Community & Business
19 January, 2023
Local angler reels in bragging rights
LOCAL fisher Ty Ernst was out fishing with his mate hoping to score a fish worth bragging to his work mates about and ended up reeling in $10,000 instead.
Ty was determined to catch a barramundi in Tinaroo dam that would “stir up the work-mate” and managed to reel in a whopping one metre long barramundi.
After taking a few photos and in fact “stirring the work mate up a bit”, they released the fish and were headed back to shore where he overheard a conversation about the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Fish’n’SIP$ tagged fishing competition and looked back on his photos to enter.
“We overheard someone talking about the competition and noticed the fish we got had a tag on it,” he said.
“We had the right photos of it in my hands and on the brag mat and all that and I memorised the tag number, so we entered it.”
After reporting the catch, Ty was shocked to hear he had won second place in the competition.
He said he will use his winning $10,000 to pay off his car, his son’s school fees and also buy his mate, who he was fishing with that day, a new sonar for his boat.
Fisheries Queensland Acting Deputy Director-General Peter Donaghy said he was impressed with Ty’s efforts and congratulated him on the win.
“Patience paid off for Ty who scored a $10,000 Christmas bonus after going fishing with a mate at Lake Tinaroo,” Mr Donaghy said.
“After being tied off in timber for an hour, their perseverance was rewarded when the fish took the bait and Ty landed the prize catch.
“Ty’s catch is the second barra caught on Lake Tinaroo during the competition after Maleny fisher Billy Perske claimed first prize after also landing a one-metre-long barra-mundi while fishing there on Wednesday 14 December 2022.”
The competition is still underway, with participants required to have a SIPs permit to participate. For more information, visit www.daf.qld.gov.au/news-media/campaigns/fish-n-sips-tagged-fish-competition
