His trout — a rare catch in the Murray River — had him excited and he eagerly threaded another worm on his hook and recast his 35-pound cod line into the swirling water below the dam wall where he sat with his mate.

When he hooked what he thought was “a big cod” soon after, he was even more confident the fishing gods were running his way.

About seven minutes later he realised there was a catch to it.

That’s when Mr Burkitt caught a glimpse of the 87 centimetre, 11.5 kilogram monster on his line and his heart sank.

“I could see it was a carp,” he said.

“I thought it was a big cod to start with — I’ve never heard of a carp this big in Australia, only overseas.”

Although not the fish he had hoped for, Mr Burkitt, 25, wasn’t too disappointed — he landed two yellow bellies before heading home.