Within the same first week of June, two of Australia's biggest barramundi competitions cast off more than 2,000 kilometres apart — and the contrast could hardly have been sharper. On Cape York, the 21st Weipa Fishing Classic drew some of its biggest crowds yet. On the Daly River south of Darwin, the Barra Nationals reached the start line six weeks late, still cleaning up after the worst flood on record.
Weipa first. Held at Andoom Oval from 6 to 8 June, the Classic pulled more than 3,000 people through the gates each night and put more than $240,000 in prizes on the table — boats, a buggy, a quad bike and a wall of fishing gear. Committee president Lisa Lui said the event leaned on its own community this year.
"It all went really good, yeah. We didn't have as many tourists visit. But the locals showed up," Lui said.
Rough water tested the field, but the competition still crowned Gav Roberts senior champion and, for the second year running, Fyn Gorman junior champion. On the points board, Murray Mountjoy topped everyone with 1,476 to win a Quintrex 570 Renegade, ahead of Archer Plate on 1,380 and Bob Hall on 1,053. Lui, who keeps her eye on the junior anglers, said the kids were the heart of it.
"I love watching the kids come through. They were so excited," she said, noting that "some of the fish they land are as big as they are."
She also credited the town for keeping the show on the road. "The Weipa community is always here for us with the sponsorships. They're always there willing to lend a hand," Lui said.
The mood on the Daly was more hard-won. The Barra Nationals has brought anglers to the same 50-kilometre stretch of river for 30 years — teams of three, a week of fishing, scored on the combined length of their best five fish a day, every catch photographed against a ruler and released. This year it almost didn't run. In March, the community of Daly River / Nauiyu suffered its worst flood on record, with homes submerged to the roofline and the host venue, Banyan Farm Tourist Park, going under.
For the regulars, the pull is strong enough to survive almost anything. Tracy Chelepy, who drives three days from Rockhampton each year with her team the Bamboo Pandas, described the ritual: "We travel for three days [to get here] — you drive in and you're like 'let's bring it, it's the Barra Nationals'."
Park owner Kerri Draper, who has hosted the event since 1998, said she could barely look at the flood footage. "It's pretty heartbreaking … it looked pretty disastrous," she said. A crew of volunteers — most of them retirees — shovelled the place back into shape. "You should've seen that crew on the shovels, they were fantastic," Draper said. "It's a lot of hard work, but once it kicks off it's a great week."
The clean-up cost the event about six weeks, pushing it into cooler, lower water. Palmerston Game Fishing Club president Darryl Smart, whose club runs the tournament, said the late start brought extra company to the banks.
"There's a lot more big crocodiles out now with the cooler weather, which is good. If they could stay on the banks, that'd be even better," Smart said.
Lower water also hid fresh hazards. Will Simpson, fishing with the Metery Maniacs, struck a submerged log at speed. "We hit a log … we started sinking so we had to turn around and make like a cat and scram," he said. "Got the heart pumping a little bit … a bit too much maybe."
The fishing, at least, delivered. About 150 anglers across 50 teams — one towing its boat all the way from Tasmania — landed 1,419 fish over the first three days alone, nearly 830 metres of barramundi weighing close to 3.9 tonnes. Two very different competitions, then, and the same verdict: the barra turned up, and so did the people who chase them.
