One of the special new $5000 charity barras part of the famous NT-wide Million Dollar Fish competition may never be claimed.
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For three experienced Katherine fishermen, the task of tagging the barra last week seemed pretty simple at first.
But without the necessary tools, the plan did not go smoothly.
President of the Katherine Game Fishing Club, Harry Renfree, and his mate Mal Roney, who is the Vice president, were given the honour of tagging a barra upping its worth by $5000, by ABC fishing show Tales from the Tinny.
For life-long fishermen, it shouldn’t have been a taxing task.
Unfortunately the $5000 barra, released into the Angalarri River region, which flows into the Victoria River, is unlikely to ever be claimed.
“The story goes like this,” Mr Renfree said.
“So we were out there fishing on the water. We were just supporting the Allure all girls fishing competition.
“Mal had tagged plenty of fish before, so I let him do it.
“We caught the barra fine, he was the right size 78-80 cm.
“But when it came time to tagging we realised we had forgotten the tool to implement the tag, so we had to borrow one. We were lucky to find a lady with one, but it turned out the tool was way longer than what we needed.
“Well we broke it.
“As we have gone to insert the tag we broke it and it followed through.
“Right now, there is a $5000 barra swimming around with a tag in its shoulder, but it can't be seen.
“We definitely tried to fix the situation, but it was too far gone. The tag remained inside the fish and it might not be seen again,” he said.
The fish however, is still in play.
“We spoke to the guys at [Million Dollar Fish] and they said the barra is still effective, it is just that if people catch a barra between 78-80cm they need to feel for a tag.
“They thought it was the biggest joke ever,” Mr Renfree said.
It also means there is one extra charity tag out there waiting for punters to reel it in.
“It might be a bit tougher to catch now, but if you catch a barra that’s around the right size, make sure you feel for a tag,” Mr Renfree said.
“It would be great to see someone win it,” he said.
The $5000 charity barra is a special new category of 20 fish with purple tags.
$2500 of the prize goes to the angler and the other half to a Territory-based charity.
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