WHEN Alex Rugus was jolted by a 50kg force on the end of his line the Jurien Bay fisherman assumed he had hooked an octopus.

But what he had snared was more technical then tentacle - although there was certainly something very fishy about it.

He had in fact landed himself... a lawn mower.

Covered in algae and moss to suggest it had spent some time down there, Mr Rugus said it was most definitely the strangest thing he had ever hooked.

Camera Icon Alex Rugus suspects he’s caught a big fish

“It was very unusual,” the 60-year-old said.

“I had been out on my tinny and had drifted a bit, out towards Boullanger Island. I had caught myself a few trevally and thought I was on to something bigger.

“I suspected it might have been an octopus so I got the gaff on to it... but it wasn’t thrashing around like you would expect.”

Camera Icon ... but it isn’t thrashing around like it should do

And rather than the old catch and release policy, Mr Rugus was not about to dump to rusty gardening favourite back in the ocean.

“I pulled it on board and hauled it back to the marina area. Someone joked it must have been the gardener’s from Atlantis,” he said.

“I left it there to organise to get rid of it, but it had gone by the time I came back. I assuming to the bin, not for someone’s shed.”

Camera Icon Ah. It’s a lawn mower.

The strange find goes to show that the ocean is sometimes a lawn unto itself.

But hopefully the recreational angler reels something more expected next time he heads out ... there’s plenty mower fish in the sea.