of Wreck Hill, Somerset, last week.

Patrick Pedro caught the 36-pound fish just before nightfall as he and his wife Verlene sat in their boat at their favourite fishing haunt.

Patrick said: ''We have a spot that we fish. We throw down some fry to bait up the snappers.

"My wife threw down some bait and was pulling up a snapper and he (the pompano) chased after it.

"I had an Ocean Robin that I chopped in half and put on a 125-pound test line and threw it down there and he sucked it right in.

"I couldn't hold him. I had it wrapped around the light on the boat and the reel jumped overboard. When I got it untangled, it only had five feet left, he had taken the rest.

"I just wrapped it around my hand and left it there, hoping that he wouldn't break it. It took about 15 minutes to reel him in. I had a yellow glove that I use, so it didn't cut my hand.''