THE Northern Territory is in the grips of fishing fever after yet another $10,000 prize tagged barramundi was caught today as part of the NT Government’s Million Dollar Fish competition.
The prized catch is the third $10,000 tagged barramundi to be caught in the past seven days and the 10th of the competition so far.
The 58cm barra was caught by former Hawthorn footballer, Brent Renouf, who recently relocated to Darwin from Victoria with his wife and young family in December.
Remarkably, Renouf only registered for the competition this morning at the insistence of his Mother-in-law.
“I was going fishing by myself on my father-in-law’s boat and my mother-in-law said well you better get on the internet and register before you go,” Renouf said.
“She wouldn’t let me leave until I’d signed up.”
The 27 year old said he didn’t pay much attention to the prized fish at first.
“The red tag was covered in green algae so I didn’t realise at first but then I looked at it a bit closer and couldn’t believe it.
I’m still shaking. I had already caught a few barra so I called the Million Dollar Fish hotline right away and took the verification photos before releasing the fish.”
Renouf, who is married to the niece of AFL legend, Michael Long, says he will use his cash prize to buy a new boat.
“It’ll be good to have my own boat so I don’t have to borrow the in-laws anymore,” he said.
Tourism NT CEO Tony Mayell said the competition was set for a thrilling finish with just 12 days to go to land one of 67 tagged fish remaining including the big one – the million dollar fish.
“Congratulations to Brent on becoming our 10th winner. This competition has surprised us all and I encourage everyone to tell their family and friends interstate to book a holiday up here to the Northern Territory and take part in this amazing competition while you can. You never know it could leave you one million dollars richer,” Mayell said.
