SYDNEY (AFP) - A thief has been caught on camera hooking a gold necklace with a fishing rod in a brazen night-time theft from an Australian designer store.

The thief, captured on closed-circuit television camera, broke the store window in Melbourne's central business district before using a fishing rod to hook the Versace necklace, local police said on Wednesday (March 4).

But it took the inner-city angler nearly three hours to land his catch.

After first attempts with a smaller rod failed, the man decided to get a bigger rod, eventually snagging the US$700 (S$970) gold piece from a mannequin's neck in a crime police described as - until now - unseen.

"It's fairly blatant and it's quite bold as well, to have someone attend with a fishing rod in the middle of the night," Victoria Police Senior Constable Bede Whitty said.

Police released the footage as they attempt to net the balding, middle-aged thief.