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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the million dollar Fish comp It has been going
off five red tagged barre Mundy already caught by lucky
fishohs who've become ten thousand dollars richer. Now my next guest.
He is a talented footballer. He coaches one of the
Tar's junior football teams. He's an absolute gun runner, and

(00:20):
it turns out he's quite the fisherman as well. James
Arata joins me in the studio. James, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks Katie, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I've given you a bump up there, mate. I see
you running around everywhere. Well, certainly used to see you
running around quite a bit, but I did not know
that you're a very keen fisherman and bloody good at
it by the sounds of things.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I've got quite a few hobbies, I must say.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I wouldn't say I'm the best, but I do love
getting out and having a fish when I can.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, I love it. So, mate, tell me what happened
when you're hooked onto this ten thousand dollar barrow. Where
were you? So?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I was just down at mary Bridge Lagoon, just off
the Arnham Highway. And yeah, so it was last Tuesday
evening under the full moon, and I thought, you know,
I better get out after work and have a fish
under the full moon, just to really soak up the atmosphere,
and you know, you never know, catch a few barrow.
So yeah, I went down there and sort of launched
the boat at maybe six pm and yeah, fished over

(01:21):
the sunset and into the night, and yeah, sure enough,
one of the barrow I caught ended up having a
red tag in it.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
What did you think as you pulled it up? Like,
obviously you're pretty happy you caught a barrow, but what
did you think then when you're like, oh, my goodness,
it seems tagged.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
So it was about midway through the fight. So I
was actually, randomly enough fishing right in front of the
boat ramp. So I've been working an area that was
close to the boat ramp, and I was like, all right,
I'll go back to the boat ramp, have a fish,
and then if nothing, I'll go home. And yeah, sure enough,
this fish sort of swam through and I hooked it,
and about midway through the fight it jumped and I
turned the head torch on and realized, oh no, this

(01:58):
has got a red.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Tag in it.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Do not lose it.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, So you know, instant panic stations, and you know,
being on your own, you sort of just start freaking
out because, oh my god, what am I going to do?
How am I gonna net this? How I'm going to
get this in the boat? What's going to happen?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Am I going to lose this? Is anyone going to
believe me if I lose this?

Speaker 1 (02:15):
You know?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
So everything was racing through my head, and you know,
it was it was quite a good fish. So the
fight was pretty hectic, like, you know, it ran around
the boat a few times, was very acrobatic, and every
time it jumped, you know, this red tag just glimmering
in the light and I'm going nearly pulling my hair out,
you know, praying this thing doesn't get off the line.
And yeah, sure enough, after maybe a nervous five to

(02:36):
ten minutes, I ended up getting it in the net
and being like, oh my god, it's happened.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Oh I got it?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Now? What did you do next week? You Like, I
just got to get like, I've got to get off
this boat. I've got to ring somebody. What am I
going to take a photo so that everybody believes that
it's actually happened, just in case something goes wrong at
this point.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
So I was in pure shock, so I don't know.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I was just like so euphoric that I laid down
on the floor of the boat next the fish, turn
the music all the way up and just blast in
music and laid on the floor of the boat for
a good twenty minutes just being like, did this just happen?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Am I in a dream? What's going on?

Speaker 3 (03:11):
I need to get up and start taking photos of
this thing, but just sitting down and going I can't
move just right now. I just need to soak this
up because you know, when you first get a red tag,
you're not sure if it's going to be ten k
a million, So you're sort of just going, oh my god,
is this a million dollars sitting in my boat?

Speaker 1 (03:26):
I did not even think of that. So when do
you find out how much it's worth? You know, whether
it's a million dollar fish or a ten thousand dollars one.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
So after you send all the photos through and they
do the final verifications, that's when they let.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
You know what it is.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
So it's like a nervous weight for a bit, you know,
because you're not knowing. You're like, oh my god, is
this ten k's it's a million regardless. You're happy, but
at the same time you're like, imagine.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Oh, my life would change forever.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I was planning that Europe trip.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
I bet you were. What are you going to do
with your ten thousand dollars?

Speaker 3 (03:57):
So unfortunately, I've got to get a nie too much
running around nik for too much footy, and I'm going
to put it towards that.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
So a bit boring, but I needed.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
Hopefully I've got a little bit left over and I'll
probably put it towards getting some new lures and you know,
maybe doing some stuff to my boat.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Ye, no, which is fair enough. Now mate, you coach
the under seventeen tars boys, have you told them? I?

