TWO Brit backpackers landed a giant goliath grouper while on a dream trip to Australia – weighing a whopping 600lbs.

Ed Hirst, 25, and Harry Thomas, 27, caught the monster fish in Port Douglas, Queensland after an epic 30-minute tug-of-war from the beach.

The thrilled pals, who are travelling across Oz, reeled in the beast and had to use a tie-down strap slipped around the fish’s gargantuan girth to drag the animal in. 

Goliath grouper is a protected species in Queensland so the fish was quickly released after a photo to record the catch.

“It was so big I honestly thought it was a saltwater crocodile,” Ed told The Sun.

“But then this big tail splashed out of the water and we realised it was a goliath grouper. We were thrilled, what a spectacular catch.

“I’ve done a bit of fishing back home but this was on another level, what an amazing experience.

“It was pretty spectacular and quite a big crowd gathered to watch us bring it in, they were cheering and clapping.”

The duo weren’t able to weigh the fish but after showing photos to some people at the tackle shop the catch made it into the local paper in Cairns and was estimated at 600lbs plus.

“I’ll take that,” Ed said. “Everyone’s been talking about it, they called it George which apparently is what they call all big fish.”

Ed, from Ware, Herts, has been in Australia for ten months with his girlfriend Izzy Suckling, 24.

He has been working as a groundsman for an arborist and using his spare time to travel around the country.

Ed met pal Harry, from Devon, on his travels six months ago and the pair have been fishing almost every day since.

“We have been trying to catch a big fish, but were targeting giant trevally or smaller sharks, we never expected to land a grouper,” he said.

“It hooked on to Harry’s line and luckily he’s a big lad who goes to the gym every day so was able to reel it in.

“We could not pick it up because it was so heavy but we got in the water with it to take some photos.

“Grouper are a protected species so we had to let it go in the end, but you can’t let go of the memories.”

The heaviest goliath grouper ever caught was a 680lbs monster in 1961.

The 7ft beast was caught by an angler who fought the fish for over an hour off Fernandina Beach in Florida.