Barramundi fishing closure

The east coast Barramundi fishing closure TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

The NEW closed season runs from midnight to midnight – e.g. from 12.01 am on the first day of the closure to 11.59 pm on the last day of the closure. 

The east coast of Qld Barramundi season closure runs from 1st November to 31 January each year.

The Gulf of Carpentaria closed season for barramundi runs from midday 7 October to midday 31 January.

If you’re new to chasing barra, check out our complete guide to barramundi fishing. It’s got everything you need to get started.

It is prohibited to deliberately target barramundi in Queensland (even for catch and release) during the barramundi fishing closure.

Why? Because the stress of capture may prevent a fish from spawning.

The barramundi fishing closure is designed to protect spawning aggregations of fish from disturbance and capture. Barra in dams and impoundments however, are able to be targeted as they cannot spawn without access to saltwater.

Million dollar fish

However these rules do not apply in the Northern Territory where barra are plentiful. NT management have taken a different path to protect the species.

In fact they have a unique initiative underway at present to attract barra anglers to the Northern Territory during the barramundi fishing closure in Queensland.

It’s called the “million dollar fish” and gives barra anglers the chance to win $1 million dollars.

The trick is catching one of five “million dollar fish” tagged with a special tag and re-released into the waterways.

This year the competition is in it’s fourth season and has a ton of new prizes including $25,000 worth of fishing gear etc. Even if you don’t catch a fish!

The main attraction however are one of three major prizes;

• 5x One million dollar fish tagged and released into the environment. Once one of the million dollar fish are caught the other 4 will revert to $10,000 fish.
• 100x Ten thousand dollar fish. While you may think this is a needle in a haystack, these are actually caught quite regularly!
• 20x Five thousand dollar charity barra. ($2500 to the angler and $2500 to a nominated charity).

We had a ball last time we headed to Darwin, spending some quality time in a place called Dundee.

So if a trip to the Territory is on your bucket list. it may be well worth your while to head there. Especially during the Queensland barramundi fishing closure to try your luck at catching a million dollar fish!

You MUST register for million dollar fish before you start fishing. Imagine catching a tagged fish. You would not be able to claim your prize if you weren’t registered! That would be the ultimate fishing FAIL.

And talking about fishing fail…

We certainly had an eventful last day before the barramundi fishing closure

This year we were joined by Matty Young from Jarvis Walker Brands to film some fishing tips using their gear.

Matty is a top level photographer and took our favourite fish photo. It that was ultimately used on the cover of the now defunct Fish Life journal.

Anyhoo, the barramundi fishing closure each year used to start at midday 1st November. So it was pretty much par for the course that we go in the morning and aim for a final metery of the season. (note times have changed and now run from midnight to midnight!)

But in 2018, we headed out in the morning for one final crack before the old midday closure.

To find out what happened (including the part where I nearly pulled off the catch of the century with 30 seconds to go before the barramundi fishing closure), watch the video below.

We also take you through how to register for million dollar fish in case you decide to head to the NT for a top holiday. And to take part in their unique initative. Who knows… you might come home with more money than you left with!