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Maningrida's biggest fishing competition

17 October 2017

Maningrida Emergency Response Group held its annual fishing competition, The Maningrida Bust Up on September 30 and October 1. 2017 was the biggest year yet, with 28 teams entered, over 80 competitors and more prizes than ever before. The Maningrida Bust Up is Maningrida Emergency Response Group’s biggest fundraiser of the year and they are hoping this year raised over $10,000 which goes towards the purchase of new emergency equipment to be used to assist in rescues and natural disasters. 
Saturday, September 30 was barra day and competitors fished from 6am-6pm. There was some hot competition with the winning team being ‘One More No More’ with an astounding 200 points. The biggest barra caught by a female angler went to Judy Ward from ‘Zip Zap 1’ with a 72cm barra and biggest barra caught by a male angler went to David Weston from ‘Zip Zap 2’ with an 89cm barra. The chatter at the boat ramp seemed very positive with most boats coming back with some points on the board, and all were ready to tackle reef day to try and secure most points overall. 
Sunday, October 1 was reef day and competitors fished from 6am-1pm. The team from ‘Cattle Dog’ absolutely smashed it, winning most points per boat on reef day with 870 points, and scoring bragging rights for hosting the fisherman and fisherwoman to take out most points overall. Well done Mitch and Nat Carey! Almost all boats had a busy reef day with some very impressive catches including a 55cm Saddletail Perch by Ange from ‘One More No More’ and a 71cm Golden Snapper by Tim Schroeder from ‘Hook Line and Drinkers’. 
The kids competition this year also showed off some serious skill, with Archie Turner from ‘Lure Festival’ catching the biggest Barra at 80cm (and outfishing many adults), and Raia Carey achieving most points overall on reef day with a very impressive 140 points, and adding another outstanding achievement to ‘Cattle Dog’s’ glistening résumé! 
If all of that wasn’t exciting enough, we also added a new category to the Maningrida Bust Up this year, titled the Maningrida Grand Slam. Anglers needed to catch a barra over 55cm, a catfish over 35cm and a golden snapper over 35cm to gain entry to this division. 

Seven outstanding anglers achieved this task and the lucky winner drawn at random was Ashleigh Readett from ‘I’m All About That Barra’. 
In addition to all the fishing divisions, there were also two photo comps this year - even if you don’t catch a fish, you can still claim a prize or two. 
The team from ‘Fish Tail’s won the TJM photo comp with a very creative truck and fish display, and the team from ‘I’m All About the Barra’ won the XXXX Gold photo comp with an expertly crafted boat made from XXXX cans complete with a cardboard outboard. 
The competition finished with our presentation evening on Sunday where many stories were shared, laughs were had and our famous raffle (with over $9000 worth of prizes) was drawn.
We would like to thank all the competitors and their families, our volunteers and our amazing sponsors for making the 2017 Maningrida Bust Up possible! Thank you and we look forward to seeing you out on the water next time.