The Million Dollar Fish Season 2 kicks off across the Top End in October this year (2016), this time with 100 tagged barra worth $10,000 each.
“In addition to a million-dollar fish, 100 other fish will be tagged with $10,000 prizes, up from 75 in the first event,” said NT Chief Minister Adam Giles.
If you don’t already know, this Northern Territory promotion involves the release of tagged barramundi across the Top End.
In Season 1 the fish were worth $10k each, and 10 of them were caught!
One fish was worth $1 million, but it eluded capture.
Hotspots for the capture of the tagged fish in Season 1 were Darwin Harbour and the Daly River, but they are released in waterways right across the Top End.
Nathan Neave caught TWO of the $10,000 Million Dollar Fish in Season 1. The new Season 2 kicks off in October 2016 with 100 of the tagged $10,000 barra released into NT waters. Picture: Tourism NT
North Australian FISH FINDER has detailed barramundi fishing maps. A separate GPS data card is available with marks for Top End river rockbars and hotspots. Visit www.fishfinderbooks.com
Brent Renouf tagged a $10,000 barra in Darwin Harbour on February 17. Tourism NT photo
Some fishos said none would be recaptured, but 10 of the 66 tagged $10,000 barra in the Million Dollar Fish (MDF) promotion have now been caught.
The latest captor was former AFL player Brent Renouf, who caught a tagged barra in Darwin Harbour on February 17.
The 67th barra, worth $1 million, was still out there at the time of this post.
The MDF promotion finishes at the end of February, but rumours are that it will be extended, or a similar promotion will kick off.
If so, there’s never been a better time to fish the NT.
Grab your North Australian FISH FINDER book today and start planning, or book a trip with a professional barra guide in Darwin.
And no need to go further than Darwin Harbour, where most of the 67 tagged fish were released, although tagged fish were released right across the Top End.
The fish have red tags, different from the usual yellow fisheries tags.
Here’s a bit of info about the latest capture … http://mediareleases.nt.gov.au/mediaRelease/18299
Xmas rain over the Top End’s Daly River catchment
A low pressure system set up shop over the Daly River last week and just sat there. As I write this the Daly is fast heading toward major flood level, possibly an unprecedented flood event.
Not only is this great news for the upcoming barramundi fishing run-off season, it is highly unusual, as the Weather Bureau had predicted a late, probably below average wet season as a result of the near record El Nino that is now in full swing.
If this is El Nino weather for the NT, bring it on!
It will take follow-up rain in January and February to lock in the benefits of the early Christmas flood, but it sure is a good start. The NT’s Finniss and Victoria Rivers, while the Adelaide River is now getting the rain as the low moves slowly east towards the Mary River and Kadadu catchments.
Barramundi fishing in the NT’s rivers is all about rain, even if you don’t like fishing the run-off, a long flood through to March will provide enough fodder to keep barra in the rivers for the dry season.
The NT has had succession of poor wet seasons and a good rain was badly needed.
Interestingly, statistics show La Nina years follow El Ninos, and La Ninas have traditionally brought heaps of rain to the Top End. Here’s hoping for two cracker Wets, if it happens you better pack your bags and get cracking for some mind-blowing barramundi fishing.
Meanwhile, our thoughts to the Daly River community who are now packing their bags in anticipation of the flood event that is about to happen, an unfortunate side effect of all this wonderful rain.
If you thought the Northern Territory promotion releasing 75 tagged barra worth $10,000 each, and a 76th fish worth $1 million, was a bit of a croc, you were wrong!
The Million Dollar Fish comp only started in October, and already four of the $10k barramundi have been caught.
Read the story about the fourth capture, from Corroboree Billabong here.
There’s never been a better time to fish the NT, with the comp running until the end of February 2016. The fish have been released across the Top End, so you have a chance to catch one while touring the various waterways.
Grab your North Australian FISH FINDER book today and start planning, or just book a trip with a professional barra guide.
