But Kathy was still surprised when Joel came back to their Tarbuck Bay home from school yesterday with a 92cm flathead he caught with his bare hands.

“He was yelling out to me, come out and look at this,” she said.

“Joel saw it in Smiths Lake when he got off the bus.

“He pinned the flathead’s mouth down with a stick and put his hands under its gills and broke its neck. That’s a pretty good to way to catch a fish, straight off the bus from school.”

Kathy said they invited their neighbours round for dinner that night to share Joel’s catch.

The fish fed 12 people with some left over the next day.

“It has been a long time since a big one like that has come out of the lake,” she said.

“Joel’s back at school today, with a tale to tell.”