Rachel Mealey: Well, we’ve all heard the stories about the one that got away, but a 19-year-old from Katherine in the Northern Territory has a great yarn to tell after catching a barramundi that has won him $1 million. Keegan Payne snagged the prize fish, which has eluded anglers since the competition was first established nine years ago. Nick Grimm reports.
Nick Grimm: For 19-year-old Keegan Payne, tossing a line into the Katherine River has been a life-changing experience.
Keegan Payne: Oh, it felt good. We weren’t actually expecting a tag barra at the time, until a little sister actually asked what it was in the fish and we told her and we were freaking out. Nearly crashed the boat getting back to the boat disaster, but yeah, it was good.
Nick Grimm: He’s the first angler ever to catch the Northern Territory’s most elusive fish, released each year into the Top End’s waterways as part of an annual competition set up to lure recreational fishers hoping they can be the one to score a million dollar haul. But for the past nine seasons, no one has been able to find, let alone reel in, the fish bearing the winning tag. NT Chief Minister Eva Lawler announced this year’s lucky recipient this morning.
Eva Lawler: After nine seasons, the barra has been caught, but a million dollars today goes to Keegan Payne. Keegan from Katherine, he caught the fish in the, well, it’s maybe a bit of a secret spot, but he can tell you about that, but he’s caught the million dollar barra.
Keegan Payne: Oh, the whole family was shocked. Yeah, they’re all proud of me.
Nick Grimm: Keegan Payne says the prize money he’ll receive will mean a lot for himself and his seven siblings. He says Katherine will keep on being home, but he’s contemplating splashing out on a trip to America, along with a new car and of course, a new boat.
Keegan Payne: We’re from Katherine, only a small town. Mum’s from Kakadu and Dad’s from Queensland. We’ve been growing up in Katherine for, I think, 28 years now. It’s pretty hard going for us at the moment with money, but yeah, now with a million dollars, don’t have to complain about it.
Nick Grimm: Meanwhile, disappointed fishers still have a bit of time left to potentially hook other tag barra money worth $10,000. And next year, there will be another million dollar fish released into the territory’s waters. Ronald Voukolous is manager of Darwin’s Fishing and Outdoor World.
Ronald Voukolous: It’s been a struggle to find red tags this year. It’s been one of the trickiest years and that’s actually not a bad thing because you’ve had a couple of consecutive good wet seasons. So we’ve got a really healthy barra population. So obviously a hundred tagged fish plus a few extras, you know, trying to pluck them out of millions and millions of barramundi is no easy feat. So an area like that part of the Katherine River isn’t like you don’t get lots and lots of barra there. So if it was going to come from somewhere, it would have been one of those areas where there’s not as big a population of barramundi as say further down the tidal section of the Daly River or something like that.
Nick Grimm: And I guess you’d have to say every fisher person has got a good story to tell, but young Keegan Payne has probably got the best story of all today.
Ronald Voukolous: Yeah, I don’t know of too many fish fishing trips where someone, normally we say about the thousands that it costs you in the endless pursuit of that iconic fish, particularly barramundi. So not many people end up with a million dollar bonus just for going and participating in the greatest activity one can do, particularly up here in the Northern Territory.
Rachel Mealey: Ronald Voukolous from Darwin’s Fishing and Outdoor World, ending that report by Nick Grimm.
