Marine Parade 'monster' snapper surprises angler

A Napier surf-caster has made a catch of a lifetime, hauling in a whopping 17 pound (8.1kg) snapper, and he puts it all down to good luck and a new reel.

Part-time chef Jason Williams thought he had hooked a "decent sized" kahawai - initially unaware of the Marine Parade "monster" on the end of his line.

Williams was out for a Monday morning fish when something grabbed his pilchard bait.

"I was just surf-casting off Marine Parade down by the pump track. I was a bit surprised because it didn't put up much of a fight, so I thought okay, it's just a decent-sized kahawai and then I saw just a glimpse of it jumping and I thought okay, it's a good-sized kahawai.

"I just kept my eyes on the rod tip and just kept dragging it back in and then I looked down and all I saw was its fin come up, and I just thought, 'oh my God I've just caught a monster'. So I had to run down there and drag it up, just to make sure it was a good size, and it was phenomenal."

Jason Williams, from Napier, with the 8.1kg snapper caught off Marine Parade. Photo / Supplied.

Williams used a 25-pound (11.3kg) main line and a 40-pound (18kg) leader.

"I've usually got a smaller set up but I had a new reel and I hadn't changed the line over to my usual 15-pound (6.8kg) line. I just hadn't had time to do it, so I thought I would just take it down and try it out, and she damn well worked."

He had not been expecting to catch a snapper of such size, especially in winter.

"It was fat. It had been chewing on crabs and sand biscuits. Maybe it just had a feeling to eat crab, so it came in close, and I was there at just the right time at just the right place on the right day and caught it.

"That is the biggest fish I've ever caught, that's for sure. When it came up, that's just the highlight."

Jason Williams of Napier pieces together the skull bones of a huge snapper he caught. Photo / Warren Buckland

Being a chef, Williams cut the fish into fillets, rolled them in oil, butter, flour and seasoning and pan-fried them, and ate them with fresh bread and home-made tartare sauce.

"They went down a treat."

He saved the skull of the fish and intended to preserve it for posterity, and plans to have it mounted on his wall.