In New Zealand angler Otwin Kandolf may be unable to claim a world record for this monster Brown Trout – despite it being over the current best mark and the official weighing process at a local buther’s being filmed and shown live on television. 

The 93cm long female fish was weighed at 20.5kg (45lb) on the bank straight after capture on the Waitaki Hydro Canals on Central South Island – some 3.5lb over the existing IGFA All Tackle record.

By the time it got to the digital scales at The Happy Butcher’s Shop in Timaru the weight had dropped to 19.1kg (42lb 2oz) – but still over the record brown trout caught on Lake Michigan in 2010.

However, Otwin believed the world record to be over 45lb and sent it off to a taxidermist, which could prevent a successful world record claim.

The Waitaki Hydro Canals are a noted hotspot for huge trout in recent years, with fish growing fat on pellets that drift downstream from salmon farms.