There is a monster lurking in our local waters - confirmed.
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Late last year legendary River Monsters' fisherman Jeremy Wade was spotted in Tamworth, on the road to Copeton Dam hunting for a mythical sized giant Murray Cod for new show Dark Waters, and he was not left disappointed.
In an exclusive chat with the Leader, Wade confirmed the giant fish"definitely exists, and very big ones as well."
"Over 30 years ago I heard some vague tales about boats sinking, fishermen being knocked about, and divers seeing fish so big they refused to go back under in waters in New South Wales - and "could never shake the impression they were giants."
"The Murray Cod is one of the world's iconic fish, so it was always on my radar."
Wade threw lines in all over inland NSW, including the Bathurst, Tamworth and Inverell areas, before completing his monster hunt on the Macquarie River, were local guides claim the biggest monsters lurk.
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"I can't give away too many spoilers - but this is a very good news story because giant Murray Cod are definitely out there," he said.
"Even for non-anglers this is good news for the planet. People need to be aware of how precious these animals are.
"The water is obviously very low at the moment, but these fish are clearly adapted - give Mother Nature a bit of help and it is surprising what can happen."
In Tamworth Wade heard from local fishermen Tony Grills, who told him the tale of two Japanese divers inspecting the inside wall of Keepit Dam.
"There is that old story from the 1960s's of two Japanese divers who were inspecting the inside of the wall at Keepit Dam," Mr Grills said.
"They came scurrying back to the surface and refused to go back down without shark cages - there must be some big Murray Cod down there."
While the Dark Waters series, including the giant Murray Cod episode, airs on Animal Planet starting June 3, the TV star is far from finished in inland NSW.
"As we travel around we gather up as many tales and information as we can get - and there are some good ones out there, but fishermen do have a reputation for exaggeration so we need to weigh it all up," he said.
"We were on a pretty tight schedule and had some very good guides, but I would love to come back and fish the area properly - it was very interesting fishing."
