WHAT do you call a whopping one-metre flathead when you live and breathe fishing?
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“The Holy Grail,” Paul Lennon says.
The Port Stephens fisherman has reason to smile this week after he reeled in the 101-centimetre monster from waters near Karuah.
Mr Lennon is known for his expertise with a rod, having caught the biggest and best of just about every species.
But it was the elusive one-metre flathead that had always steered clear of his lure – until now.
“There’s been a lot of stories about the one-metre flatty, but never any photos,” Mr Lennon said. “So it’s really special to be able to catch it. I’ve been doing this all my life and never caught one.”
The female fighter took a while to reel in, and Mr Lennon was caught off guard, expecting to see a mulloway at the end of the line. “I was surprised, that’s for sure,” he said.
True to the fisherman’s code, Mr Lennon took a picture with the giant, before kissing and releasing her back into the wild.