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, so they actually already knew so minute the media
got released on Saturday morning.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
I went down to the footy that day to help
out with some senior teams, and yeah, all the under
seventeens boys that I coach were all coming out to
me saying, oh my god, when are we going fishing?
You know, let's ditch footy next week and let's go
fishing instead.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, we.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Have to play footy first. But yeah, it's been quite
the vibes. And at the school I work out as well,
it's been quite a conversation started, well, so you work.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
At a school as well. I pumped, or all the
kids pumps.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Oh, they're so stoked.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
And it's been like an awesome way in with some
kids because you know, I'm out at Palmers and they
all love fishing.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
So they've all been you know, can't believe you did that.
Oh my god. And you know, just telling the story
over and over again.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
How good. Hey. And it's good as well for the
kids to kind of realize sometimes and you're you know,
you're only a young bloke, but it's good for him
to realize that, you know, you're a young fellow, you're
out fishing as well. It's that instant connection then with
those with the young people.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, exactly. And I think I'm promoting that positivity of
fishing as well. You know, it's really it's really good
for the kids and they love it.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
I agree with you. You know, we're talking about this
off air. I've got a twelve year old who spends
his whole weekend fishing. I just think when he's not
playing footy or you know, doing other sports, and I
just think it's such a positive thing for our young people.
You're outdoors, you're enjoying the sunset, you're enjoying you know,
the sunrise. It's such a great thing to be out
doing and and you know, in your case, you might

(05:46):
even make ten grand doing it.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
It's such a bonus because you know, you don't go
out fishing to catch the red tag. You're out fishing
to enjoy it and catch fish, and you know, soak
up what fishing's about. But yeah, catching a red tag
just all that much of a bonus.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
You're like, oh my god, you know sport.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
On James, tell me did you measure that barrew? Oh,
we are too excited.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, after I laid in the boat for twenty minutes,
I eventually got myself up and was very shaky, so
I took a lot of blurry photos, and being on
your own you have to get really good at self timing. Yeah,
so I had the self time rout and yeah, and
on the measuring tape I ended up getting a few.
The poor fish was long gone by then, so he
wasn't jumping around much, but yeah he got a few.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
How big was he he.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Was eighty so I took two measurements eighty six or
eighty nine, I'm.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Not too sure either way.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
He had ten thousand dollars attached to him.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, exactly, That's all that mattered, really, wasn't it. Exactly?

Speaker 1 (06:42):
That's right mate. When he gone back out on the water,
when's the next when's the next fishing opportunity?

Speaker 3 (06:48):
So with footy, we've got to buy next weekend, so
I'm on that weekend off to rule out for fishing solely.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, Are you worried that everybody's going to be rocking
up to your spot now where you went and caught
the ten thousand dollars barrel? Yes?

Speaker 2 (07:01):
And no.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think like it's a pretty known spot and there
has been other red tag fish court there recently, like
in this year, so yeah, I guess it might be
a bit busier, but you know, everyone's out there to
enjoy it and have good fun, so I don't think
that's an issue.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
I think it's all the.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Game, that's exactly right, James. What music were you listening
to after you caught that fish? Was it a song
that our listeners would know or were you.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
There was two songs that were on repeat.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
So the first time definitely it was case signed by
Chisel Blasting, and then the second one's a bit niche
it was methaw Eth.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Or Twilight Driving.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
And I've just been soaking those two songs up the
last week.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Oh mate, good on you, I reckon. It's a wonderful
territory story.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
You know.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
I love like I love the million dollar fish comp
and I love the way that it puts the Northern
Territory on the national stage right fishing. And for some
you know, for some people around Australia, they they look
at us and know that it's a wonderful place to
go for a fish. But it is just you know,
it really makes people go, I get to the Northern Territory,
I want to catch the million dollar fish or a

(08:04):
ten thousand dollar fish.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
And yeah, I think it's so awesome how accessible it
is as well. I've caught that fish even though I
was in a boat. I caught it twenty meters off
the boat ramp. So not to say that if you
didn't own a boat, you could have still went down
to the boat ramp.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, exact fish.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, well mate, you know where my son's going to
expect to go on the weekend. Well make him listen
to your interview the summer Love Oh James. Lovely to
catch up with you, mate, and no doubt I'll see
you around, either at footy or out for a rum
once you've had your knee surgery. Most definitely thanks good stuff,
thank you, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
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