Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught, but in the outback Queensland town of Mount Isa the lines are tighter than ever this summer.
Anglers are flocking to Lake Moondarra to try their luck after several reports of trophy-sized barramundi biting the lures, each bigger than the one before.
Skilled angler Scott Grech bagged a 140-centimetre-long barramundi last weekend.
"I've fished this lake for six years," he said.
"My personal best was 123cm. This fish absolutely smashed that.
The "big girl" was too beautiful for a dinner plate, Mr Grech said, adding that he hopes to see another one soon.
"I don't eat these kind of fish. They're just too good to catch once," he said.
Jeremy Germaine, who hooked a 131cm catch, said it was unlike anything he had seen before locally.
Lewis Ahfat was one of the first to hook a giant barramundi late last year.
Although he did not have his measuring tape handy, the photo shows it was almost as big as him.
"It was really heavy," he said.
Secretary of the Mount Isa Fish Stocking Group (MIFSG), Stephen Farnsworth, suspects the recently caught fish could be record-breakers.
"The biggest we have officially caught and weighed was 26 kilograms. I think the fish that we've seen recently are bigger than that," he said.
'Take the big ones out'
Lake Moondarra is an artificial lake stocked with about 10,000 fingerlings each year for recreational fishing.
Contrary to common belief the barramundi do not breed in the freshwater lake, instead needing a saltwater environment to procreate.
Mr Farnsworth encouraged anglers to take their catches home.
"The dam hasn't gone over for a long time so there's a lot of big fish out there. When the storms and the heat come on, the fish start to move around and get active," he said.
He called on lucky fishers to record and share their catches.
"The only way we can tell how big they are is by people catching them and putting the information up," Mr Farnsworth said.
"That's one thing I'd like to see people do when they put those photos up, give us some idea of the length and possibly the girth. That information is really useful to us."
Those looking to free a catch should make sure to cradle the fish when posing for a photo, not hold it up by the head which can cause damage to the skeleton, Mr Farnsworth said.
"Late afternoon seems to be the best time to get out and catch something, especially if you're fishing around the edges of the weed beds," he said.
