Tom McCullough had a dream tournament, catching two of the four metre-plus barra tagged in this year’s Classic.

He convincingly won the Champion Angler Trophy.

Marion Washington was equally convincing as Champion Female Angler and also won Runner-up Champion Local Angler.

Hamish Firth was Runner-up Champion Visitor.

Over 1100 barra were caught, tagged and released in this year’s Classic.

Hosted by the Darwin Game Fishing Club at the Banyan Farm Tourist Park venue, most competitors agreed this year’s event was a beauty.

It seems the expertise of the Northern Territory in managing recreational fishing has finally been recognised by the Federal Government, following the handing over of all responsibility for non-commercial fisheries – including longtail tuna and sailfish – back to the Northern Territory Government.

Fisheries Minister, Kon Vatskalis, said the Government has been lobbying the Commonwealth for the past four years to take over the management of all recreational fisheries.

The Territory has responsibility for most popular recreational species, including barramundi, jewfish, golden snapper and mud crab.

However, some of our offshore fisheries that are of particular interest to sportfishermen and the fishing charter industry were previously managed from Canberra.

“We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government which effectively gives the Northern Territory Government and thousands of recreational anglers complete responsibility for recreational fishing throughout the Territory,” Mr Vatskalis said.

Mr Vatskalis said this historic agreement also means that our important fishing charter industry is managed by the Northern Territory Government.

“This means charter fishing operators are no longer recognised as commercial fishermen by the Commonwealth, but rather their catch is controlled within the ambits of recreational rules,” said Mr Vatskalis.

This is all good news for Territory anglers, not so much because of what measures might one day be put in place by NT Fisheries to manage pelagic species like longtail tuna and sailfish, but more because there is now no need to worry about the Commonwealth managing these offshore fisheries to the detriment of Territorians.

Right on cue as we move into the cooler part of the dry season, Spanish Mackerel have appeared inshore at one of their favourite haunts, Lee Point.

Without doubt, Lee Point is the best Darwin mackerel spot accessible to the small boat angler. I hear there are also stacks of queenies along the foreshores between the harbour and Lee Point, but only on the bigger tides. Also worth a shot on the approaching neap tides over the weekend is the black jew. Last weekend several big jewies were caught in Darwin Harbour, including a whooping 1.28 m specimen. For the bigger trailer boats heading offshore from Dundee Beach, the Peron Islands is alive with mixed pelagic species, and all the usual reef fish verities are biting on the bottom. You really can’t go past the bluewater this weekend, mainly because the easterlies of last week won’t be around to churn up the water. At this time of year, when offshore conditions are calm, getting stuck into both pelagics and reef fish should be a breeze, if you excuse the pun. Good news too, is that the inshore lagoon barra fishing scene is picking up. Corroboree Billabong is finally producing good barra, while nearby Hardies Billabong is fishing well for both barra and saratoga. Finally, for a last shot at a big barra, the neap tides at the mouth of Tommycut Creek are definitely worth a shot.