On Sunday morning, 19-year-old Australian fisherman, Keegan Payne, became one of the country’s newest millionaires after he caught and successfully defended a million dollar prize for catching a ‘decent sized’ barramundi.
The fish was part of a competition that started nine years ago and was caught in the Katherine River in the Northern Territory.
In an interview, the young fisherman said that he would use the money to help his family with their mortgage, and he described how it felt to become a multi-million dollar winner.
He said that he was overwhelmed by the opportunity, and it meant a lot to him.
On Sunday morning, Mr Payne contacted the hotline of the competition, and he and his family were invited to collect the prize.
The competition, which started in 2015, had been running for three years. Until now, no one had caught a million-dollar barramundi.
Hundreds of fish are annually tagged with special markings before they are released into various regions of the Northern Territory.
On Tuesday, the organisers announced that the prize had been released in the Katherine River.
Barramundi can live for up to 20 years, and they can travel over 600 kilometers between the tags.
Although the number of fish has increased during the competition’s 9th season, the organisers still believe that the remaining fish will be worth $10,000.
Out of the 103 fish that were released, only eight have been caught so far.
As a result, Keegan chose the Cancer Council of the Northern Territory as the recipient of a $10,000 donation from the competition’s sponsor, Sportsbet.