An Albury fisherman landed just one catch in three days, but it won him more than $80,000.
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Clint Alvey claimed the overall cash prize for biggest Murray cod at freshwater fishing competition GoFish Nagambie on the weekend with a 109.96 centimetre monster.
The fish also earned him the $3000 daily prize.
Fishing with his daughter and two friends, Mr Alvey caught the beauty with a spinner bait lure about lunchtime on Friday after a 15-minute struggle.
"It wrapped me around a log probably twice, went over the boat, it was pretty difficult to get out of the snags," he said.
"We were pretty pumped, there were high fives all around."
But then came an anxious wait to see if anyone could top his effort.
"I thought I was going to get kicked off the leader board, I didn't sleep for two nights, really," he said.
Although he regularly goes fishing on the Border, Mr Alvey had never fished the Goulburn River before.
"The only thing that put me into position was looking for areas similar to the Murray, like the steep drop-off," he said.
And, the way it can happen, fishing for the rest of his weekend was "no good".
"We got a couple of bites, but we fished really hard," he said.
"It was the only fish that we landed, the only one that counts, I suppose, but we tried everything, even went back to the same spot on a couple of occasions."
More than 2000 competitors and 1000 boats took part in GoFish Nagambie, with 1150 fish caught over the weekend.
The event also raised $15,000 for MS Victoria through a boat raffle.
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Mr Alvey, who works as a concreter, said his prize would help with his family's plans to build a house.
He has caught a couple of metre-long fish before, but this success ranks with his best.
"It's right up there, the story of a lifetime, really, holding an $80,000 fish," he said.
And the Murray cod, once measured and photographed, also lived to tell the tale.
"Just before I released it, had it in my arms, it made a kick that nearly threw me back, but yeah, it swam away fine," Mr Alvey said.
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