A record four hundred and sixty-five barramundi were caught on the first day of competition at Australia's biggest barramundi fishing tournament. About one hundred and fifty anglers from fifty different teams are battling it out over a week of fierce competition for bragging rights at the Barra Nationals.
Anglers have travelled from all over Australia to the remote Daly River, three hours south of Darwin, for the event which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year.
The tournament was originally scheduled to get underway in April, but record-breaking floods in March caused metres of erosion on the Daly River and left Banyan Farm, which has hosted the event since nineteen ninety-eight, completely underwater.
Organisers were not sure if the event would be able to go ahead given the scale of destruction. One described the scene after the floods as looking like a lunar landscape. Two metres of sand were sitting behind some of the structures and piles of silt covered the area.
Despite the floods, the later start has meant a lower river level than competitors are used to, creating a new set of challenges for anglers. Boats have been hitting submerged logs at high speed, with one team describing a scary moment when they hit a log at seventy-six kilometres an hour.
The fish are not the only animals that competitors have to watch out for. Anglers reported more big crocodiles out of the water with the cooler weather, and sharks were everywhere, attacking released fish before they could even swim away.
The Barra Nationals represent a welcome week of fishing and fun after a tough wet season for the communities around the Daly River. The record first-day catch signals that despite the devastation caused by the floods, the river's barramundi population remains healthy and abundant.