People and Lifestyle
Catching Barra with the best
LIFETIME fisherman and local Craig Norton went to lengths he believed no other Wangaratta fishermen had achieved last month.
Competing with long time fishing mates Shannon ‘Mousie‘ Latham from the NT and Luke Matthews from Queensland, Mr Norton and his team placed in the top five in arguably Australia‘s premier barramundi fishing tournament, the 41st annual Northern Territory Barramundi (Barra) Classic.
The NT Barra Classic held on the pristine Daly River, located in the NT (250km south of Darwin), is the self–proclaimed flagship barramundi fishing tournament worldwide.
Held during the peak fishing times, barramundi are caught, measured, tagged and released by teams of three individuals and scores are accumulated on a length basis daily.
Fishermen compete over five consecutive days, with the winner taking home the much coveted ‘Barra on a stick‘ trophy.
After a quiet first two days Team XXXX (named after their Queensland brewery sponsors) rallied to 11th on the overall leaderboard with a successful day three and four, before storming home with one of the highest scoring days of the competition on day five to finish fifth out of the 58 competing teams.
Mr Norton said fifth was the highest he has placed in a fishing competition and was rapt to be able to do so at a prestigious fishing event like the Barra Classic.
“The first couple of days were tough; I dropped a big fish on the second day, they‘re pretty hard to keep on those big ones,” he said.
“We spent a couple of days casting [lures] but we caught the big ones trolling when we changed our way.
“To finish that high in the comp was pretty good, especially against 58 teams.”
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Team XXXX finished with 2215 points and 26 barra caught, averaging 80–90cm in length, while the winning team finished 6000 points ahead of the rest of the competition with 10,040 points over the five days.
A series of rules prohibited fishermen from using live bait, restricted fishing to a 52km stretch of the river and disallowed fishermen from being assisted when fighting a fish on the line.
Mr Norton wrangled in five scoring barra across the week; and said he loved every minute of competing in the competition for the third time on a river he visits often.
“It‘s like another family up there for me; there are a lot of people I met on the water and socialise with,” he said.
“You get to know a lot more people and you get to learn a lot more seeing everyone fish.”
This year was Mr Norton‘s 22nd straight year travelling to fish at the Daly River, where he said he instantly took a liking to the lifestyle and climate up north.
“My father would take me out fishing locally… I chased cod, yellow bellies, trout and I‘ve done a bit of game fishing [locally] as well, but the barra seems to take my interest the best,” he said.
“I had the opportunity to go up fishing in Darwin with a couple of mates so I did that and ever since then I‘ve been going every year, I loved it that much.”
Mr Norton was owner and founder of Adventure, Camping, Fishing and Firearms on Rowan Street until he sold it last year to allow more time in pursuing his outdoor hobbies.
Mr Norton said he‘ll continue his fishing holidays up north and competing in competitions to support his mate Mousey, who runs Mousie‘s Barra and Blue Water Charters in the NT.
“I‘ll keep doing it, it‘s good interest and I love it, a couple of mates go up from time to time with me, adds to the fun,” he said.