A 19-year-old Northern Territory “mad keen” fisherman has landed the catch of a lifetime this week, hauling in a million dollar barramundi on the final day of a fishing competition, scoring dinner as well as a small fortune on his line.

Keegan Payne, a Katherine local, initially thought he had caught a catfish until his sister, Addyson, pointed out the tag on the 67-centimetre barramundi. The tag was placed on the fish before being released during a marketing campaign by SportsBet in an attempt to lure tourists to the NT during the quieter wet season, promising a cool million to whoever caught the fish.

The Million Dollar Fish competition has been going for nine years in the Katherine River, and in a stroke of very good luck for Payne, this year’s competition was extended by an extra month until April 30 – the very day he caught the fish.

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It’s not clear at the time of writing how Payne intends on cooking the fish, but the teenager has outlined how he intends on spending the money. First and foremost, he will be helping his mum with her mortgage, buying a new car and a new boat to up his chances of catching another million dollar fish next season.

Payne’s barramundi is one of around 80 tagged fish in the Top End’s major fishing regions across Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine, Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land. Each fish snags fishers either $10 thousand, $20 thousand, or in this case, $1 million.

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