After an action-packed few days at sea, the Hawke’s Bay Megafish competition has reached an epic conclusion, with one fisherman snagging a whopping 122.2-kilogram striped marlin.

Fishing from the boat Big Red with his cousin Tim, angler John Chittick walked away $20,000 richer after claiming both the earlybird and overall prizes.

According to a Facebook update, the prize-winning fish was caught “within two minutes of lines hitting the water”.

Chittick said while he couldn’t pinpoint the exact time it took to reel in the monster, he thought it was around 50 minutes.

 “It was pretty intense,” he said.

A keen member of the Hawke’s Bay Sports Fishing Club, he also had naming rights to two species in the competition, snapper and albacore.

When asked what would be happening to the prize-winning fish, Chittick said it was already on its way to the smoker and would be shared with family and friends.

This year’s competition was reported to have had a record number of sign-ups, with more than 500 individual entries and 130 boats vying for the top prize.

Originally scheduled to start on February 2, adverse weather conditions delayed it by one day and one hour.

Anglers from all walks of life were out in force over the long weekend.

Felix Terry, six, reeled in an impressive 13.73kg kingfish, and the first fish of the tournament went to Campbell Young from the vessel Nirvana, who captured a sizeable yellowfin tuna.

Hawke’s Bay Sports Fishing Club manager and immediate past-president Neil Price said sea conditions throughout the event were “a little bit bumpy”, but overall, the majority of the days allowed for some good fishing.

He also said there was an unexpected amount of yellowfin tuna caught, which boded well for the competition’s spearfish/tuna category.

“They [yellowfins] are a bit of a rarity in our waters.”

Once known as the Coruba Shark Hunt, the biggest ever catch recorded at the event was a massive 417kg mako, which was landed in 1999.

The inaugural event was held in 1977, and the Megafish rebrand has since become one of the most prominent fishing events in Hawke’s Bay.