Hooked on Mackay: New fishing competition in to reel in tourists

Mackay and Isaac anglers will have a chance to name an inaugural fishing competition, as well as hook more than $60,000 worth of prize money, in an effort to ‘bring the home of fishing back to Queensland’.

Grab your rods and bait, and get ready to reel in more than $60,000 in prizes throughout Mackay and Isaac’s best fishing spots.

As part of the official opening of the barramundi season, the region’s officials have announced a new fishing competition that is set to hook “tourists and locals alike”.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said the event, which is currently unnamed, would attract interstate and intrastate travel to the region.

“It’s not just interstate travel, but also the 400km-radius travel,” he said.

“Recreational fishing is the most important community-based activity right around Australia.

Mackay Isaac Tourism CEO Tas Webber, Isaac Mayor Anne Baker and Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert at the launch of the Hooked on Mackay fishing competition. Picture: Matthew Forrest

“For us to be able to cement ourselves as a recreational fishing destination is very important, it does great wonders for our tourism industry, so the more we can get in terms of recreational activities for locals and tourists alike, the better it is for us.”

Running in September, the fishing competition is expected to provide almost $1 million in economic benefit for the region.

Mackay Isaac Tourism chief executive Tas Webber said the competition would receive $170,000 in funding across two years.

“We expect it to be up in the hundreds of thousands, if not over the million-dollar mark in year one,” he said.

“It’s expected to grow well within the million-dollar range in years to come, at the moment year one it’s all about the community, getting the community to own it.

“We want to bring the home of fishing back to Queensland, it’s currently in the Northern Territory but we want to bring it back to central Queensland, where we know it belongs.”

Mr Webber said there was more than $60,000 worth of prizes across the month-long event, including a $500 reward for naming the inaugural event.

“We want to name the event because there currently isn’t a name,” Mr Webber said.

“It’s got to be family friendly, it’s got to cross the socio-economic boundaries, so we’re putting a prize out for someone to name the event.”