Small fry catches world record fish

Six-year-old Joshua Mead will be the toast of tiny Motumaoho School near Morrinsville this week after hooking and landing a world age-group record for a striped marlin.

Joshua's marlin, caught off Doubtless Bay in the Far North, was weighed in at Mangonui wharf yesterday at 102.4kg, allowing him to claim the International Game Fishing Association world record catch for a male Junior Small Fry (up to 7 years old).

The young fisherman hooked his catch on a 37kg line on the Tauranga boat Lady Lola, skippered by his grandfather, Ross Mead.

It took Joshua, weighing 22kg, about an hour and a half from hooking to get his marlin on board.