“You can’t believe how I stoked I am,” he said.

Mr Kehoe was at his Eden home when he received the call from acting club president Eddy Evans.

“I was crying driving down because I was just so rapt.”

The grand prize capped off the week-long family fishing competition, attracting anglers from almost every state and territory across Australia.

Mr Evans said he could not believe the attendance across the week, especially Saturday.

“It’s a fabulous rollout and it’s a credit to the club, the committee and to everybody who helped put this together,” he said.

“The sponsorships, from a couple of dollars to over $10,000, is a credit to those people.

"And I can’t thank my staff enough.”

Mr Evans struggled for words at times, completely overwhelmed with crowd he was overlooking from the clubhouse.

“It’s just been an incredible eight days,” he said.

Entrants fell just shy of 900, but crept past last year’s record of 864 in spite of the conditions Mr Evans labelled as “deplorable”.

“Many of the fishermen, who are really, really keen, went out and turned back,” Mr Evans said.

“It took a gutsy effort for people to stand out there. There was a lot of sickness.”

A low during the week brought big swells, ranging from five to six metres in the surf and up to three metres in the bay.

“It’s an uncomfortable way to try and go about your fishing,” Mr Evans said.

“The fishing was really poor, but having said that people have gone out and enjoyed themselves as much as possible.”

The feeding of the 500 felt like the 5000 for staff members, who were busy ensuring everyone was fed on Saturday.

Many attendees left having caught a fish, winning a prize or simply having a bite to eat.

Aaron Habgood reeled in the largest catch of the week with a 111kg marlin.

Mr Evans said he was happy for a local to have won the boat and looked forward to a greater turnout next year.

The committee will meet on Thursday, March 16 to review the competition.

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