Taranaki man catches 14.5kg snapper from the comfort of his home's deck

Brent Davies has always wanted to catch a fish off his deck, and on Tuesday he caught the biggest snapper he's ever caught. Photo / Supplied

A deck may not be everyone's ideal fishing spot but for one Taranaki local, it would become the place where he would catch a 14.5kg snapper.

When Brent Davies moved into his home on the Taranaki coast a few years ago, he always dreamt of catching a fish from his deck overlooking the ocean.

"I've always wanted to catch a fish off the deck, it's always been a bit of a fantasy," he said.

Once he realised surfcasting wasn't cutting it, Davies ventured into drone fishing this summer.

"I've been watching some videos of drone fishing and thought, 's***, I could do that'.

"I like having a beer on my deck and I like fishing so I'd thought I'd combine these two loves and get a drone."

Drone fishing meant Davies was able to fish from his deck, going as far out as 500m.

Davies and his neighbour always had a bit of friendly competition to see who could catch the biggest fish from their decks.

His neighbour was in the lead until Tuesday morning when Davis managed to catch a 14.5kg (32lb) snapper from his own deck.

It was mid-morning on Tuesday when Davies' uncle didn't believe he could catch fish from the comfort of his own home.

He then decided to show his uncle how it's done, and after five minutes Davies noticed the line bending over.

Moments later, he was reeling in a big fish, however at this stage he didn't realise how big the catch was.

Once he winched the fish in as far as possible, Davies placed the rod in its holder and made his way down to the beach to collect his catch.

"I had an inkling it was 30 pounds, so I thought I'd take it."

Normally Davies releases big fish back into the ocean but said this time he wanted to see how big the fish really was.

"I put it on my scale at home before I chucked it on ice and it was a bit over 30 pounds on the scales.

"I thought I should weigh it on the proper scales because no one's going to believe me, it doesn't really matter on my cheap little fish scales."

Brent Davies has always wanted to catch a fish off his deck, and on Tuesday he caught the biggest snapper he's ever caught. Photo / Supplied

He then drove down to his local boat club where the fish weighed in at 14.5kg (32lb).

"That was on the official scales so now I can tell people it was over 30 pounds and not just because I've got a buggered set of scales."

Given the size of the fish and the story behind catching it, Davies has decided to get it mounted but said he won't take a big fish ever again.

"I normally do put the big ones back but practically the way I see it is you take three 10 pounders in your chilly bin and that's got more of an effect than taking one."

Davies who has fished for most of his life has never caught a snapper over 30lb.

"It will be nice to put it up on the wall, so I can eventually negotiate with the missus about where I'm going to put it.

"I might have to take a few of the kid's photos down but when people walk in and say 'where did you watch that I can just say 'just over there'," he said.

This catch also put an end to the competition between Davies and his neighbour.

"The neighbour and I, who drone fishes off the deck as well, have a bit of a competition, he was winning with a 10 pounder.

"He texted and said 'I give up, that competition is over I think."