'You'll need an awful lot of chips': Mum reels in monster fish

A 68-year-old woman has made a splash after reeling in an enormous fish while on a fishing charter trip off the coast of Western Australia.

Sue Elcock was visiting her son, Simon, and his wife in Perth from the UK and decided to join him on a Reel Force Fishing Charters trip out to Lancelin, north of Perth, last week.

Reel Force Fishing Charters's Brendon Shinnick told Yahoo7 that Ms Elcock had already done three charters and wasn't sure she was going to last.

"It was 6am when she cracked open a beer and we set off at 4am," he said.

"But she stepped up, threw a line in and it hit the bottom of the seabed."

The crew watched on in shock as the 68-year-old, with the assistance of an electrical wheel, reeled in a colossal giant bass grouper.

"We helped her get the fish on board," Mr Shinnick said.

"She was stoked at the size of it."

According to Fishes of Australia, bass groupers can reach two metres in length and weigh up to 100kg, but are commonly 80cm long and 15kg.

He added she went back and opened another beer to celebrate her 1.5-metre long, 62kg catch.

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Ms Elcock also got to keep it.

On returning to the shore, Mr Shinnick asked a commercial fisherman to clean the catch properly to prepare it for a meal.

Ms Elcock told the Sun she had been out with her son, "an experienced sea angler", on fishing charters before but has never caught anything bigger than a one-foot snapper. She said the grouper didn't seem big when she felt the first tug on the line.

"I was using one of Simon's electric reels but it still took nearly an hour to get him on board," she said.

"And I just couldn't believe the size of it when it reared its head out the water. It was the size of a settee (couch)."

She added someone told her she would need "an awful lot of chips to go with a fish like that".

Simon and his mum cut up the fish together and put it in the freezer.

"Simon and Michelle (wife) will be enjoying fish barbies for months when I'm long back in the UK," she said.