Sooner or later, someone will surely catch a tagged barra worth $1 million. That is especially given that, each annual season, the number of barra swimming around which are each worth a million bucks increases.
Season 6 of what is the richest fishing competition in the world will run from 1 October this year to 31 March next year, and registrations are now open.
And this season, you have seven chances to catch a “jackpot” fish.
The previous season’s $1 million tag numbers to look out for include:
· S1-MDF1469
· S2-MDF2656
· S3-MDF3556
· S4-MDF4540 and S4-MDF4663
· S5-MDF5501
Once any one of the seven Million Dollar Fish are caught, the remaining six revert to $10,000 value.
I expect that the seventh $1 million tag number will be revealed shortly.
On top of the big-cash fish, once again there will be 100 red-tagged barra out there with each one worth $10,000.
We know these fish can be readily caught because more than 40 of them already have over the previous five seasons.
Also again, there will be 20 $5,000 purple-tagged barra – win $2,500 for yourself, and $2,500 for the MDF charity of your choice.
For the first time ever, MDF has released a new category of tagged fish: the Double Tag Barra.
With one released in each MDF fishing location across the Top End (totalling five fish), fishos who catch the Double Tag Barra win $10,000, plus $5,000 for a mate who’s been having a tough time this year.
Registered Season 6 participants who reel in a tagged fish can score even more with the first-ever official MDF shirt.
The limited-edition shirt could be your lucky charm: if you’re wearing it when you catch a tagged fish, you’ll land an extra $1,000 of prizes.
By simply registering for Season 6, you also go into the Lucky Prize Pool, with $50,000 worth of prizes from MDF partners up for grabs.
According to Brad Fanning from Sportsbet, which is the official partner of MDF, the new Double Tag Barra are referred to as “Covid Fish”, given their capture will help out people having a tough time.
“NT Major Events is really trying to build up this new season of MDF and, given it’s a major event lasting six months, the opportunities are endless,” Brad said.
“The Deloitte survey commissioned by Tourism NT to evaluate Season 4 reaffirmed how important recreational fishing is to the NT economy.
“It was a 250K survey, so it was serious and it showed $31 million worth of economic stimulus was generated by Season 4 – a huge annual figure,” Brad explained.
Personally, I found it most interesting that the survey established that 4 out of 10 interstate and international visitors travelled specifically to NT for the Million Dollar Fish competition.
A further 98% of registrants indicated they were likely to participate in MDF again, and 34% of visitors surveyed said they changed the timing of their trip to the Top End to coincide with the MDF competition.
Importantly, 82% of registrants went fishing in the Top End during Season 4 of MDF.
NT Major Events Company CEO, Tim Watsford, said: “The Territory competes easily on the world stage when it comes to incredible fishing experiences, and Million Dollar Fish provides even more reasons for people to hit our waterways during the tropical summer.
“With seven Million Dollar Fish out there, there’s never been a better time to stay, play and fish our regions, from the Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land to Darwin, Kakadu and Katherine regions,” Tim explained.
You can register for Million Dollar Fish Season 6 at www.milliondollarfish.com.au
PHOTO:
Rosemary Campbell caught her terrific Dundee jewie fishing with hubby Greg Campbell.