Territory fisho doubles the dough with a $20k barra

Another lucky fisho has scored himself $20,000 after hooking fish number 18 of Million Dollar Fish Season 8, underwritten by SportsBet.

Kai Hale, 18, reeled in a barramundi worth $10,000 at the weekend. However, under the Double the Dough initiative, he has instead pocketed $20,000. Kai hooked the 105cm barra at Manton Dam, less than an hour’s drive from Darwin CBD, in the early hours of Saturday morning after a long chase and plenty of casting.

After grabbing a photo of the fish, Kai was close to returning it to the water, before something caught his eye –a tag covered in algae. Scratching back the algae he was over the moon to realise it was a Season 8 tag. Kai said he hoped to put his winnings towards purchasing a new car and entering a fishing competition.

“I just couldn’t believe it. I was happy enough it was a metery, let alone had a red tag in it,” Kai said.

“I thought maybe it was from an old season, but when we saw 2023 we were pretty happy.

“We would have had, I don’t know, 200 casts at that same fish before it ate, over about 45 minutes. We just followed it for ages.”

This season’s prize purse is the biggest yet, with nine barra worth a million bucks each now released in Top End waterways. Plus, there are still 82 barra worth $10,000 (or $20,000 if you catch them on any weekend in March, thanks to the Double the Dough initiative) waiting to be caught.

For every $10,000 fish caught, an extra $1,000 is donated to one of the official Million Dollar Fish charities. As part of Double the Dough, the donation has been doubled to $2,000. Kai has chosen to donate the money to Cancer Council NT.

Season 8 of Million Dollar Fish runs until 31 March 2023. To claim any prize money from a tagged fish (including the nine fish worth a million bucks, which remain eligible to be caught year-round), you must be registered for Season 8. This also automatically enters you into the monthly Lucky Prize Pool, which includes thousands of dollars’ worth of prizes up for grabs including holiday and flights packages and fishing and camping merchandise and equipment.

To registers head to www.milliondollarfish.com.au