Biggest season ever for the NT’s Million Dollar Fish

Season 8 of Million Dollar Fish has wrapped up and it was oh-fish-ally the biggest on record, with $230,000 given away to the fishos lucky enough to reel in one of the 20 caught red-tagged barramundi.

The barra were biting this season with the most winning fish caught between the competition dates of 1 October to 31 March. After an incredible start to the season, with 16 fish caught in the first two months, it seemed the barra enjoyed a festive break over December and January, with none caught. February saw one fish bagged, and a concerted effort by fishos to bag Double the Dough in March saw two barra reeled in. A day before Season 8 wrapped up Asman from Borroloola landed a tagged barra and a cool $10,000.

Season 8 was the biggest in more ways than one, with the most people registering in the history of the competition – 47,949 compared to 38,556 in Season 7. A staggering 55.2% of registrants were from interstate, showing how word is spreading about Million Dollar Fish, encouraging more people to come here and try their luck.

The Million Dollar Fish competition, underwritten by SportsBet, also saw $22,000 donated to the competition’s official charity partners – Cancer Council NT, Starlight and Shoreline.

While the season may be over for another year, registered fishos shouldn’t pack away their fishing gear just yet, with the nine fish carrying tags worth $1 million eligible to be caught year-round, including the Season 8 tagged fish with the number S8-MDF8323.

SportsBet NT Operations and Partnerships Manager Thijs Bors says “It’s been a phenomenal season and we can’t wait for Season 9 next year, where we hope to see even more anglers win big.

“Million Dollar Fish is the greatest fishing comp in Australia, and we hope someone will reel in the $1 million dollar barra soon.”