Nagambie teen Jono Moore has hooked an $80,000 cash prize, landing his first metre cod at a local fishing competition.
Anglers from across the country swarmed to the Goulburn River over the weekend for the third GoFish Nagambie Tournament.
And they were all hunting for one thing — the competition's infamous $80,000 cod.
Fishing with his dad since before he could walk, Mr Moore certainly had the home-court advantage.
"Me and my mates, we go out pretty much every weekend just fishing everywhere from Mitchelton all the way down to Murchison," he said.
The 18-year-old had only been fishing for 20 minutes on Saturday when he made the winning catch.
"Then I got it up next to the boat and got it in the net, and me and my mate looked at each other and thought, 'Oh, it's not going to go a metre'."
But on measuring, they discovered it was a 105cm monster Murray cod.
"And then it was just all hugs and yelling from there," he said.
Nervous wait for win confirmation
Soon after the catch, Mr Moore and his friend ran into their hero, Paul Worsteling from IFish TV, at the local bakery.
"I still had the nerves and adrenaline going," he said.
"He [Mr Worsteling] was very excited for me."
After an anxious sleep, and rumours someone else had made a bigger catch, Mr Moore was called on Sunday morning to be told he had won.
Often the winnings are split equally by whoever is in the boat.
"My mate and I, I said we'd go 70–10 [thousand dollars] if we win," Mr Moore said.
"And he was like, 'No, we'll go 75–5 because he thought he was going to catch the bigger one.
"But he was more excited than me that I won."
Big plans for big prize
As for how he will spend the winnings, Mr Moore is hoping to buy his dream boat — but his mum has slightly different ideas.
"I think I might do that too if I can."
He plans to return to the competition next year to see if he can lure in another big cash prize.
"Just keep trying, never give up. You never know when you're going to get one," he said.
