Using a 24kg line, the next day Makayla hooked a striped marlin weighing in at a massive 147kg. It broke the International Game Fish Association national and world record in the ‘Small Fry’ category for under-11s.

The previous world record in the category was caught in New Zealand in 2002 and weighed 132kg.

Makayla’s proud father watched from the boat as his daughter spent almost two hours bringing the fish in, handing her cups of water throughout her mighty effort.

Mr Buttigieg said he had lodged the paperwork to list Makayla’s achievement on the International Game Fish Association website’s list of world record breakers and was just waiting for it to be formalised.