Barra season, Lucky Catch and Snap launch with $10,000 in prizes across Mackay region

The third annual Lucky Fish and Catch competition is set for Mackay as barramundi season officially kicks off. See how to reel the cash prize.

Mayor Greg Williamson and Interim CEO of Mackay Isaac Tourism, Jeff Stewart-Harris announcing the start of barramundi season

A thousand keen wranglers are expected to throw their lines into a $10,000 fish jackpot as barramundi season officially kicks off.

The Lucky Catch and Snap competition will run its third year from April 5, becoming the second largest fishing event in Central and North Queensland.

Mackay Isaac Tourism say they’re on track for a “tremendous season” with up to 100 people who have already registered.

Each day, anglers are encouraged to fish one of 20 destinations, with a 6pm draw including a fish species at that location with a specific length.

Fishers who land a catch which matches all three criteria will need to register it via the Lucky Catch and Snap app to claim the prize.

The lucky fish will start with a value of $500, and will jackpot $500 each day until the maximum pool of $10,000 is reached.

If no one wins the daily prizes, ten $1,000 prizes will be awarded using a random draw from all fish entered and accepted.

As a fishing venue, Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson says Mackay has “got it all”.

“From estuary fishing, dam fishing, through to the rivers, creeks and streams and of course now we have the deep sea fishing.

“Mackay has the reputation now of being one of Australia’s premier destinations for fishing,” he said.

Mackay angler Cameron Hill with a barramundi. Picture: Cameron Hill's Fishing

Interim CEO of Mackay Isaac Tourism, Jeff Stewart-Harris, says the region’s diverse fishing hotspots and events like this keep visitors in the region for longer.

“If you can get people to stay another night, then they’ve bought a tank of fuel and then they’ve done a few other things and that’s the importance to the economy, is getting that little bit longer stay because people spend while they’re here.

“You can have the same experience or you can have a very varied experience and there are lots of different varieties of things to do.

“It’s a world class fishing venue here,” he said.

Business travellers make up 55 per cent of the region’s visitors each year with 25 per cent made up of holiday makers and 15 per cent of them visiting friends and family.

As of Saturday, February 1, wranglers will be allowed to catch and keep salt barramundi, one of the most sought after species of fish in our region.

Recent reports allude to a boom in native fish stock around the Mackay region thanks to restoration programs such as building little ‘fish hotels’ for juvenile barramundi.

Programs likes these led by Matt Moore from the Fisheries Ecologist at Catchment Solutions at the Alligator Creek wetlands, North of Mackay helped pump vital oxygen levels into waterways in the region by implementing rock fish ladders, constructing deep pool refuge habitats, revegetation, and improving grazing management.

While not everyone will catch the prized metre long barramundi, Stewart-Harris says the competition does a great deal in educating the public about fishing.

“The flavour coming out of state policy at the moment for tourism is a focus on nature based tourism, a focus on eco-tourism, on sustainable tourism and regenerative tourism, and this actually hits all of those spots,” he says.