He almost missed out on the fish, after his line became tangled with his son's, who had hooked a catfish at about the same time, but they were able to free the lines.

"When we got it in the boat... it was covered in algae so we thought it was an old fisheries tag and when I pulled the algae off I saw Million Dollar competition written on it," he said.

There was a hold up with confirmation that Mr Hale had won the prize because he is an employee of Qantas, which is sponsoring the promotion.

"I wasn't supposed to be registered," Mr Hale said.