By GREGG WYCHERLEY
A snapper entered in a $20,000 fishing competition had been dead two weeks, a court was told today.
Gary Fisken, Paul Jackison, and Shane O'Connell have pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted false pretences by entering the fish to win the top prize in a Matamata fishing club competition in 2000.
Fisken claimed to have caught the 14.35kg fish off a sunken barge in the Firth of Thames on December 2 2000.
It was one of three fish caught that weighed over the 13.6kg minimum to be eligible for the prize.
Tournament officials said they were immediately suspicious of the age of the fish, and the prize was awarded to the second heaviest fish, caught by a Matamata teenager.
Prosecutor Mark Sturm told the Hamilton District Court that the monster snapper was so floppy it hung over the edge of the scales.
He said a scientist who examined the fish stated that the mullet found in the stomach of the fish was fresher than the snapper itself.
Witnesses said the fish was soft and grey, had scales falling off and generally gave the appearance of an old fish.
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