You can get full size ones in Caloundra 
Quote: Pelican Waters barramundi a surprise catch
IT'S the one that didn't get away – a 13kg barramundi caught by a 16-year-old angler in a Sunshine Coast canal 400km south of its natural habitat.
Brisbane teenager Daniel Sydes snared the 1.3m monster while on an annual family holiday at Caloundra.
The Year 11 St Joseph's Nudgee College student and his mate Jason Dore, 15, were fishing from a 3.5m tinnie in a Pelican Waters canal when the big fish took the bait.
"It was midday and I was in the bow of the boat when the rod went crazy and started jumping around," Daniel said. "Jason and I had to dive around to catch it and when we got there all the line was already out."
The duo thought they'd snared a large jewfish, a common species in sea-fed coastal canals, until after a 15-minute fight the giant barramundi appeared at the side of the boat.
"We tried to use the landing net to bring it in but all we could fit was its head," Daniel said. "So we got the head in and then grabbed the tail and brought it aboard."
Daniel, who used a relatively light rig of 3kg to 5kg baitcaster, 15lb fishing line, 25lb trace and a lure, said he rushed home with his unusual catch to show his father and weekend fishing companion, Jim Sydes.
"When he told me on the phone I laughed and said, 'It's not a barramundi Dan'," Mr Sydes said. "But when I got home I looked in the Esky and there was a massive barra, I was shocked."
The fish is mainly found in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area between Gladstone and Cape York.
Ken Brown of Coastwatch said tales of "southern barra" were usually considered an urban myth.
He said the huge fish could have been an escapee from a breeding pond or stocked dam that had followed the warm currents south, or an aquarium fish that out-grew its tank and had been illegally released.
The September 25 catch came four weeks after the alleged sighting of a 4.8m crocodile in Hervey Bay, 320km north of Brisbane.
State Environment Minister Andrew McNamara said the Environmental Protection Agency was investigating the report and called on boaties to contact the EPA if they saw anything.
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). If you can get them now, they are a decent size and your setup enables you to feed them at optimum level till temps drop, you may well be able to grow them out. They are quick growers, that's for sure.
). I was also ill prepared to feed them optimum rate early on, so had to feed less.