"What a thrill. It was a real big fish to catch off the beach."
"It put up a good fight to begin with then the line went slack. I thought I had lost it. But it was riding the waves into shore. I must have tired it out."
The snapper weighed in at 4.7kgs - more than a kilo bigger than the next best snapper caught on the day, and the biggest fish Mr Marsh has ever caught.
He won a brand new quad bike courtesy of Keown Honda, one of three major sponsors alongside David Jones Motors and Wilson's Hunting and Fishing. More than $40,000 in prizes was awarded.
Gary's big catch.
The fishing adjunct-organised Monster competition lured 600 fishers on both days of the two-day event, with about 80 fish caught. Saturday was a teaser event with a $1000 prize for the biggest Kahawai caught.
Many fishers camped overnight.
Organiser Ken Mander said numbers were down slightly on last year and put that down to the competition taking place a few weeks later than normal due to tides and somewhere to set-up a headquarters.
"We're really grateful to the Speedway for making its place available. Our usual HQ was booked out," Mr Mander explained.
He said fish were caught all the way up the beach, the sun shone and entrants were well behaved.
