider larger fish to be poor eating.