It’s been a while but we have the best possible reason to be back posting on this blog … Tourism NT has just launched a fantastic promotion where 75 tagged barramundi worth $10,000 each will be released into Top End waters.
A 76th barra with $1m on its head will also be released.
These tagged fish can be caught between October 2015 and February 2016.
If there has ever been a reason to pack up the boat and head north, this is it. Grab a North Australian FISH FINDER book today and start planning your Million Dollar fishing trip. The fish will be released across the Top End, and our book has those spots covered with fishing maps showing the rockbars etc.
Get more info about the Tourism NT promotion here, and don’t forget to register.
To get the juices flowing, here’s a barra caught at Corroboree Billabong in July by clients of River and Reef Fishing Charters.
North Australian FISH FINDER 11 is the latest edition of ‘the bible’ … and it now includes all Australian states, but with the emphasis remaining firmly on the remote north.
This biennial book that famously tells you where rockbars, wrecks and the best fishing spots are.
Buy this book to tour Australia, especially the remote north. Keep it in your boat or 4WD.
As well as revealing spots in detail, including GPS marks for reefs, wrecks and more, this book explains fishing conditions around the continent, including weather, tides and seasonal fishing. NEW! North Australian FISH FINDER 11 The new FISH FINDER has, as always, new and exciting Northern Territory coverage, including a superb bathymetric map of the Darwin Harbour sea floor, with a Lat-Long grid for taking GPS marks.
For Queenslanders, there is also a new multi-page aerial photography special on MACKAY and TOWNSVILLE creeks and rivers.
FISH FINDER 11 is the first Australian book to regularly incorporate exclusive Dr Depth micro charts of selected hotspots. Some of the more recently charted areas include:
* Nine Mile, Black Rock and other reefs near the QLD/NSW border.
* Adelaide River rockbars, NT.
* Daly River rockbars, NT.
* Finniss River rockbars, NT.
* Bass Reef, NT.
* Bynoe Wide, NT.
* Fog Bay Wide, NT.
* Shady Camp freshwater rockbars and Jewfish Reef, NT.
* Adelaide River jewfish reef, NT.
* Middle Arm, Darwin Harbour, NT.
* Lee Point Artificial Reefs, NT.
* Fenton Patches Artificial Reefs, NT.
* Elizabeth River, Darwin Harbour, NT.
* Yepoon region reefs, Qld.
* Botany Bay and The Peak, NSW.
And much more!
There is great information for Cape York Peninsula, including …
* The ultra-remote Kirke and Love Rivers
* Fishing and camping around The Tip
* Camping at remote Skardon River
* Cape York’s West Coast (Gulf of Carpentaria) remote community camps
The SEQ section is superb …
*Double-page spread on Jumpinpin, featuring a superb satellite image.
*Double-page spread on Great Sandy Strait, featuring a superb satellite image.
*Double-page spread on Fraser Island, featuring a superb satellite image.
*Double-page spread on Moreton Bay, featuring a superb satellite image.
*Maps of the major reefs wide of Tweed Heads, south to Black Rock.
There’s a vast WA section, from Perth north to the NT border. Highlights include …
*Huge Pilbara and Kimberley coverage. See the shallow estuaries around Port Hedland and Karratha at low tide
*Almost all of the Kimberley coast is covered by satellite imagery
FISH FINDER 11 includes the NSW coast from border to border, including …
* Superb aerial imagery of Port Hacking
* Exclusive charts of The Peak, Botany Bay, and Flint and Steel
* Superb aerial image of Lake Mulwala
* Aerial photos of most NSW coastal bar crossings
Plus Queensland and NSW stocked dams.
This exciting book has amazing aerial coverage, so you can see the layout of estuaries to assess potential fishing spots.
There’s advice on choosing gear, including specialist barramundi boats and tackle.
Order a copy here or get it at your newsagent or tackle shop.
Published privately by Sunday Territorian (Darwin) fishing editor Matt Flynn.
