When Jayson Growcott paddled out to sea on Saturday he was hoping to catch a wave but instead caught a 11 kilogram snapper - with his bare hands.

About 250-metres offshore the Waitara man had just entered the lineup at Okato's popular point break, Pūniho Rd, when he spotted a fin flapping in the air.

"Curiosity got the better of me and so I paddled out about 60-metres to it," he said.

Supplied The former commercial fisherman said catching the huge fish was like winning lotto.

As he closed in on the wounded yet still lively fish he stopped, sat up on his board and "thought 'how am I going to do this?".

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But his movements startled the snapper which shifted from lying on its side and into the swimming position.

Supplied The fish swam across the surfer's board when he grabbed it and tied his leg rope around its tail.

He thought he'd blown his chance at being able to make a dive for the fish but with a flick of its tail it made its own way to Growcott and straight across the top of his surfboard.

Grabbing it by the tail and under the gill plate, he quickly wrapped his board's leg rope around its tail.

"It was a bit of a Crocodile Dundee moment that one."

He returned to shore through 2.5m swells with the fish attached to his board.

Once back on land the former commercial fisherman took the snapper to be weighed.

He knew it was a big catch but hadn't banked on it coming in at a whopping 11kg, or 24 pounds.

"I've spent thousands of hours trying to catch a trophy snapper like that on a fishing line and the best I've done is 10 pounds.

"Basically I've won lotto, I don't think this will ever happen to me again in my lifetime."

The third generation fisherman put his catch down to luck and being in the right place at the right time.

He believed the fish had sustained an injury from a small shark as there was a bite mark on its stomach.

Growcott has already filleted the snapper which has been put in his freezer ready to enjoy with his loved ones who were all said to be "blown away" by the catch.

"I'm going to smoke the fillets on it and sit down and enjoy it with my friends and family."