Kyra Bowles will never have to reminisce about the monster that got away after reeling in a giant bream from Wallis Lake earlier this week.
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But, as luck - or not - would have it, the catch was the first and only fish of the day for the elated amateur angler.
Kyra and partner Caine Collins had only just cast their lines when the yellowfin bream took the bait while they were anchored off Godwin Island.
Just a couple of minutes earlier a greedy fish took both the bait and hook, Kyra said.
"Then, just a moment later I caught this one."
A relatively new angler to the sport, it took the 38-year-old a good 2-3 minutes to reel in and net the 39cm monster using a $10 rod bought from K-Mart Forster earlier this year.
When Kyra first saw the size of the fish she said her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
Oh my God were the first words out of her mouth, Caine said.
The previous record wasn't measured only weighed and we measured mine and didn't weigh; I wonder whose was the biggest.
- Kyra Bowles
"She hasn't stopped smiling since," he said.
"I have never seen her so excited; all day I could not get the grin off her face."
Kyra knew she had reeled in a 'big one', but it wasn't until she consulted search engine Google her beliefs were confirmed.
According to the Australian National Sportfishing Association the most recent record for a record sized yellowfin bream was caught in Wallis Lake was nearly 20 years ago when Anthony Thorpe hooked a 1.5kg or 40cm catch.
Kyra is now kicking herself that she didn't think to weigh her catch of the day.
"The previous record wasn't measured only weighed and we measured mine and didn't weigh; I wonder whose was the biggest."
Kyra moved from Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, to Forster earlier this year to visit her fiance.
"I came down for a week and never went home," she said.
Living in inland Queensland didn't give Kyra many opportunities to fish.
However, now angling has become one of her favourite past-times, generally throwing a line once a week.
Kyra's prized catch has since been filleted and is sitting in the freezer ready for the dinner table.
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